10. March 2023

Following strong international demand, the equality and diversity management standard has now been published in English

Last September, the equality and diversity management standard DS 5001 was published under Danish auspices. Since then, there has been a strong wish from Danish enterprises – not least global enterprises – for an English version, and this has now been fulfilled.

During recent years, diversity and equality have become a top agenda item for many organizations, public as well as private. However, it can be difficult to identify what is best practice and how to perform the actual equality and diversity work in a structured and measurable way. Consequently, more than 30 Danish organizations have developed the management standard DS 5001, which provides concrete and useful tools for systemising this work. The management standard can also help organizations avoid bias in the recruitment of new employees, ensure an inclusive culture, and provide clear policies and objectives for equality and diversity.

– The Danish management system standard for equality and diversity is the first of its kind worldwide to make requirements and enable certification, and there has been huge interest in the standard from other countries. From the outset, there has been a strong wish from Danish and global enterprises to have the standard translated into English, says Lise Schmidt Aagesen, Senior Consultant at Danish Standards.

Consequently, an English version of DS 5001 has now been published under the title "Diversity and equality management systems – Requirements and guidelines".

According to Lise Schmidt Aagesen, it is particularly the keen interest from abroad that has given rise to an English version of the standard. The great European and international attention the standard has attracted has also given rise to considerations of whether to develop an international standard for equality and diversity.

– We are in dialogue with a number of other standards organizations which take a keen interest in DS 5001 and are therefore in the process of identifying opportunities for developing an international standard based on the Danish standard for equality and diversity," says Lise Schmidt Aagesen.

About DS 5001

The aim of the management system is to make it easier for organizations to work systematically and continuously with equality and diversity and to document their own efforts and results.

DS 5001 provides a review of best practice and can be used by all types of enterprises and organizations, both as inspiration for getting started and as an aid to further developing the equality and diversity work. The standard can also help organizations avoid bias in the recruitment of new employees, ensure an inclusive culture, and provide clear policies and objectives for equality and diversity. It can also be used in conjunction with the UN Sustainable Development Goals – particularly Goals 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work and economic growth), and 10 (reduced inequalities).

In addition, enterprises and organizations may become certified to the new management standard, thus obtaining documentation of their ambitious and continuous work to achieve equality and diversity.

DS 5001 is organized along the lines of the basic structure of other ISO management systems – Harmonized structure. This means that if organizations are already using e.g. ISO 45001 or ISO 9001, then it will be easy for them to combine the systems into one common management system.