We are only as strong as we are diverse

Diversity at KONE essentially means having a versatile workforce made up of people with different backgrounds, education, nationalities, cultures and genders – you name it. At the end of the day, it covers a very broad spectrum of differences. And you know what? We see it as a huge strength for us at KONE. I can also say that we can only be as strong as we are diverse.

Diversity is important to KONE’s success because it relates to our competitiveness. Think about our customers. They are highly varied, come with different expectations, and appreciate a range of different things. So, the more versatile and diverse we are, the better we can create different types of solutions to meet their needs – and as a result, win with our customers.
To promote diversity in the workplace, we embrace differences and build a culture that is inclusive. We want everyone’s differences to be appreciated and our diverse team members to work well together. Last year, we had employees representing 129 different nationalities, and that’s fantastic proof that we have interesting careers here at KONE.

When it comes to attracting women employees – and the same is true for attracting all employees – we try to help everyone see beyond the industry we are in. We want to help everyone understand that our company is not only about engineering and servicing elevators, escalators and automatic doors. Our work deals with understanding how people move in and between buildings, and making the experience as smooth and comfortable as possible. We offer a wide range of interesting job opportunities to make that happen.

In order to retain employees, it’s important that we ensure everyone enjoys their work at KONE, has equal opportunities and gets support when needed.

At KONE, we promote leadership among women through several processes. A big part of this is succession planning, and actively identifying women who could become our next leaders. It seems women, for some reason, tend to have more doubts about their abilities than men. We support and encourage women to have stronger confidence in taking leadership opportunities.

Here at KONE, I think the sky is the limit. You can aim as high as you wish. I am extremely proud to work at KONE and think KONE is a fantastic company for any woman to work for, no matter where you are from.

When it comes to responsibility for encouraging diversity, I believe this is everyone's task, and it is, to a large extent, about inclusion. It’s everybody’s responsibility to understand how they deal with people who are different from themselves. Do we openly encourage dialogue and different opinions? And do we accept the fact that people might disagree with one another?

It’s a matter of ensuring that we are all tuned in to appreciating people’s differences, respecting each other and embracing working together.