Project: Diversity in the federal administration using the example of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs (BMFSFJ)

Project duration: July 2021 - December 2023

The project analysed diversity in the federal administration using the example of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Using a multi-method design, the barriers and structural access restrictions for people with a so-called migration background and people with other dimensions relevant to discrimination that systematically impede access to and retention in the civil service were analysed. Based on this, recommendations for action were developed for a diversity strategy for the BMFSFJ in order to increase diversity in the ministry, reduce discrimination in everyday work life and minimise structural barriers or exclusion mechanisms for people outside the ministry.

The ‘Diversity in the Federal Administration’ project was implemented by the DiBu project group under the auspices of the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM). The zedela team was primarily responsible for the conceptualisation and implementation of the quantitative employee survey (see project report chapter 2.2, p. 21)

The project was of particular importance because, for the first time, all employees of a federal ministry had the opportunity to answer questions on all diversity dimensions protected by the General Equal Treatment Act and the results were incorporated into the federal government’s diversity strategy.

The central questions of the project were :

• Status quo: how diverse is the employee structure at the BMFSFJ and what are employees’ attitudes towards diversity?
• Internal perspective: How is diversity and discrimination experienced in everyday working life? What experiences of marginalisation and racism have employees had? How do employees describe the culture of diversity in the ministry and their diversity-orientated actions? What existing anti-discrimination and diversity-promoting measures are known?
• External perspective: How attractive is the BMFSFJ for people from groups that are vulnerable to discrimination outside the ministry? What structural barriers and exclusion mechanisms are perceived by people with characteristics relevant to discrimination?

Key findings of the quantitative employee survey:

• Employees with a migration background (17.2% in the BMFSFJ vs. 30.6% in the population), with a history of immigration (7.4% vs. 27.5%) and employees who are vulnerable to racism (4.2% vs. 18.7%) are underrepresented in the BMFSFJ compared to their proportion in the population as a whole. Female (72.6% in the BMFSFJ vs. 46.8% in the population), queer (14.1% vs. 9%) and East German employees (32.9% vs. 20%) are more strongly represented.
• Despite a high level of job satisfaction (77% enjoy their work, 79% are proud of their job), 16.2% of employees have experienced discrimination. Particularly affected are employees with disabilities, immigrants, employees who are vulnerable to racism, non-Christian employees and women with caring responsibilities.
• Over 52.9% of employees see a lack of awareness of the problem as the greatest obstacle to diversity. 88.4% emphasise the importance of an authentic diversity attitude at management level.

Further information and the publication can be found on the DeZIM project page.