Dutch government not achieving own diversity targets

The Dutch government failed to achieve most of the targets it set for more diversity in its workplace. And even if the targets are achieved, the government workforce is still significantly less diverse than society, NU.nl reports based on the confidential Diversity and Inclusion Monitoring Report from the end of 2022.

The government scores particularly badly when it comes to placing ethnically diverse people in high positions. Some Ministries do slightly better regarding cultural diversity in lower positions and middle management, but the figures show these people have little chance of promotion.

The target for cultural diversity in high positions is already very low at only 4 percent. At the end of 2022, only 3 percent of people in high government positions had “a non-Western background,” as the report calls it.

The target for middle management is 8 percent. That goal was achieved at the end of last year, but there are significant differences within the Ministries. It also does not reflect society - in 2021, 14 percent of Netherlands residents were culturally diverse.

Rabin Baldewsingh, the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism (NCDR), is very disappointed by these figures. He is particularly critical that the government can’t manage to employ 4 percent culturally diverse people in high positions. “That is already a super low percentage. But even that is not possible,” he told NU.nl.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, the department responsible for ensuring that companies pursue a diverse personnel policy, also failed to meet the target for senior positions. At the end of last year, 31.7 percent of the Ministry’s officials were culturally diverse - by far the largest share among all Ministries. But they were mainly in lower functions. Minister Karien van Gennip told NU.nl that diversity becomes more complicated the higher the position. “This is partly a matter of time and growth of those who enter the lower scales,” she said.