Sustainability

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging at Vestas

​​​​​​We want to power the solution for many years to come – and we want to leave no one behind on our journey. 

Creating a space where our people can thrive, fulfil their potential, and belong by being their true selves, is essential to create a truly sustainable organisation; one that serves our employees in an equitable and inclusive manner. That’s why we have adopted Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) as our cultural foundation.

 

Our DEIB mission statement

At Vestas, we believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce is vital for accelerating the green energy transition globally. We know that our differences make us stronger, more innovative, and better equipped to address the challenges of the future. 

​​​​​​Therefore, we are committed to making sure that all potential, future, and current Vestas employees are guaranteed equal opportunities and fair treatment regardless of their background. Everyone must feel safe, valued, and a sense of belonging, and know that their voice will be heard. This journey has only just begun - together, we will keep moving forward and become sustainable in everything we do.

How are we currently performing?

Nationalities

We are proud to be a truly global company. In 2023, our company was home to over 88 nationalities.

Age

We are proud to be an intergenerational company. New, fresh insights are key to keep us driving forward as a company, while we also value those who come with extensive industry expertise and a long and professional career. 

Training

We are committed to fostering a culture of ongoing learning and empowering our employees through continuous upskilling. In 2023, we dedicated an average of 64 hours per employee to training initiatives.

Freedom of association

During 2023, 49% of employees were represented by an independent trade union or covered by collective bargaining agreements in the regions where it is applicable.

Gender

Currently we see a gender imbalance in our workforce. While this unfortunately is not unusual for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries, we are working to change it. We aim to increase the percentage of women in leadership positions in the company to 25 percent by 2025 and 30% by 2030 through various initiatives (read more below). Currently, we are on track to meet our goals. You can read more in our Sustainability reports here. 

At Vestas, we believe D&I is vital for accelerating the sustainable energy transition globally. We believe that our differences make us stronger, more innovative, and better equipped to address challenges. Inclusion, on the other hand, is our tool to harvest the power of these differences. 

Diversity is our wind, and inclusion, our turbine, turning potential into power.

Sinué Salgado, Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging 

Our DEIB main pillars

Safety first - also psychologically

The most crucial pre-requisite to creating a workplace where everyone can be their true selves, is to create an environment of psychological safety. We believe that everyone must feel safe to speak up, voice their opinions, and make mistakes – allowing us to continuously learn, develop, and innovate. We also see it as an enabler to create a physically safe environment where people feel encouraged and supported to speak up if they experience anything that violates our safety policies. This initiative is in collaboration with our Health, Safety, and Environment department. You can read more about our safety initiatives here. 

Diversity is nothing without inclusion

Having a diverse workforce is essential, but it has no value if we don’t know how to leverage our differences. Vestas is committed to building a culture where differences are acknowledged and welcomed, where different voices converge in conversations and interactions guided by our values and our code of conduct. We have a clear goal in mind: everyone should experience fair and equal opportunities and our people should feel a sense of belonging.

Inclusive Leadership Programme

To foster an inclusive mindset among our colleagues, we are investing heavily in Inclusive Leadership. In Vestas we believe that, consciously or unconsciously, we all embody leadership roles: some lead people, others lead knowledge, processes, interactions, or group dynamics. 

Through mandatory trainings, we aim to give leaders the awareness and tools to unleash the full potential of their teams. So far, we have rolled out two modules of the training, each with their special emphasis on different aspects of inclusive leadership. 

Inclusive Leadership is the cornerstone of an inclusive culture, and a strategic priority for Vestas.

Integrating Regional Strengths

We acknowledge that every single region and country has different strengths, challenges, needs, demands, and opportunities when it comes to DEIB. That is why we have a regional set-up where we establish and support Regional DEIB Teams that can drive the DEIB agenda across the organisation. These teams are voluntary to join and are led by passionate employees eager to make a lasting impact. 

