NS wants to be seen as an attractive employer where everyone can feel at home. This can be done by making the workforce and management reflect the composition of society at large, therefore letting NS ensure it is a diverse and inclusive organisation. We encourage the recruitment and retention of women, employees from migrant communities and people with occupational disabilities. We expect our suppliers to do the same.

Women at the top

At year-end 2018, women comprised 35% of the senior management at NS (2017: 32%). As in 2017, 33% of the members of the Supervisory Board were female and the Executive Board had two female members (40%).

People with occupational disabilities

In the past year, 51 people with occupational disabilities started work in the retail companies as hospitality or retail assistants. In 2018, a total of 82 people had a ‘social responsibility’ job, created at NS for people with occupational disabilities (71 in 2017). In 2018 various people with vocational and applied-university-level skills joined the organisation in ‘social responsibility’ jobs. We aim to have created 200 ‘social responsibility’ jobs by 2020 in all business units.
Last year, we also dedicated a great deal of effort to the obligation for suppliers to use people for NS work who are at a disadvantage in the normal labour market or who have occupational disabilities. In this way, we want to contribute together with our suppliers to social objectives for people who are at a disadvantage in the labour market. We are imposing this obligation in a number of ongoing contractual agreements and invitations to tender. This was done, among other things, in contracts for the management of bicycle storage facilities and the deployment of temporary staff.

Employees from migrant communities

NS wants to have more staff from migrant communities in managerial positions and in the higher salary scales. We do this by influencing and increasing the choice of managers in the selection process and by doing more to focus on specific groups in our recruitment. We are also working with a diverse recruitment team. In addition, we started an internal programme to create a more inclusive working environment with special attention for cultural differences.
Former refugees constitute a special group of employees. We are encouraging their intake for regular job vacancies and traineeships through intensive cooperation with the UAF (foundation for highly educated refugees), municipalities and other organisations. In 2018 we organized introductory meetings for the retail companies together with the organisations that help refugees find work. NS regularly shares what it has learned and its experiences with other employers, organisations and municipalities.