Our global DEI program:

4 Calls to Action

Our anti-discrimination work incorporates several actions that we have implemented under a wider Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging strategy to focus concerted efforts on amplifying diversity and inclusion across different demographic groups. We have a dedicated diversity, equity and inclusion program, which focuses on 4 Calls to Action:

  1. Improved DEI Data (because what gets measured gets done)

  2. Formation of Employee Resource Groups (to jointly solve challenges and enable co-workers to give their input to the DEI program)

  3. Cross functional alignment (to amplify DEI across countries, campuses, teams and to have a ricochet effect)

  4. DEI training and coaching programs (to promote the business imperatives of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and how it is ‘the right thing to do.’ )

These 4 areas and how they relate to a crucial focus for Oda to mitigate discrimination and inequality can be explained in more detail here:

1. Improved DEI Data: Monitoring Diversity and Inclusion through data

We collect regular, monthly Diversity and Inclusion data from our global organization via an employee listening software tool called ‘Peakon.’ A continuous listening strategy via Peakon enables Oda to gather more feedback across the entire employee lifecycle. An in-person dialogue feature creates a sustainable continuous listening strategy where people have a safe space to share confidentially. This helps cultivate a level of psychological safety for employees and enables their direct leaders to hear real-time results, responding proactively to feedback. Peakon data is collected on a voluntary and anonymous basis with the results enabling us to look at blind spots and potential areas of strength and weakness. Our overall score for employee satisfaction with Diversity and Inclusion measures in the normal area compared to other companies. The industry benchmark we are being compared to is organizations within the online retail space. We pay particular attention to the inclusion rating our employees give us by answering questions such as, ‘At Oda, people of all backgrounds are accepted for who they are?’

Drivers measurement
Drivers in Peakon also measure how satisfied employees from Oda are with our efforts to maintain and create an environment where every individual feels included. The questions asked relate to a rotation of ‘drivers’, which can be seen below. By asking employees to rate us from 1-10 on statements such as, ‘I believe Oda would respond appropriately to instances of discrimination,’ enables us to understand more about what our people think and where our efforts are working or lacking. Employees can add in additional comments to explain their answers, and this can be done anonymously. This enables employees to enter into anonymous dialogue with leaders to share information or to report a concern. More importantly it enables us to listen to feedback, to respond and improve.

2. Formation of Employee Resource Groups

In 2021 Oda announced the launch of two Global Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s) to help amplify diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-discrimination from a grassroots perspective. ERG’s assist us to do a better job leading and managing DEI efforts to improve impact. They ensure that we ask how we can continuously repurpose and embed the values of DEI into all levels of the organization, helping us to understand the progress we make and determine next steps.

Woda
Woda stands for Women of Oda and is our ERG for women and non-binary employees. Woda has 100 members that have already highlighted the progression of women at Oda and inclusive leadership behaviors as topics that are considered highly important. Discussions within the ERG Meeting Forums are coordinated by Woda-Champions who have taken on a key role to set topics, lead discussions as well as to cascade information up to management. An increased focus on gender equity has also enabled us to implement several other key initiatives, events and learnings related to gender equity.

DEI Taskforce
The DEI Taskforce is our second, newly formed ERG and contributes towards a people-centric culture encouraging all 20 members to be an active voice for change and allyship by facilitating communication of the DEI program to colleagues, co-workers and management. Representing people of Oda across different countries and campuses, many members have participated in a day long development program at the Diversify Nordic Summit 2022. Team members routinely discuss specific areas where diversity, equity and inclusion could be more effective. For example, one important topic that we have been able to discuss is the inclusion of Muslim employees. This discussion has enabled us to establish dedicated prayer rooms across campuses in Norway.

The WODA network - a network for women at Oda

The underrepresentation of women in the workplace is not a problem that is in any way unique to Oda. The driving force behind Woda is to champion the belief that change can happen with the right emphasis, focus, passion and energy. The Woda community is rooted in the worrying lack of women in positions of power and influence across the globe and how such inequity has nothing to do with ability, ambition or aspiration. Instead it has everything to do with access, accountability and appreciation. So Woda’s mission is to be a vital piece in advancing, developing and supporting women within the workplace eco-system at Oda while improving a sense of belonging for all employees.

Our mission is to help Oda attract and retain employees from this demographic.

Woda aims to:

  • Bring together women from all areas and locations in Oda

  • Cultivate an inclusive organizational structure for women, our biggest minority group

  • Increase the morale and engagement of our employees

  • Collectively advocate for women's global gender equity with an intersectional mindset

  • Optimize learning and professional/personal growth opportunities

  • Facilitate events that give women the opportunity to connect, listen and learn together

  • Encourage friendships and support networks

  • Empower women to be active voices for change and to champion gender equality and equity

  • Promote two-way communication with leadership

  • Create an extensive and engaging program for International Women’s Day

  • Create an Oda Womanifesto (manifesto for women) which collects direct feedback and ideas from our Woda ERG members on how to enhance attraction, retention and progression of women.