Other DEIB initiatives

To make sure we are supporting and encouraging diversity and inclusion as a company, we find it crucial to begin our DEIB efforts early in the employee lifecycle. This includes when we brand Vestas as an employer and work to attract prospective applicants. As part of this effort,we make sure to show real employee stories to external audiences, and we aim to revamp our job descriptions and job advertisements to make them more attractive and inclusive. 

Since 2020, we have used Develop Diverse, a software capable of identifying biased terminology, as a mandatory tool to review all our job advertisements before publication. As an inherent part of our recruitment process, we track the use of the software tool continuously. Since the end of 2023, we have also used the software tool for employer branding campaigns. 

In relation to the recruitment process itself, we continuously review and improve. Currently, the process involves multifaceted candidate evaluations which are instrumental to mitigate bias and ensure an accurate evaluation of skillsets. For example, for all leadership positions, we run psychometric assessments to enhance inclusive communication and gain a deeper understanding of candidates in the process. 

To ensure that diversity and inclusiveness is a top priority for our Talent Acquisition and Talent Attraction teams, we have adopted ambitious KPIs meant to keep track of the effect and progression of our efforts. 

We have partnered with the external diversity and inclusion experts at Mercer to continue our efforts in pay equity and the journey that lies ahead.

As a consequence, we have implemented additional measures to promote pay equity, including comprehensive training and education for our People & Culture teams, including Business Partners and Talent Acquisition, to ensure responsible pay setting. Additionally, we incorporated guidelines and information on this subject into internal resources, enabling employees to access details regarding relevant actions taken. Furthermore, we undertook salary reviews to measure pay equity across the organisation, as well as in selected focus areas to address any pay disparities

At Vestas, we firmly believe that everyone has the right to work in an inclusive work environment. We celebrate our employees’ diversity and do not tolerate harassment and discrimination of any kind. You can read more about our approach to Human Rights here.

To proactively ensure an inclusive and fair workplace, we launched an Anti-harassment and Anti-discrimination Code of Conduct e-learning in late 2021. The training is a compulsory element of our onboarding process for office employees and service technicians, and as of the end of 2022, 100% of employees in scope have completed this e-learning.

It is our goal to ensure that all of our new employees take this e-learning training and that we continue our efforts to secure a work environment free of harassment and discrimination over the coming years. Any kind of harassment or discrimination should be reported to EthicsLine, the Vestas whistleblower system. 

To futureproof our organisation, we focus greatly on succession planning and building a talent pipeline. In this effort, it is important for us to ensure that our successors are as diverse as possible. This for example includes talent brokering of internal female talent and working towards an equal gender distribution in our different talent programmes targeted towards employees at different corporate levels. You can read more in our Sustainability report here. 

We systematically introduce a DEIB awareness-raising focus on a regular basis that will allow us to assess and improve our DEIB efforts through targeted campaigns and initiatives. Our first theme was gender, and in 2023, we incorporated Ethnicity as an additional awareness-raising theme. Every one or two years, we also set aspirational targets for our annual DEIB focus to track our progress.

External collaborations

Women in Wind

Currently, only one-fifth of the global wind energy workforce identify as women, and two-thirds of them perceive gender-related barriers in the industry (IRENA and Women in Wind 2020). Women in Wind is a leadership program which promotes diversity across the wind energy industry and accelerates the careers of women in wind power; it is managed by the Global Wind Energy Council and the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition. Vestas is proud to support the Global Ambassadors for Women in Wind, championing diversity, inclusivity and sustainability around the world.

Above & Beyond

We are partner in The Diversity Council  - a strategic corporate alliance founded in Denmark. The Council seeks to address the barriers that obstruct the advancement of more women into the top level of management in corporate leadership. This year, we are taking part in the “Lead the future” Campaign. Under the hashtag #leadthefuture, the stories of existing female executives will be shared online - showcasing role models to inspire future female leaders.

The European Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council

A member-driven think-tank of some of the most influential companies that share trusted insights of strategies to improve performance in the DEIB spaces.

ProWoc (Professional Women of Colour)

A non-profit organisation that offers career and personal development opportunities for women of colour seeking to increase their visibility and impact.