Semcon StoriesMobility
Diversity brings value to our business offerings, our culture, and our personal development
“I strongly believe in the empowerment of people. It’s all about listening and encouraging everyone to have the same opportunities to show their ideas or solutions.” Roger Terada is team leader at Semcon in Resende, Brazil. Read his Semcon Story about why diversity is of such importance for the operations.
Brazil is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country with a lot of immigrants who came here trying to improve their lives. We don’t have one single racial or ethnic majority – and I think that makes Brazil strong and unique.
Diversity is the variety of differences between individuals. It’s not only the differences in identity themselves, but also how others perceive those differences. Workplace diversity is no different. It refers to the variety of differences between individuals in an organization – not only how individuals identify themselves but also how others perceive them.
Diversity within a workplace encompasses race, gender, ethnic groups, age, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship status, political thinking, and mental and physical conditions, as well as other distinct differences between people.
Diversity brings great value on both organizational and personal levels
Innovation: a heterogeneous group of people will contribute with perspectives that can lead to breakthroughs and insights that a homogeneous group would not think of.
Employee performance: in a workplace with a variety of cultures, backgrounds and ways of thinking, people feel more comfortable being themselves and are more productive colleagues.
New perspectives: with a mix of unusual backgrounds, nationalities, and cultures, you get a new range of perspectives. This can lead to benefits, such as better problem solving and increased productivity.
Increased profits: studies show that companies with diverse executive boards have a 95% higher return on equity than those with homogeneous boards.
It is very important to work actively to maintain an open and broad horizon to ensure that we achieve a good mix of employees.
In Brazil, whenever possible, we look for new team members who fit into Semcon’s inclusion programme based on the recommendations of hiring PWD (people with disabilities), young apprentices, and as much as possible, maintaining a preference of hiring women over men. We also offer lectures and training focused on these topics and I always try to encourage and motivate our employees to take part in them.
About Roger Terada
My history at Semcon started on December 1, 1999 when we were just doing IVM projects, and we used to develop wiring diagrams for automotive clients.
After this first experience in the automotive world, I was invited by this client to join them. A lot of hard work in different areas and great opportunities consolidated my career in the light vehicles world. On December 1, 2020 (precisely 21 years later!), I returned to Semcon Group. But this time, to lead a group developing technical information for heavy vehicles – trucks and buses. Light or heavy, the automotive industry stimulates my passion and obstinacy to do my best, always supporting and team building with this same passion. My passion for cars goes beyond work, so much so that I have a complete workshop in my garage, with lift, hydraulic press, air compressor and much more!
