NS wants to be an attractive employer where everyone can feel at home. To that end, we will have to ensure that our employees and managers, overall, reflect the diversity that we see in society at large. We encourage the recruitment and retention of women, employees from migrant communities and people with occupational disabilities. We expect our suppliers to do the same.
Women at the top
At year-end 2020, women filled 37% of senior management positions at NS (2019: 35%). At year-end 2020, 50% of the members of the Supervisory Board were female and the Executive Board had two female members (50%). Research into wage differences between men and women at NS has confirmed the absence of a gender pay gap.
Staff with occupational disabilities
In 2020, a total of 119 employees at NS had a ‘social responsibility’ job, created for people with occupational disabilities (2019: 103). Most of the successful candidates for these 'social responsibility' jobs in 2020 were people with a vocational or higher professional education diploma. Reaching our targets proved a challenge, due in part to the limited possibilities for onboarding new employees when working from home. At the end of 2020, three job vacancies had not yet been filled. We will continue our efforts in this field in the years ahead.
In January 2020, we launched a new strategy to attract and guide special talents for retail. The people involved, who have limited opportunities on the labour market, are given special on-the-job guidance. In May, June, July and August we trained retail staff and managers in supervising special talents. By 31 December, NS had placed 93 special talents.
Staff with a migration background
Launching a catch-up effort in 2020, NS devoted particular attention to the inflow and promotion of staff with a migration background, for example by running the ‘objective selection’ pilot of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, and through targeted marketing and collaboration with the ECHO centre of expertise and a diversity committee. These efforts have resulted in a larger share for members of this group of employees at the top, in senior management and among trainees. In addition, in a campaign involving employees and managers we specifically focused on cultural differences and the need for a more inclusive work environment. With other employers we developed a serious game called Blindspot, which centres on the recognition of latent prejudices.
In 2020, as part of our collaboration with the UAF foundation for highly educated refugees we set up a work-study programme on Technology & IT, and five asylum permit holders were able to gain work experience. In addition, we are encouraging their intake for regular job vacancies and in traineeships through intensive cooperation with the UAF and municipalities.