Diversity and equality
Diversity and equality should be a self-evident and natural element of our business, and means that we all have the same rights, opportunities, and responsibilities within all areas, regardless of gender, age, ethnic or cultural background, disability, or sexual orientation. All employees have the right to be treated with respect, and we need to make use of everyone’s skills to succeed in the best possible way.
This is governed by our policy. Everyone should be treated equally, during internal and external recruitments, personal development, and salary negotiations. We largely apply individual salary negotiations, but any assessment in this context should take place only on the basis of factual criteria such as competence and performance. Since 2017, we have been producing annual documentation of all efforts related to equal treatment, including salary inventory. The purpose is to detect, rectify, and prevent unreasonable salary differences between men and women. This is a collaboration between the company and the local union branches. Together, we have determined that we are within the framework of what can be considered reasonable.
Victimization
Naturally, all forms of discrimination and harassment are prohibited in our workplaces. Harassment means any type of victimization, unwelcome behavior and derogatory comments, for example regarding a person’s gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, political opinions, ethnic or cultural background, skin color, appearance, or religion. It is always the victim who determines what behavior is unacceptable.
In our employee survey, we explore whether any of our employees have experienced or witnessed victimization or harassment. Five shorter pulse surveys were carried out within our flavor operations during 2020 and 2021, to explore our employees’ experience of the workplace. No incidents of victimization or harassment were reported. We are drawing up relevant targets based on the results of the surveys.
We have a whistleblower function, which means an employee experiencing misconduct can communicate with HR anonymously. There have been no reports of discrimination or any related issue via this function.
