To respond to emerging labour market needs in increasingly diverse workplaces and to European companies to be diversity advocates, our core objectives in the TGAL project were to: -Support employers to take stock of diversity in their businesses and to develop diversity management strategies;-Use storytelling techniques and approaches to engage employees about diversity issues and provide them a space to connect with the culture of their workplaces so that they feel included and valued;-Engage VET professionals in up-skilling so that they can use the full suite of TGAL results produced, and gain confidence in working and teaching using storytelling;-Contribute to European workplaces becoming more diversity inclusive. We worked to create local synergies between VET providers and businesses; helping to achieve an impact related to diversity management in both fields. TGAL proposed a unique work-education learning partnership that used an accessible and inclusive approach to bring VET providers and their business target groups together. All partners in the consortium have vast experience of working with both VET providers and businesses but rarely they have the opportunity to address an emerging training needs in the labour market.
Numerous studies clearly demonstrate that diversity in the workplace is good for business, but from our research it was clear that the intentions are not matched by action and often SMEs don't know of where to start. The TGAL consortium wished to support VET professionals, HR managers and in-company trainers with the skills, competences and tools necessary for the building of inclusive & diverse workplaces so that SMEs and companies can exploit the talents and diversity of all workers, overcoming labour market barriers faced by certain groups in society due to ineffective HR management policies and practices. In the face of significant demographic change taking place in the labour market in Europe, employers need to be more open and inclusive in order to attract and retain a more diverse workforce. The TGAL addressed this gap in European SMEs. Through the project we built the skills and competences of VET professionals to use storytelling techniques to explore diversity management & cultural change in SMEs.The project offered high quality results that are practice and evidence-informed and are innovative in nature; addressed the needs of the project target groups, represented excellent value for money; and offered transferability.