German fashion giant Zalando has announced new diversity targets for its senior leadership teams. The company said it is aiming for a balanced representation of women and men across its top six management levels, including the Management Board and the Supervisory Board, by the end of 2023. The new target, for women and men, which includes non-binary genders, strives to reach representation of between 40-60% for each level.
The new targets are part of a general revision of the company’s diversity and inclusion strategy, where Zalando aims ‘to diversify different dimensions of its workforce, amongst others, gender, internationality or education’.
Over the next few months, Zalando will launch several initiatives such as updating its decision-making bodies and committees, changing hiring practices and introducing holistic succession planning to achieve this target, confirmed the company. This will include annually reporting on the share of women and men represented on the top six senior management levels, as well as other diversity dimensions.
COMMITTED TO CHANGE
“During the past 11 years, we have been very focused on establishing and growing our business, and we didn’t put enough effort into countering structural imbalances that have evolved. We acknowledge that today we lack diversity in our senior management, and we are committed to changing this,” stated Rubin Ritter, Co-CEO of Zalando. “We strongly believe that only a diverse and inclusive culture will ensure that we have the best talent on board and can truly serve our customer base.”
Adding to his comments, Cristina Stenbeck, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board at Zalando SE, said: “Diversity at all levels of a business drives better decision making and fosters a culture of creativity, and when at its best it also boosts overall performance. I am also convinced that diverse teams are more apt to create unique products and relevant user experiences for customers, as well as value creation for stakeholders. The Supervisory Board supports the adoption of these diversity targets as a means to step-change Zalando’s progress in building a more inclusive organisation over the long term.”
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