Social responsibility
Responsible employer
Diversity, equality and inclusion
The foundation for the development of an equal, diverse and inclusive workplace community at Alma Media is provided by regular employee surveys, among other things. The survey results, salary analyses and other employee data are used as the starting point when Alma Media’s units update their non-discrimination, diversity and equality plans in two-year intervals. The plans cover topics such as differences in pay, the justification for fixed-term employment relationships and the job-specific gender distribution in each unit. Alma Media recruits new employees purely based on their competence and aptitude.
In accordance with the Group’s Code of Conduct, everyone must respect basic human rights. The company does not condone discrimination based on age, gender, race, skin colour, nationality or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, convictions, family relationships, sexual orientation or disabilities. Alma Media has a zero tolerance policy regarding the discrimination and inappropriate treatment of employees.
Alma Media recruits new employees purely based on their competence and aptitude.
Most of the Alma Media employees work full time. Each year, the Group’s media brands employ dozens of photographers and journalists by way of freelance contracts in addition to their in-house resources. The media brands order stories, videos and photos from the freelancers based on their needs. The Group also has freelancers working in its operating
countries in Eastern Central Europe, mainly in technology-related tasks.
In 2023, the largest age group in all of Alma Media’s country units was 30–50. In Finland, the proportions of employees aged under 30 and over 50 were almost equal. In the other operating countries, the second-largest age group was employees under 30 years of age. Alma Media’s Board of Directors had seven members in 2023. Two (29%) of them were women. The average age of the Members of the Board was 52 years. Alma Media’s Group Executive Team consisted of 10 members during the same year, three (30%) of whom were women. The average age of the Group Executive Team was 55 years. Women accounted for 38 per cent of supervisors in the Group as a whole and 45 per cent
of supervisors in Finland.
In the tables below, Alma Media’s country-specific information on the number of employees, distribution of supervisors, form of employment, length and age distribution of the employees (31.12.2023).
Competence development
In a constantly changing operating environment, competence development plays a key role in ensuring future competitiveness. Alma Media’s HR strategy supports the Group’s business through the goal-driven development of employee competence, amongst other things. It is based on competence targets, which are defined at the team level at a minimum. The Group’s aim is to have a personal plan prepared for each employee to support the development of their competence. Goal driven competence development is followed up on in one-on-one discussions between the supervisors and employees. Alma Media arranges training programmes that support the development of employee competence and invests in the collaborative learning of employees and knowledge sharing by organising mentoring programmes, competence workshops and theme events, amongst other things. The company takes a long-term approach to the development of managerial work and develops an international network of supervisors to support the sharing of best practices related to leadership and management.
Working conditions
Alma Media adheres to multi-location work principles, which facilitate and increase flexibility in the reconciliation of individual life situations and work, and improve well-being at work. The company provides its employees with workspace, equipment, technology, support services and occupational health care to support work performance. Good working conditions, also in the company’s subcontracting chain, are a precondition for the quality and productivity of the value chain. Respecting human rights, also in the company’s value chain, is a key aspect of sustainability in Alma’s services.
Responsible Media
Media are perceived to play a central role in defending democracy, pluralism, freedom of speech and peace in society. The responsibility of Alma’s media is measured by means of
performance indicators associated with the truthfulness of the content, the reliability of the sources, the accuracy of the content and the promotion of good commercial practice.
Alma Media does not receive or grant political or other contributions that could compromise its independence. The Group’s media grant discounts on advertising to non-profits and non-governmental organisations as well as parties and candidates in election advertising, and the terms of the discounts are the same for everyone. The Group’s target for the reliability and accuracy of content is that the number of condemnatory decisions of the Council for Mass Media addressed to the Group’s media must not exceed the threshold of five (5) condemnatory decisions.
The editorial departments of our media are committed to truthful, open and pluralistic journalism.
The truthfulness of marketing and preventing the misleading of consumers is a basic condition for campaigns published in the Group’s media and services. The automation and internationalisation of advertising and the increasingly complex digital advertising ecosystem require Alma Media to make significant investments in maintaining a high-quality and safe media environment. The Group systematically strengthens its technical capabilities and employee competencies to ensure that no advertising fraud or advertisements that are contrary to
good marketing practices are published in its online and mobile services, and that user data is not collected or used inappropriately in connection with advertising. Alma Media complies with the legislation governing marketing as well as the marketing communications industry’s self-regulation in monitoring the advertising activities of its customers and when engaging in marketing communications for its media brands and services.
The company promotes good commercial practice and complies with the marketing rules of the International Chamber of Commerce and the guidelines of the Council of Ethics in Advertising. The key principle guiding responsible operations is that the company’s online or mobile services do not contain advertisements that would violate the marketing regulations of the International Chamber of Commerce.
Secure service use, data security and data protection
Alma Media develops its online services with a long-term approach with the aim of providing consumers and advertisers with safe and versatile services with the best customer experience. The users of digital services in all of Alma Media’s operating countries can feel confident that their customer data is stored, managed and used responsibly. Alma Media assesses its performance as a responsible digital operator primarily from the perspective of the users of the Group’s services. Accordingly, the Group has selected the security of its services as the focus area of its responsibility efforts. The target in this area is that there are no serious data protection violations in the company’s online services.
The users of digital services can feel confident that their customer data is stored, managed and used responsibly.
The company regularly reviews the risks affecting data security and the ability to react to the risks of the changing environment. Data security and data protection will be strengthened
as necessary in order to reduce risks. In order to mitigate these identified risks (both external and internal threats), entities outside Finland have been integrated into the Group
network, which has brought all units under the same data security policies and controls, as well as user and access management.
The Group’s privacy policy describes the Group’s responsibilities, requirements and practices related to the collection, use and storage of data based on the applicable legislation. At Alma Media, users of online services are asked for the necessary permits and the data is primarily used to deliver the service ordered by the user, to develop the user experience and to meet users’ expectations. Secondarily, user data is used, for example, on the basis of user interest and behaviour, to target relevant advertising and content.
Green ethical service design
Alma Media has a framework for ethical and green service design. Most of Alma’s services run in cloud environments that are optimised as necessary to deliver the services as cost-efficiently and energy-efficiently as possible. The Group’s media have continued
the deployment of a design system, and platforms have been updated to take accessibility requirements into account even better than before.
Customer satisfaction
Alma Media’s ethical guidelines (Code of Conduct) guide the work of Alma employees also in handling customer relations, to guarantee fair competition and to promote sustainable development. Our customers’ trust in Alma Media is based on high-quality delivered and relevant content, good service and user experience, and reliable processing of customer data. Alma Media treats its customers equally and in compliance with competition law regulations. Pricing and terms of sale are transparent and fair. We exercise confidentiality in handling and storing customer data and respect the privacy of our customers. We observe the best practices associated with the processing of personal data and information security as well as the applicable legislation of each country we operate in.
Alma Media’s services and media are developed continuously. Customer satisfaction is measured by means of customer surveys, the Net Promoter Score and other customer
satisfaction measurements. Regular measurements at different stages of the customer path are supported by separate customer surveys.
Alma Media respects the UN Global Compact initiative, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
Read more from the annual report.
Read also about Alma Media’s environmental responsibility and good governance.