Pride – the cultural and human rights event for sexual and gender minorities – takes place from 1 to 30 June 2023. Orion also wants to pay tribute to Pride Month and let it show in our workplace community.
“Diversity, equality and inclusion are core values for Orion. We are an international company with a wide range of employees. By highlighting Pride, we want to show our support for sexual and gender minorities and communicate that everyone can truly be themselves here. There is strength in diversity,” says Jouni Turunen, VP, Human Resources at Orion.
Employees are involved in promoting DEI
We wanted to involve employees in promoting DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and bring people together to make a difference, bring up these topics and think about how we can promote these important aspects. A working group consisting of voluntary employees that promotes diversity, equality and inclusion was established at Orion at the beginning of 2022.
“The working group involves a broad group of employees who feel these themes are important to them. The group is very diverse in itself, and it ensures that employees’ views are heard and that these messages reach everyone, all the way to the Executive Management Board. It has been great to see the support of the entire Executive Management Board for this work,” says Taru Kallio-Nyholm, a member of the working group.
For a long time, Orion has organised safety sessions, short team-specific events to discuss current topics related to safety. This year, at the initiative of the working group, the importance of diversity and inclusion, as well as psychological safety, has also been included in the topics. This enables all Orion employees to discuss these important themes.
“We want to remind people, for example, of the fact that we all have innate prejudices and assumptions that can subconsciously guide our actions. We want to make sure that everyone feels they can be themselves in the workplace, make a difference and be heard. This increases well-being at work for everyone and makes Orion an even better place to work,” Turunen says.
