Our business is made up of people – for people. What matters to people, matters to us. At H&M Group, our goal is for every colleague to feel good while doing good work, in an environment free from any form of discrimination.
Our success is based on our diverse employees
We are a global company, which means we have colleagues from many different cultures and backgrounds. As such, we respect and reflect all people and cultures by creating an inclusive, diverse and equitable environment in our entire organisation.
All employees of the H&M group contribute to the company’s success. The diversity of the workforce in terms of age, gender and ethnicity, among others, is tremendously valuable to us.
How we make it happen
Our initiatives are divided into three main lines of action:
1. Increased awareness of inclusion and diversity through training
At any time, employees can access our robust inclusion and diversity curriculum filled with resources that address common workplace issues. These learning paths review current thinking and best practices on essential topics such as unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, cultural appropriation and representation, psychological safety and various others. Trainings are available for all employees through internal learning platforms. We also have a collaborative forum that enables inclusion and diversity community/responsibles to come together, share ideas and co-create a successful strategy.
2. Improved diverse representation
Recruitment processes
Building more diverse teams represents an important part of our inclusion and diversity work. To do so, and to be fully inclusive when acquiring new talent, we have structured, fair, transparent and competency-based recruitment processes to minimise subjectivity and bias. Committed managers and HRs trained to understand why and how we should build diverse teams ensure that we create internal and external talent pipelines, expand our diversity recruitment and increase our representation.
Insights dashboard
We know data is key to understanding H&M Group’s progress in inclusion and diversity. During 2022, we launched our new global insights dashboard that compiles information of selected metrics on inclusion, equity and diversity (through self-assessment questions, selected questions from our employee survey and demographic data). This internal tool offers an overview, as well as detailed information, which will support in identifying improvement areas and help guide decision-making in relation to inclusion and diversity.
3. Equity: ensure fair and equal opportunities
The People Engagement Pulses
Our employee survey, The People Engagement Pulses (PEP), allows our colleagues to voice their opinions. This online survey covers employee engagement, culture, inclusion and diversity. The outcome of PEP helps us create a base for discussion and actions for our colleagues and businesses to develop and grow. We also conduct a survey dedicated solely to inclusion and diversity. The Inclusion and Diversity Pulse gives us an opportunity to receive feedback and input around important topics linked to inclusion and diversity such as equal opportunities, discrimination, belonging, our diversity commitment, acceptance and much more.
LEAD
We offer development programs like our LEAD (Learn, Educate, Accelerate and Develop) program in H&M US, to help employees with their career progression. LEAD identifies internal talent from traditionally underrepresented or marginalised groups. It offers an accelerated one-year program to develop their leadership skills while pairing selected individuals with mentors and coaches from the H&M US organisation. Meant to empower new talent, LEAD aims to create a stable, diverse and sustainable system to build inclusivity into the foundation of future leadership. We are looking to expand the programme outside of the US in the near future.
Colleague Resource Groups
To enable belonging and a culture of inclusion at H&M Group, we have Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs) – voluntary, colleague-led groups supported by the organisation, aimed at fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. The CRGs are a safe space where colleagues can connect, build community, network with leaders and peers, and develop personally and professionally. They enable greater cultural agility, strengthen colleague engagement and celebrate and value our colleagues’ unique differences.
