'The fairy tale bubble: Kaustuv’s take on the cultural diversity at imec'

Moving from metropolitan Calcutta to quiet Helsinki and then to even smaller Leuven, Kaustuv Banerjee has seen his fair share of cultural differences. But he never experienced the so-called cultural shock. In Kaustuv’s imec, language barriers disappear, nationalities become fluid and congeniality instead of individualism appears. “The culture of inclusion here is such a strong undercurrent. You don’t feel like an outsider. Diversity and inclusion are not forced on you – they’re just there.”

Not bound by nationality

As an international hub in the middle of the Flemish fields around Leuven, imec is a place that breathes science. For Kaustuv Banerjee, working at imec since 2017, stepping into the offices feels like stepping into a place where international borders and individual cultures disappear. Instead, newcomers are made to feel very welcome. Language barriers? No such thing. Even after four years in Leuven, Kaustuv can get by perfectly fine without speaking the local language. In a team where the majority of colleagues speak Dutch, Kaustuv has never felt sidelined as a non-Dutch speaker, because the lingua franca is English. In no way has he ever felt negatively affected by a language barrier.

Kaustuv admits that he doesn’t notice any important differences between his own and the Flemish working culture. For him, working at imec means working in such an international environment that the Flemish culture does not prevail. Even more than that, nationalities merge into one another and imec employees turn into world citizens: “You can never see the difference between people’s national backgrounds. The whole atmosphere is very congenial.” Additionally, the city of Leuven is so international as well that the typical Flemish culture is hard to know. This is why Kaustuv does not notice any cultural differences when he enters imec.

Strong culture of inclusion

The diversity of more than one hundred nationalities among its employees has created an opportunity for imec that the company has taken with both hands, providing multiple initiatives to externalize this diversity. During COVID-19, this included providing international employees with the possibility of working remotely from their home country. In this way, imec acknowledged the importance of having close friends and family around for the emotional well-being of its employees, which in turn results in a positive working environment. Before the pandemic hit, imec’s initiatives centered on organizing events for communities to mingle and share their cultural values. In both cases, imec tries to create a home for all of its employees who have to miss theirs.

The diversity of more than one hundred nationalities among its employees has created an opportunity for imec that the company has taken with both hands, providing multiple initiatives to externalize this diversity.

The culture of inclusion has also affected Kaustuv in a personal way. During his application process, when he was still living in Helsinki, Finland, he was positively surprised by the friendliness and personal aspect in the professional communication of imec. This was something he missed in the Finnish working culture. For Kaustuv, it is important to share the values of the people he is working with because those are people he sees day in and day out. Even before arriving in Leuven, Kaustuv felt that the values between him and imec were aligned. “Once I got here, I knew that my feeling was right: the organization cares about its employees. It’s not simply the diversity and the inclusion. The point is that you never feel like an outsider,” he says.

Lessons for the future

People tend to focus a lot on cultural differences, difficulties, and problematic experiences. Kaustuv believes that valuable lessons can be learned from focusing on those differences as opportunities and possibilities. With an open mind and an open heart, newcomers such as Kaustuv approach every little new thing as if they are seeing the world for the first time. “Maybe people make too much out of this cultural shock. Maybe they should consider that the people coming here are open to new experiences,” he adds. “I know I have come to Leuven as an outsider and I am comfortable with it. I moved to a new city, open for whatever would come at me. Luckily, those were only good things. Living in Leuven is like living in a big fairy tale bubble!”