Friendly culture creates the foundation for inclusion

How would you describe Alma’s culture in one word? This is a question we have asked our people in employee surveys for several years.

Year after year, the words that keep repeating are friendly and open.

“Last year, when we updated our employer value proposition, we definitely wanted to include the friendly culture as part of it. A friendly culture is an extremely good foundation upon which we can build also inclusion, trust, and a sense of belonging”, says Lotta Väinölä, Head of Employer Branding at Alma Media.

The other two elements of Alma’s employer value proposition are the opportunity for professional growth and meaningful work.

“Later we have realized that it is precisely the friendly culture that actually sticks in memory, evokes emotions, and distinguishes us from other companies,” adds Lotta.

At Alma, you can be yourself every day of the year

In honor of Pride Week, Alma’s offices display the colors of the rainbow to remind us that everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and valued for who they are.

However, an equal and inclusive culture is built year-round.

Here are some examples of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives at Alma:

• Monitoring DEI aspects as part of employee survey
• Training the entire staff
• Developing transparency and equality in rewarding
• Using gender-neutral terms and inclusive language in internal communications
• Integrating DEI themes into HR processes
• DEI breakfasts with employees
• Establishing the Women in Tech at Alma network
• Alma Career Inlusive Lab that aims to increase the employment of people with disabilities.

Towards even more ambitious DEI work

This spring, Alma Media participated in the UN Global Compact initiative’s SDG Ambition training, during which an even more ambitious and systematic plan was built to make DEI themes an integral part of Alma’s business.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion were chosen as the main themes for development because equal learning and development opportunities emerged as key priorities in Alma’s materiality analysis.

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