The concept of diversity refers to the many different types of people who make up a company. Each individual is unique in their specific features but at the same time they also share certain things in common with other individuals. More generally, the concept of diversity refers to the tolerance, respect and consideration that a company demonstrates in relation to each person’s particular characteristics.

In the field of employment, a diversity policy is designed to better reflect the diversity of the national population in a company’s workforce and to make the best use of the specific characteristics and potential of each person. A coherent diversity policy will generate an inclusive environment and allow all employees to feel well-integrated, respected and valued. This means implementing a policy for managing human resources that centers on recognizing and giving value to individual skills rather than on sub-optimal criteria, also called grounds for discrimination or protected grounds. The EU non-discrimination directives identify six protected grounds, meaning six individual characteristics upon which differential treatment should not be based: gender; sexual orientation; disability; age; religion or belief; racial or ethnic origin.