During the summer Nordea Estonia will join the celebration of diversity when Nordea takes part in Pride in across several countries. Nordea Estonia will be joining Tartu 2024 Pride in August, with a strong presence on 17 August – the day of the parade and the picnic in the Toomemägi park. Nordea employees, members from the Nordea LGBTQ+ employee resource group, friends and supporters will gather and celebrate diversity in the streets of Tartu, which has also been chosen as a European Cultural Capital in 2024.
“To us, Pride is a festive highlight in a string of activities throughout the year to nurture diversity and inclusion at our workplace,” explains Tiina Käsi, Country Senior Executive. “Other recent important events took place in May when we marked the EU Diversity Month with various activities that put the spotlight on for example cultural stereotypes, ability variations and so on, and this is generally something we work with on a daily basis as part of the DNA of our diverse workplace.”
…that the Estonian Human Rights Centre and Ministry of Social Affairs have awarded Nordea Estonia the Diverse Workplace quality label for three times in a row? The Diverse Workplace label is awarded to employers who respect equal treatment and an inclusive organisational culture and whose efforts to manage diversity are an example to others.
A fact that shows what Tiina Käsi is talking about is the mix of nationalities that work together at the offices in Tallinn. At the moment about 55 nationalities are represented at the premises.
“English is our working language and people come with quite a wide mix of competencies and backgrounds. As we serve the Nordic market with high-level customer services, we need people with different backgrounds and language skills. We’re in many ways not a standard Estonian workplace and also somewhat different from other banks as you don’t need a background in banking to come and work with us. What we offer is an opportunity to learn about banking and grow with us, no matter where you come from.”
The commitment to diversity and inclusion is not new to Nordea Estonia. The company was the first corporate team ever to attend Pride in Tartu in 2022 and cultural diversity has been a significant part of the company’s DNA for years.
“Our support for the LGBTQ+ community and commitment to stand up for fundamental human rights have helped us move forward in so many ways. It all comes down to being respected for who you are, to foster belonging and inclusion and not engage in any form of discrimination. As the main sponsor of Pride we want to make a positive impact for our employees, customers and society at large,” says Tiina Käsi.
Nordea has employee-led groups focusing on areas such as LGBTQ+, ability variation, age diversity, gender equality and cultural diversity across the countries that the company operates in. All employees can dedicate 16 hours of their working time on activities in the employee resource groups.