3. Cross-functional alignment

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a core pillar in our sustainability strategy and we want Oda to reflect the diversity of the society in which we operate. We also believe that it makes us stronger as a company, more able to design a service that everyone can enjoy and enables us to create a positive culture of belonging for our employees. The 17 UN goals reflect some of the most pressing challenges our world needs to solve to achieve sustainable development within 2030.

In an Oda context, we also know that employing people with diverse backgrounds improves the innovation and staying power of our longevity. We therefore believe that DEI can help us achieve many other goals we have set in our sustainability strategy relating to SDGs and topics ranging from climate action, animal welfare, supporting a local economy etc. A future goal is to see this being extended to our product development, ensuring that we have a diverse customer base (for example being able to serve underrepresented communities and minority groups in Norway). We already do this by catering for religious dietary requirements such as halal food, vegan and vegetarian products as well as promoting LGTBQ+ Pride related activities in the shop. This can be further extended by supporting women and minority led businesses and promoting suppliers from diverse backgrounds in our shop platform.

As illustrated below, to boost cross-functional alignment we have also refined the DEI Strategy as a core building block within the People Platform of Oda with a very clear focus.

A diverse and inclusive mindset is highlighted as a business imperative, requiring all our employees on the people team to actively work to cultivate this.

Mission and typical tasks of our DEI function

4. DEI Training Programs

Despite no reported cases of discrimination being logged in 2021, we created a new layer of ‘integrity and ethics’ for employees with the design of a Global Code of Conduct. Complementing this we also launched SpeakUp, a new reporting tool compatible with the recommendations for the EU Whistleblowing Act. The aim of this reporting tool is to ensure that instances of harassment, misconduct, discrimination, fraud or any other illegal or unethical activities can be minimized by giving employees the opportunity to anonymously report. In other words, we are positively encouraging people to speak up if they see something wrong.

Complementing this, we have also spent 2022 designing ‘All-Inclusive’, our in-house Diversity and Inclusion training program. ‘All-Inclusive’ is a program of training that has never been done before at a company like Oda in Norway. It will be a truly unique learning opportunity for our employees, our workplace culture and our progression. Funded by the Norwegian directorate for Integration and Diversity with 500 000 NOK, this program gives us an opportunity to show that we care about people. It aims to improve the quality of leadership in Operations by equipping leaders with a diverse and inclusive leadership mentality. The desired outcome of the program is to improve the behaviors of our leaders and wider employee base. This has crucial linkage to anti-discrimination efforts, mitigating cases related to ethics, inappropriate behavior, discrimination etc. It also eliminates high risk behaviors or ethics that are not in line with the Oda way of working.

Some other key activities relating to DEI training and coaching program

    • Offering free Norwegian classes to our employees who wish to be better integrated in everyday life within Norwegian society

    • First ever International Women’s Day Celebrations in March 2022 with over 400 employees participating in keynotes, talks and other initiatives

    • Design of an industry-first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training Program called, ‘All-Inclusive’ with a certification upon completion

    • Employee Slack communities for discussing difficult topics such as how to support LGBTQ+ colleagues after the Oslo mass-shooting in June 2022, Menopause + Periods in the workplace, Microaggressions, Gender Pronouns, Mental Health and more

    • Gaining a shared learning experience together at SHE Conference 2022 and Diversify Nordic Summit 2022

    • Sponsoring SHE Conference 2022, enabling many of our employees to attend the conference. We also held workshops around Sustainability as well as representing Oda on the main stage, interviewing other company leaders about their gender equity initiatives.

    • Introducing a Reverse Mentoring Program as a way to foster an open culture where employees share experiences with a mentee of the opposite gender in the management team

Some further key highlights and initiatives supporting our DEI efforts

    • Switched to English as the official spoken language of Oda, so we can include people from the international and immigrant community

    • Women in the warehouse are occupying an increasing percentage of Forklift Truck driving certificates. In 2021 we saw 28% of all licenses being given to women and in 2022 that increased to 40%

    • Expanding the offering of multi-faith prayer rooms and a dedicated Muslim prayer room at our new offices in Tøyen.

    • Promoting team activities that are activity-led and not alcohol-led. This includes walking, skiing, quiz-nights, gaming and arts and crafts activities.

    • Oda has become a product with a low-cost model, appealing to a wider socio-economic group and offering greater product variety

    • Assisting NTNU with a research study on workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives, whereby they are following our progress with a team of researchers, after winning Mangfoldsprisen.

    • In our commitment to supporting refugees, we delivered Oda trucks full of food and necessary supplies to newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan in September 2021.