Research shows that creating an open corporate culture boosts performance and makes organizations more successful, while employees feel safe, more appreciated and happier. As per research conducted by WeAreOpen and Gemius in 2014, 83% of future employees above the age of 18 and still studying, would choose a workplace where there is no negative discrimination.
International research proves that companies that are diverse and inclusive and have an open corporate culture perform better financially and have happier employees. They can hire and retain people better, understand their market better, and are more innovative. Being open is not just the right thing to do – it makes business sense.
WeAreOpen offers various services that help organizations in their efforts to be more diverse and inclusive. Our services offer leaders as well as employees content and insights as well as opportunities to get inspired by other, like-minded leaders and experts from the OPEN Community and beyond.
Supporting Circle
Supporting Circle members are the WeAreOpen annual sponsors and those large and small businesses that opted for the Supporting Circle status.
We launched the Supporting Circle for organizations that want to contribute to WeAreOpen’s mission of promoting openness as a value for businesses, while providing tools and insights to improve their own workplace culture. The members of the Supporting Circle are typically those who would like to take a step further and strive to be part of the real-life community of openness-promoting organizations. Members of the Supporting Circle can secure their seats at OPEN Backstage events, and they can be among the first to be invited to campaigns and other opportunities created by WeAreOpen.
Share ideas and work together with like minded organizations to improve openness
Contribute towards helping fulfill WeAreOpen’s mission
Get access to OPEN Backstage events
Get content in the form of events and presentations that cover a range of diversity topics
Other benefits include organization logo highlighted on the WeAreOpen website and discounted tickets for OPEN Conference
Two Steps For Companies Program
Over the last two years, 60% of Hungarian employees experienced change at their workplace directed at ensuring equal opportunities for both men and women, yet they expect more to come. Leaning on our national representative research, and to help companies improve their internal gender equality, in 2018 we launched the Two Steps for Companies Program to improve gender balance at the workplace.
The first step, we believe, is to know where you are right now. With the help of our partner, Gemius, we can measure your company, benchmark it against the national average, and, using this data, help you with action items as well. We have also created a data-driven Certificate program to recognize your company’s achievements. The program is called Two Steps, because according to the research conducted by WeAreOpen and Gemius in 2018, the majority of people in Hungary believe that men and women have to work together to ensure equal opportunities for women at the workplace.
Measure your performance against that of the national average
Receive a special certificate – Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Diamond that represents how gender-balanced your organization is
Get actionable insights to create a more gender equal workspace
Implement positive change within the organization
Make your organization more attractive to current and potential employees by increasing brand love
OPEN Conference
OPEN Conference is an international diversity conference for business leaders & decision makers in the heart of Central Europe. The goal is to create the community of open-minded business leaders and experts, who are determined to act on diversity and open corporate culture. At the conference we provide inspiration, data, and insights, as well as the network that can help make positive change happen.
Designed for CEOs, HR, Marketing and Communications decision makers, the 2 day event aims to showcase the best practices and solutions by well-respected business leaders and thought influencers.
Speakers and panelists include but are not limited to Jonathan McBride (BlackRock), Nidhi Singh (Microsoft); Laszlo Bock (Google), and Claire Harvey (Diversity Role Models).
In 2019, more than 200 people from over 10 countries attended the conference! Speakers included: Anke den Ouden (Microsoft), Kevin A. Murray (Citi), Judit Szűcs (Coca-Cola Hungary), Olga Kozierowska (Success Written in Lipstick Foundation) and many others.
For the first time ever the winners of the OPEN Spotlight Award were announced: check out the list of shortlisted nominations and winners on the OPEN Conference website.
Meet CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, HR, and Communications heads, and the members of Employee Resource Groups from around the world
Find out more about topics such as LGBTQ+ inclusion, gender equality, inclusion of people with disabilities and Roma people at the workplace
Participate in workshops and find the best solution for your organization to trigger real action
Learn more about the business case for diversity and inclusion for your organization
In 2018, we pioneered the Children’s Corner – a designated zone for children with qualified caretakers – so working parents could attend the conference
OPEN Talks
Based on your company needs, we’ll curate content for your employees in the form of presentations, workshops, theatrical performances and more! With access to a pool of experts and speakers, we cover a large range of diversity topics. You can explore various options provided by WeAreOpen with top speakers and opinion leaders. We can provide recommendations for organizations of WeAreOpen’s partners: performers, artists, speakers, experts for programs and events related to diversity and inclusion.
