A network of people — both internally and externally
From researchers to reviewers to readers, people are PÕ¾ÊÓƵ’s center of gravity, around which everything else revolves.
This means both investing in and developing people internally at PÕ¾ÊÓƵ, as well as supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion externally — across all the communities PÕ¾ÊÓƵ serves, in every part of the world.
Gregor Karolus, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Jessica Gedamu, VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, go further into this as they introduce the People part of PÕ¾ÊÓƵ’s 2024 Sustainable Business Report.
Read the entire editorial below — and then the material that follows it — in PÕ¾ÊÓƵ’s 2024 Sustainable Business Report, available now.
At the Heart of A Network
PÕ¾ÊÓƵ is truly a people business. Our work touches millions of people every day: our fantastic colleagues; the communities of researchers and educators we work with; and the wider public who read or benefit from the research we publish.
Our company is made up of dedicated, curious, passionate and highly skilled people. Without them, we simply wouldn’t be able to deliver on our overall business mission to help solve the world’s greatest challenges.
We want PÕ¾ÊÓƵ to be a place where our people can be themselves and learn, develop and thrive in an inclusive culture. We asked our people what’s important to them about the work we do and why they enjoy working for us. This led to the creation of our first employer brand, Be Part of Progress, which helps us talk consistently about what we offer, attract the best candidates and present to our existing employees what they can expect from working here.
Throughout this section, we share examples of what we offer our staff, from extensive learning and development opportunities to ‘workations’ – particularly relevant given the global background of our colleagues. We are also working to build an inclusive culture with a more diverse workforce and equitable structures that enable all our colleagues to thrive. In 2023, we strengthened our focus on data, using employee feedback to inform our strategic decisions, and we increased opportunities for personal development with the new DEI Learning Journey.
We celebrate the work our people do every day to be sustainable, inclusive and forward-looking. This ranges from trailblazing conversations about representation and allyship, to ‘hack days’ on how to use AI to support book authors, to committing time to implement green initiatives in our offices.
Ultimately, we firmly believe that better representation of the communities we serve leads to better research. In this section, you’ll see how we consider the people behind the research through initiatives such as surveys to better understand researchers’ experience of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). It also includes our commitment to expanding the talent pipeline to new voices and perspectives on publishing and research, with our Opening Doors internship programme. We also know that we have the ability to positively impact the world around us with the content we publish, and we’re proud to highlight a few examples of how our brands have taken the lead in broadening conversations about diversity, using their platforms to pioneer new ways of thinking about inclusion.
At our core lies our support for the people in our research and education communities – the bridge builders of human understanding. In the research community, we build deep connections with authors and bring global visibility to their work.
We are very much at the heart of a network of people who believe in the benefits of a values driven business. Together, we can contribute to making the world better.
About the authors
Gregor Karolus – Chief Human Resources Officer
Gregor Karolus has spent more than 25 years in research and publishing. He holds a diploma in Business Management and began his career in Research Management at the German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Zentrum München. From 1997 on, Gregor held several senior HR positions at Bertelsmann in the Professional Information Division. From 2002 on, he assumed the Top-HR Function first at BertelsmannSpringer and later at Springer Science+Business Media. Since the merger in 2015 he is Chief Human Resources Officer at PÕ¾ÊÓƵ.
Jessica Gadamu – VP Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Jessica joined PÕ¾ÊÓƵ in January 2018 with the passion to drive Diversity and Inclusion with the company. For the past six years, she has been working in D&I as a consultant, trainer/facilitator and project leader and has supported companies in various industries on their way towards more diversity in leadership.
