1/20/2012 2:30 PM
Each year, Swedish business magazine Chef issues awards to managers and companies that have excelled in the fields of Leadership, Diversity and Health. Axfood is one of the companies nominated in the Diversity category.
After the selection process and interviews, three finalists have now been shortlisted by the jury. In addition to Axfood, these are Manpower Telge Jobbstart and burger chain Max Hamburgerrestauranger. The winner will be announced at the Competence Gala on 14 March at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm.
Diversity an integral part of Axfood
Axfood’s diversity encompasses brands, products, customers and employees. The diverse range of skills and experience among employees enables us to meet the various needs of our customers and is critical to Axfood’s success.
Diversity activities
Axfood does a number of things to support diversity, including:
- A long-term dialogue on attitudes and behaviours in the management training course ‘Leading in Axfood’, which is based on Axfood’s core values
- Training managers in how to conduct objective recruitment
- Offering workwear that meets our employees’ wishes (headscarves)
- Having quiet rooms
- Topping up parental leave pay
- A global assortment
- Welcome signs in several languages
Objective
Axfood’s objective for 2015 is to have a split of women and men in leading positions within the range of 40-60%. The male/female split of employees attending Axfood’s management training has been within that range since 2010.
Axfood’s core values, leadership profile and policies
Axfood’s core values, leadership profile and policies are underpinned by every employee’s ability to have influence and to develop, and they form the basis for the content of Axfood’s management training and performance reviews. Axfood’s executive committee has adopted a group-wide Equality Policy that sets out Axfood’s commitment to equal opportunities.
The criteria for the Diversity Award are
The diversity work of the award winner will be aimed at ensuring that everyone is treated equally, irrespective of age, gender, ethnic or cultural background, disability or sexual orientation.
- The award winner will have successfully promoted diversity in the workplace in a manner that has proven good for business.
- The award winner will be able to show how active diversity work has been integrated into the company/organisation’s general and long-term plans.
Previous winners of the award
2011 Kristina Colliander, head of children’s programming, Sveriges Television
2010 Per Thorstensson, CEO, Arlanda Express
2009 Veronica Hedenmark, founder and marketing director, VH Assistans
2008 Anders Olausson, manager of the Tuve factory, Volvo Trucks
2007 Lars Tengvall, project manager, NCC Construction Sweden
2006 Anastasia Georgiadou, CEO, Svensk Assistans och Handikappservice AB