Diversity and Inclusion
"At Vestas, diversity and inclusion are key strategic priorities since they enhance employee wellbeing, create financial growth, and lead to more innovative solutions. And it is, simply put, the right thing to do. Indeed, we want to create the most inclusive company within the energy industry."
Kerstin Knapp, Executive Vice President of People & Culture at Vestas
Our Diversity & Inclusion mission statement
At Vestas, we believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce is vital for accelerating the green energy transition globally. We know that our differences make us stronger, more innovative, and better equipped to address the challenges of the future. Therefore, we are committed to making sure that all potential, future, and current Vestas employees are guaranteed equal opportunities regardless of social identity.
Everyone must feel safe, valued, and know that their voice will be heard. This journey has only just begun - together, we will keep moving forward and become sustainable in everything we do. Our aim is to become 'The safest, most inclusive, and socially responsible workplace in the energy industry'. While our D&I efforts are driven out of our People & Culture organisation, we believe that everyone can contribute to making Vestas a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
How are we currently performing?
Nationalities
We are proud to be a truly global company. In 2020, our company was home to over 100 nationalities.
Age
We are proud to be an intergenerational company. New, fresh insights are key to keep us driving forward as a company, while we also value those who come with extensive industry expertise and a long professional career.
Freedom of association
During 2021, 38% of employees are represented by an independent trade union or covered by collective bargaining agreements in the regions where it is applicable.
Gender
Currently there is a gender imbalance in our workforce. While these numbers are unfortunately not unusual for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries, we are working to change this with the Vestas Sustainability Strategy and the Global Talent Management Strategy.
As a first step, we are gathering data globally to understand our workforce and measure our progress on improving the gender equity across the globe. We aspire to improve our representation in all areas of diversity in accordance with federal, state, and local laws regarding tracking and reporting. In accordance with local regulation requirements to establish a goal in Denmark, we aspire to increasing the percentage of women in leadership positions in the company to 25 percent by 2025, and to 30 percent by 2030.
Our Diversity & Inclusion initiatives
We have conducted a review of our recruitment process as a first step to increase the future intake of diverse talents. The review has included topic experts from our external partner on diversity, Mercer, and our internal process owners and specialists to cover all areas of the process. The insights we have gained in this review are currently being used to update our internal recruitment procedures and practices.
In 2020, we invested in software capable of scanning text to identify biased terminology - provided by Develop Diverse. The tool is up-and-running at Vestas, and all our recruiters are being measured monthly to ensure they are scanning all job advertisements before publication. The goal is to ensure that the tool is rolled out across Vestas, so that all our communication is inclusive and does not enforce biases about different social identities. This is part of ensuring more diversity in applicants and thereby increasing the diversity in our talent pipeline.
We have also partnered with the external diversity and inclusion experts at Mercer to conduct a full external audit of our pay equity in seven of our main markets with focus on the pay equity between genders, nationalities and generation compared job by job. Our People and Culture (HR) Department is currently following up with the results of this audit and the actions suggested by Mercer through local engagement.
At Vestas, we firmly believe that everyone has the right to work in an inclusive work environment that is free from harassment and discrimination of any kind. We celebrate our employees’ diversity and do not tolerate harassment and discrimination of any kind.
To proactively ensure an inclusive and fair workplace, we launched an Anti-harassment and Anti-discrimination e-learning campaign in late 2021. As of May 2022, 19,145 employees (66% of our total workforce) have completed this e-learning training.
It is our goal to ensure that 100% of our employees take this e-learning training over the coming years. Additionally, any kind of harassment or discrimination should be reported to EthicsLine, the Vestas whistleblower system.
External collaboration
Women in Wind
Currently, only one-fifth of the global wind energy workforce identify as women, and two-thirds of them perceive gender-related barriers in the industry (IRENA and Women in Wind 2020). Women in Wind is a leadership program which promotes diversity across the wind energy industry and accelerates the careers of women in wind power; it is managed by the Global Wind Energy Council and the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition. Vestas is proud to support the Global Ambassadors for Women in Wind, championing diversity, inclusivity and sustainability around the world.
Above & Beyond
We are partner in The Diversity Council - a strategic corporate alliance founded in Denmark. The Council seeks to address the barriers that obstruct the advancement of more women into the top level of management in corporate leadership. This year, we are taking part in the “Lead the future” Campaign. Under the hashtag #leadthefuture, the stories of existing female executives will be shared online - showcasing role models to inspire future female leaders.