Diversity, inclusion and belonging are key to helping us be a sustainable company. To be a sustainable company, we need to set the stage for all employees to perform at their best and produce the most sustainably innovative ideas. The United Nations sustainability goals put people in the center, so we need diverse perspectives and backgrounds to meet these sustainability goals.  

We have a borad definition of diversity. Diversity is the people our workforce represents. It encompasses both characteristics (such as assigned or chosen gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation) and factors (such as education, work experience, language). Our diversity allows us to think differently, approach challenges differently and solve problems differently.

To make sure our differences add up to a valuable competitive strength, we depend on inclusive leadership and a culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Inclusion is the environment we create so that all individuals can contribute their full potential. Belonging is the sense that the individual’s contributions matter.  

We have different backgrounds, and we bring more collectively to the table than if we were all the same as each other
- Hilde Merete Aasheim, Hydro President & CEO

We are confident that when we include diverse perspectives, we make better decisions and create new opportunities. This is crucial for our business and directly linked to our profitability and sustainability agenda. To create a workplace where every employee experiences a feeling of belonging, we need to foster equity and enable all employees to contribute their full potential.

We have built our diversity, inclusion and belonging strategy on our overall business strategy and our core values: care, courage, collaboration. In diversity, inclusion and belonging, we have collected data from various sources to address gaps, variations and needs for improvements.

Our target is a high-performing and sustainable work environment based on inclusion of our differences. All leaders and employees are responsible to contribute to this. We want to foster an inclusive culture, strengthen inclusive leadership, lift underrepresented groups, improve team diversity, increase gender balance, and ensure a diverse talent pool.

In 2021, we put the spotlight on acknowledging and celebrating diversity days like Zero Discrimination Day, World Day of Cultural Diversity and Pride, among others.

Our CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim showed on LinkedIn during Pride month how we in Hydro are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. When you join us, you can be, too.