AP Pension first with certification in diversity

14 June 2023

AP Pension is the first company in the country to be certified in the new management standard, DS 5001 Management system for equality and diversity. The standard has been developed by Dansk Standard together with more than 20 Danish organizations and is intended to help companies promote work with equality and diversity in the workplace.

CEO, Bo Normann Rasmussen, is proud to be the first Danish company to achieve the certification:

– We have worked very purposefully and systematically with equality, equal pay and equal career opportunities in AP Pension in recent years, and in 2022 we achieved our goal of having gender balance in all layers of the company’s management. It is one of the cornerstones of why we have now become the first company to achieve this certification in equality and diversity, says the managing director and continues:

– I am convinced that companies that implement the standard will help our society unlock a huge development potential for the benefit of the country’s long-term competitiveness.

Ensures an inclusive culture

The DS 5001 standard makes it easier for companies to work in a structured and targeted manner with equality and diversity, and it can help management create an inclusive culture and create clear policies and objectives for equality and diversity. The standard also focuses on equality and diversity in the recruitment of new employees, in the case of promotions and in connection with competence development, so that e.g. avoids bias.

– It is really positive that the first Danish organization has been certified in the standard for equality and diversity. Standards are an effective tool for developing the market, and it is a strong signal to the outside world that you actually do what you say you do, because you get documentation that you work ambitiously, purposefully and continuously with equality and diversity, says Jens Heiede, CEO of Dansk Standard.

Different perspectives provide better solutions

In addition to continuing the work with equality, AP Pension will use the standard to improve other aspects of the work with diversity within, among other things, age, education and talent development. And according to Bo Normann Rasmussen, the certification helps create the basis for the company to realize its strategic ambitions in the future:

– We are a knowledge-heavy company, and we are deeply dependent on being able to retain and attract the right skills and spot and develop talent. At the same time, we believe that employees with different perspectives contribute to the best solutions for all our customers. So diversity is not really a goal in itself, but rather a means to reach the goal, says Bo Normann Rasmussen.

Safety signal for the employees

In addition to equality and diversity, the new management standard also makes a number of demands on the company regarding the prevention and handling of abusive behaviour. And that, according to Bo Normann Rasmussen, is central:

– I believe that it is a prerequisite for the general security and well-being of any company or organization that the management states very clearly that offensive behavior is unacceptable. And there must be clear policies and guidelines for the area, so that there is a fixed framework for how it is handled if it takes place. In that context, I also see the certification as an important signal to both current and future employees that AP Pension places a high priority on the psychological working environment.

Source: AP Pension