Diversity - Solita

Diversity

It’s time for a change.

Diversity and inclusivity aren’t matters of opinion. How we’re working to get it right — and avoiding complacency.

Diverse perspectives make the world a better place and allow us to achieve more.

This is why we’ve established unambiguous clearly measurable goals for the diversity and inclusivity of our Solita community. But we also want to be a force for positive change for the industry as a whole.

We are committed to actively promoting diversity and equality

At Solita, everybody should feel comfortable to be themselves, ‘with all their perfections’.
Diversity of all kinds is our strength; be it skills, nationality, beliefs, age, gender or sexual orientation. It is embedded in our culture and core values.
We care about each other, people and society as a whole. We focus on changing the world, not people.

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Diversity and inclusivity are important as such, not just to help us grow our business and Solita as a company.

You cannot know how it feels to be part of a minority without deep discussions and exposing yourself to different thinking. And that can happen only by meeting new people, reaching out from your own circle of peers, and asking that new person to join for lunch, even if that would mean a bit of stretching in your mind.

Caring is also a structural thing at Solita. We’ve aimed to create organisational structures that give people a lot of autonomy in their work, but don’t abandon them to deal with struggles alone.

Ossi Lindroos President and CEO,
Solita
Outi Sivonen Chief Human Resources Officer,
Solita
Esa Rauhala Director,
Solita

Our diversity and equality focus areas

30 % women by the end of 2025
People Leads mandatory DEI-training
DEI is considered in succession planning for leadership roles
Unconscious bias-training compulsory part of interview training for anyone doing recruitment
Annual pay equality surveys
Study on minority experience (Inclusion study) at least every 3 years
Employees perception of the state of DEI are followed, target levels clearly above industry benchmark (Peakon)
DEI – strategy and statistics are shared openly with all employees and accessible on Insider

Improving our gender balance is a natural starting point. The ICT industry has always been male-dominant. For example, in Finland nearly 80% of university-level ICT students are male. The time has come for a change, both in our Solita community and across the industry as a whole. Our initial diversity targets are aimed at improving our gender balance and increasing the number of nationalities represented in our community.

But that’s just the first step and the tip of the iceberg.

In the long term, we are committed to strengthening a culture of inclusivity that embraces diversity of all kinds.

Our action areas

Here are some of the ways we’re making diversity, equity, and inclusion real.

How we hire

It all starts with how we recruit, who we’re reaching and how we remove bias from the entire hiring process.

An example: Solita recruiters and hiring managers all get extensive training in unconscious bias to improve everything from job descriptions to interviews and candidate feedback. The result: the widest possible net and the best possible hires. See open positions here.

How we train and develop people

Part of the company’s DEI journey is to help every Solitan progress on their own, personal and professional one. This isn’t a once-a-year exercise. It’s a continuous process centred on personal and collective accountability.

Example: Every employee gets training in diversity, inclusion and allyship, so we’re all more likely to spot things like microaggressions; call them out constructively; and respond appropriately.

How we manage and lead

For our leaders, inclusivity isn’t optional. We expect every manager and leader to be an active driver of change, not a passive participant.

Example: We train our managers to understand what this means and have open dialogue on how leadership and behaviours are perceived.

How we work together

DEI isn’t a siloed project: it’s a lens through which we see our entire business. That means it needs to be reflected in every process, program and team.

Example: Our leaders are expected to ask questions like: Are we creating opportunities for everyone, equally? Are we encouraging Solitans to bring their whole selves to work? Are our processes skewed to favour people with specific backgrounds? Are we asking people about their experiences as employees?

How we listen and track our progress

We can’t improve if we stop listening to each other’s experiences at Solita. It’s about continuous listening.

Example: We work hard to make it easy for Solitans to safely communicate with their managers and leaders—and to participate in discussions around inclusion and belonging. We’re always collecting feedback, tracking our progress, and discovering new ways to improve. Also, we ask our employees’ DEI-related questions every third week in our employee surveys.

How we keep ourselves honest

In DEI, it’s easy to talk the talk without walking the walk. That’s not good enough. We’ll only improve if we’re candid about our failings.

Example: We’re honest and transparent about our DEI progress and shortcomings, reporting regularly and openly with our statistics available for all our employees to follow. We admit when we’re falling short and invite new ideas from every employee.

How we resource our journey

DEI isn’t a side project or a voluntary initiative. We make sure that working time is allocated to DEI, instead of it being a solely voluntary initiative.

Example: We treat DEI as a primary business initiative, with the proper funding and resourcing to ensure we’re always getting better.

Nowhere near enough

We can’t read the above list as evidence that we’re doing just fine on DEI. We’re not. We have much, much more to do. But we’re confident that — if we stay focused and committed — we will become the fair, diverse and inclusive Solita we can be. And we’re excited to be on this journey together.

Read our sustainability handbook

It’s time for a change.

It’s time for a change.

Our diversity and equality focus areas

But that’s just the first step and the tip of the iceberg.

Our action areas

Nowhere near enough

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