The BMW Group is fully aware of the challenges of demographic change, but we also see the opportunities it offers, as it allows life and work experiences to be combined in a productive way. That’s why we foster intergenerational collaboration. Since 2019 our Senior Experts programme, for example, has provided a suitable arrangement for retirees to share their knowledge and experience with younger colleagues. We also train our managers to ensure they have the skills they need to lead mixed-age teams.

For our younger team members, we run a range of programmes specifically for upcoming generations. These include not just the solid grounding of apprenticeships in about 30 professions but also a range of measures designed to foster students and young professionals. Here too, an equal share of female participants is a matter very close to our hearts, and so we try encourage girls to nurture an interest in technical subjects from an early age. This is done via a range of measures, such as participating in Girls’ Day, the Junior Campus at Munich’s BMW Welt and the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, #EmpowerGirl and the BayFID initiative.

We offer inclusive and accessible workplaces for our colleagues – regardless of physical or mental disabilities – and ensure everyone feels equally comfortable and able to contribute their talents from their various perspectives. Our goal is for every team member to flourish to their full potential, including the help of the opportunities of digitalisation and Industry 4.0.

Outside the company, we are committed to cooperations with recognised workshops for people with disabilities. We also advocate for inclusion and diversity as a member of the Valuable 500.

At the BMW Group, people from more than 110 different countries work together. Their cultural diversity gives us a better understanding of the different needs of our customers and partners worldwide and allows us to tailor our activities accordingly. But it also helps us to respond quickly and flexibly to the requirements of the labour market. We firmly believe that a working environment should be free from prejudice and a place where employees experience appreciation and acceptance. Our intercultural collaboration is supported by a range of CPD, skills training and further education programmes. For our younger talents around the world, we run our dedicated AcceleratiON and MOVE programmes.

To us, diversity also means practising a culture in which people of different sexual orientations and identities can contribute and flourish. To help us achieve that, we established the BMW Group PRIDE network, which acts as the voice of the LGBTIQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) community within our organisation and focuses on trust, openness and acceptance. Together, we ensure an open-minded, tolerant, constructive working environment in which everyone is welcome, no matter their personal orientation or identity.

This self-image is also something we project to the outside world. We are a member of the Prout at Work Foundation’s PROUT EMPLOYER network and a signatory of the UN Standards of Conduct for Business for Tackling Discrimination Against LGBTI People.