26-06-2024 16:25

Gender balance target in top leadership reached

We have committed to ensure that both men and women have at least 40 per cent representation at the top three leadership levels combined by 2025. In 2023 the target was reached for the first time.
Confident and happy business women

We believe that equal representation of women and men will benefit our efforts to retain and attract a diverse workforce, allowing us to better serve our customers and leading to better results. Our definition of gender balance is when neither women nor men are represented by less than 40 per cent.

The target set for the top management level is a part of our sustainability targets, but the “Minimum 40” is an aspiration that covers all parts and levels of the organisation. In the total workforce we have almost 50/50 gender balance and among leaders we have a 44/56 per cent split. 

Chief People Officer Christina Gadeberg.

“We’ve seen fine progression over the past couple of years and are in line with the targets we’ve set, and not only at top management level,” explains Chief People Officer Christina Gadeberg. 

“We’ve worked a lot to bring in the diversity and inclusion agenda when we hire, promote and set up a team – with the aim of making it a natural part of all processes and generally of our actions and mindset. We’ve been mobilising and activating the organisation – and we can see that we get results,” she adds. 

Christina Gadeberg stresses that the ambition requires constant focus, not least when it comes to recruitment of leaders and talent management. That is why we have policies and guidelines to help us for example to write job ads as well as training and tools. To follow the progress and ensure that we are on track, we monitor and report internally on a regular basis. This way we can identify challenges as well as opportunities to develop. We also benchmark towards peers, and we can see that we get higher scores and climb in rankings year by year. 

How to get there

Christina Gadeberg was recently interviewed to the Danish newspaper Børsen. In the article “Nordea has cracked the code for more women in top management” she provides tips for both women and organisations on how to change the gender balance. 

Tips for women on how to reach the top 

  • If you have the ambition to lead, be open about it and discuss your aspirations with your leader. Be more articulate and do not expect others to see your talent.
  • Be curious about leadership and development opportunities to enable self-development.
  • Grab the opportunities that present themselves.   

 Tips for increased gender balance in companies 

  • If you decide to change the balance, be ambitious and consistent.
  • Both women and men must be involved in the work. 
  • Focus on the pipeline by working with talents early in their career.

Learn more about how we work with diversity and inclusion and see our Diversity & Inclusion Policy.

Diversity & inclusion
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