At H&M Group, our goal is to provide every employee with the right to feel good while doing good work in an environment free from any form of discrimination. Because Inclusion and diversity are not static, they are ever-changing topics, we ensure our education and corporate cultural awareness grows alongside them. Committed to ongoing self-reflection, we know our progress can help pave a more inclusive and diverse fashion industry one step at a time.
Recruitment
Growing Inclusion and diversity means making a more diverse workforce. To build diverse teams and 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 we create internal and external talent pipelines, expand our diversity recruitment, and increase our representation.
Trainings
Employees can access, at any time, 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 competence, accountability and various others. We also have a collaborative forum that enables Inclusion and diversity to come together, share ideas, and co-create a successful strategy.
Career development
We offer development programs like our LEAD (Learn, Educate, Accelerate and Develop) program in H&M USA, 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 USA 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.
Employee networks
Internally, we are creating spaces to amplify the voices of our colleagues through employee networks known generally as Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs) in the USA. These groups are voluntary, employee-led groups whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with the organisations they serve. By creating spaces where colleagues can connect, build community, and give valuable input to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, the ERG/CRGs enable greater cultural agility, strengthen colleague engagement, and signal to our colleagues that their unique differences are valued. They are an essential component in driving a culture of inclusion at H&M Group.
PEP
The People Engagement Pulses (PEP) allows our colleagues to voice their opinions. If there is a better way forward, we will discover it together. 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.
Data and representation
We know data is key to understanding H&M Group’s progress in Inclusion and diversity and inform target areas for improvement. As a support for us internally in this, we are providing/launching a tool across our organisation, an Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Index.
The aim is for the tool to be implemented globally, and compiles information of selected metrics on Inclusion, equity and diversity (through self-assessment questions, selected questions from our employee survey and demographic data). This offers an overview as well as detailed information of selected areas, which will support in identifying what and where improvement and progress is needed. It enables analysis of relevant scopes across our organisation and will serve to:
- Indicate our status on Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Index in our organisation (on local and organisational levels)
- Detect patterns and/or systematic unconscious non-inclusive inequalities that can be corrected/acted upon
- Support us in defining goals, targets, and relevant action plans, and hence improve progressively on Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Index beyond our legal obligation to ensure non-discrimination
