Different areas of work within companies bring different challenges – especially when it comes to raising awareness of queer issues in the workplace. While employees in office structures are easily accessible via intranet, email, or digital learning platforms, reaching out to employees in other areas is much more difficult. Employees without a fixed PC workstation – such as those in logistics, warehouses, or sales – often have tightly scheduled workflows. Time slots for traditional workshop formats are much more difficult to integrate, and digital information channels often do not work here.
Comprehensive awareness-raising activities at the IKEA logistics center
These were precisely the challenges addressed by a joint awareness-raising event organized by the PROUT AT WORK Foundation and PROUT EMPLOYER IKEA on November 28, 2024, at the logistics center in Dortmund. The aim was to reach as many employees as possible from different areas of work—but especially those working in the warehouses of the logistics center. The concept: low-threshold, entertaining formats that can be flexibly integrated into everyday working life.
Throughout the working day, the event offered a total of seven short intensive sessions, for which employees could register in advance in groups and for which they were given time off work. In approximately 20-minute sessions, basic information on sexual and gender diversity was conveyed in a clear, practical manner, always with room for specific questions and personal concerns. Immediately afterwards, there was time for discussion and exchange: a valuable moment in which uncertainties could be clearly addressed and spaces for dialogue opened up.
Goal: Raising awareness and reducing prejudice
One special element was the reflection exercise, which gave each participant the opportunity to examine their own attitudes and any prejudices they may have. This exercise was deliberately kept low-key and was intended to encourage reflection without overwhelming or lecturing participants.
The high level of participation showed that the concept worked: many employees from a wide range of departments took advantage of the offer throughout the day. This highlighted how important it is not to offer awareness-raising activities exclusively in a digital or centralized format, but to meet people where they are – in the midst of their everyday work, between shelves, storage areas, and forklifts.
The event in Dortmund was an example of how an inclusive corporate culture can be promoted even outside of traditional office structures. It was a step toward greater visibility for queer issues and a work environment in which diversity can truly be lived. Detlev Blenk, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager at IKEA Germany, reports:
“At IKEA, we consider raising awareness and educating people about LGBTQIA+ issues to be a core part of our diversity and inclusion work. In the field of logistics in particular, many different perspectives and worldviews come together. That’s why it was very important to us to engage in conversation with many logistics professionals at one of our IKEA central warehouses in Dortmund, together with PROUT AT WORK. The success speaks for itself – and it wasn’t just on the day of the workshops that the topic of ‘queer’ was the talk of the town.”
The fact that the event was so well received encourages us to offer it again in 2025, together with IKEA.
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