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Peer to Peer and the World of Work

Our society is becoming increasingly heterogeneous – this is also evident in the world of work and employment. This development offers new opportunities for employers and employees alike. However, it also presents challenges, particularly when it comes to conveying knowledge or providing low-threshold counselling. The peer-to-peer approach offers a solution for sharing knowledge, abilities and competencies on an equal footing.

 

This section features interviews with researchers who have explored questions related to peer-to-peer in their projects.

Our society is becoming increasingly heterogeneous. This is primarily due to transformation processes such as globalization, digitalization, demographic change, the individualization of lifestyles, and migration (Swiaczny 2015; Ernst 2025).

This growing social diversity also affects the world of work and employment: it presents companies and institutions, as employers, with both opportunities and challenges (cf. Statista Research Department 2024; Delorme 2025). In particular, it raises new questions in the fields of diversity and inclusion.
 
The peer approach represents one way of addressing the increasing diversity within the world of work while simultaneously promoting vocational participation. This approach is based on the understanding that people who share certain characteristics—and thus similar experiences—have a different socio-emotional access to one another. This, in turn, creates potential for those affected when it comes to the transfer of knowledge, skills, and competencies (Lichtenberg, n.d.). Such peers may act as facilitators of knowledge, advisors at eye level, or “critical friends” (Stifterverband, n.d.). This means they support members of their own group as contact persons for professional questions, train them (so‑called peer coaching, see also Wissensguide 2024), or advise them (so‑called peer counselling; EUTB, n.d.).
 
At the same time, the term peer counselling as a counselling method by people with disabilities for people with disabilities is closely tied to this very group (ibid.). Its origins lie in the peer counselling approaches of the U.S. Independent Living Movement of the 1960s; within the self-help culture of and for people with (impending) disabilities, it became increasingly established in Germany from the 1980s onward (cf. Braukmann et al. 2017, p. II). It is therefore not surprising that the peer approach also plays a role in various research projects related to the vocational participation of people with disabilities.

Braukmann et al. (2017).  Evaluation von Peer Counseling im Rheinland. Prognos AG/Universität Kassel. 
https://www.lvr.de/media/wwwlvrde/soziales/menschenmitbehinderung/1_dokumente/peer_counseling/170717_Peer_Counseling_Endbericht.pdf [03.02.2026]. 

Delorme, Camille (2025).  Diversity in Unternehmen: Warum Vielfalt heute der Schlüssel zum Erfolg ist. Stepstone. 
https://www.stepstone.de/e-recruiting/hr-wissen/arbeitsmarkt/diversity/ [03.02.2026]. 

Ernst, Sonja (2025). 
Schnelleinstieg: Warum sich Deutschlands Bevölkerung wandelt. bpb. https://www.bpb.de/themen/soziale-lage/demografischer-wandel/571095/schnelleinstieg-warum-sich-deutschlands-bevoelkerung-wandelt/ [03.02.2026]. 

Fachstelle Ergänzende Unabhängige Teilhabeberatung (EUTB) (o.D.). Peer Counseling. 
https://www.teilhabeberatung.de/woerterbuch/peer-counseling#:~:text=Der%20Begriff%20%22Peer%20Counseling%22%20(,Gemeinsamkeit%20mit%20Person%20B%20aufweist [03.02.2026]. 

Lechtenberg, Judith (o.D.). Peer to Peer – Unterstützung auf Augenhöhe. Überaus. 
https://www.ueberaus.de/wws/peer-counseling.php#:~:text=Im%20Kern%20geht%20es%20hierbei,aktiv%20in%20den%20Lernprozess%20eingebunden [03.02.2026]. 

Statista Research Department (2024). Diversity in der Arbeitswelt – ein Überblick. 
https://de.statista.com/themen/8045/diversity-in-der-arbeitswelt/#topicOverview [03.02.2026]. 

Stifterverband (o.D.). Peer-to-Peer-Strategieberatung. 
https://www.stifterverband.org/peer2peer-beratung-bawue [03.02.2026]. 

Swiaczny, F. (2015). Demografischer Wandel und Migration in Deutschland. In: Genkova, P., Ringeisen, T. (Hrsg.) Handbuch Diversity Kompetenz: Perspektiven und Anwendungsfelder. Springer, Wiesbaden. 
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-08003-7_12-1 

Wissensguide (2024). Was ist eigentlich... Peer-to-Peer-Coaching? Kursfinder. 
https://www.kursfinder.de/wissensguide/was-ist-eigentlich-peer-to-peer-coaching-22867 [03.02.2026]. 

Interviews

BESSER

Interview related to the project BESSER, which aimed to promote self-employment among people with disabilities through start-up initiatives. show more

LAUT

Interview related to the project LAUT project, which, using the peer-approach, aimed at promoting the social and occupational participation of approximately 100 participants each year by improving their psychosocial situation Show more

Further information on REHADAT (in German)

Peer Counseling
REHADAT-Lexikon

Peer-Ansatz
REHADAT-Literatur