Diversity branding
Integrate diversity into your organization’s employer brand communication and build diverse high performing teams
Diversity recruitment
Effective diversity hiring strategies, building an inclusive recruitment process and ways to hire a more diverse workforce
Future of work
Inclusive organisational culture is key for future success for all companies. How do you create it?
WeAreOpen Speakers
Melinda Miklós
CEO – WeAreOpen
Melinda is the CEO of WeAreOpen, and was on the organization’s founding team back when she was the Press Officer for Google in Hungary.
Melinda holds masters degrees in economics, communications, and psychology. She is also a fellow of Aspen Institute’s Young Leaders Program.
Fluent in Hungarian and English, Melinda has given multiple presentations at international company events and international conferences. She has a multidisciplinary knowledge and approach when it comes to diversity and inclusion, and is committed to seeing a more open world.
Judit Radnai-Tóth
Employer Branding Strategist
Employer branding and employee experience consultant with a deep understanding of corporate and startup environments, Judit understands how to drive growth through a well-defined people and employer branding strategy.
As a consultant, she helps growth organizations lower recruiting efforts, attract, retain and motivate top talent by building a sustainable employer branding strategy and designing employee experience. In her volunteer time, she advocates for diversity and women in tech.
Speakers we work with
Adam Bethlenfalvy
Trainer, Actor, Teacher
Adam Bethlenfalvy trainer, actor/teacher, has worked in different positions in theatre in education companies in Hungary and Great Britain since 1998. He works in the youth and community department of Örkény Theatre Budapest. He has completed his PhD research in Drama Education at Birmingham City University. He is a lecturer at Károli Gáspár University, Budapest. Adam often participates in planing and delivering tailor made, drama based trainings for Hungarian and international organisations.
Veronika Hermann, PhD
Assistant Professor, Eötvös Loránd University
Veronika Hermann, PhD is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at Eötvös Loránd University. She obtained her PhD in literary and cultural studies in 2015. Her main research interests are identity politics in popular culture and the realtion between Cold War and global popular culture. She gives lectures ont he relation between popular cultural and social minority groups, this is how she met with the amazing team of We Are Open. She is ont he editorial board of Balkon Contemporary Art Review and Médiakutató – Hungarian Journal of Media Research. Her first book was published in 2020 with the title Identity Politics in Hungarian Literature.
Beáta Nagy
Professor, Institute of Communication and Sociology; Co-Director of Gender and Cultural Centre
Corvinus University, Budapest
Prof. Beáta Nagy works at the Institute of Communication and Sociology at Corvinus University of Budapest, where she is also the co-director of the Gender and Cultural Centre.
In 2015 Beáta published a book on the lack of female students in IT and technology (Háttérben. Kísérlet egy szervezeti nemi rend feltárására, Budapest, L’Harmattan.) She has published articles in both Hungarian and English journals, such as Gender in Management; Gender, Work and Organization. Her previous research dealt with the work-life balance, the present one focuses on time teenagers and their parents spend together with special attention to mobile technology. Last year she carried out a Hungarian-Japanese comparative research on womenomics. She has recently co-edited special issues for the journals Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics and for the European Management Review.
She is an elected board member of the European Consortium for Sociological research (ECSR) and member of the Habilitation Committee at the ELTE university. In 2017 she received the Master Teacher Award from the National Council of Student Research Societies – OTDT. In 2018 she earned the Excellent Mentor Award at her home university.
Andrew Hefler
Grund Essentials
Andrew Hefler has been designing training based on improvisation techniques for 17 years. He is a director, trainer, working in theatre, music, film and television for nearly thirty years.
Declan Hannigan
Grund Essentials
Declan Hannigan has been training in applied improvisation for 12 years and has worked internationally with blue chip companies across the region and beyond. As an actor you can see him on all your streaming platforms with the likes of Charlize Theron and Jared Harris.
Grund Essentials
Applied improve takes the principles of improvisation for the theatre and applies them in a business context to help people become more effective leaders, generous teammates, and happier individuals. The method is founded in practise, we believe that people improve by doing. Participants come away with a practical toolset they can use in many different settings. We survive on stage by being flexible, adaptable, interested, open, communicative and be willing to innovate. These are skills that we love to pass on to others.
OPEN Consulting
As solutions for HR challenges, we offer actionable insights using design sprint methodology.
For your internal and external Communications efforts, we offer our team’s 10+ years experience to help make sure your messages and campaigns are in line with the goals while touching sensitive topics.