By 2020, IKEA has set itself the goal of achieving gender balance in leadership positions and creating an atmosphere of equality in all business processes. The company aspires to support both men and women in the workplace in the administrative and managerial spheres. At the same time, the company also provides the same pay for these positions. IKEA formulated this approach as follows: Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility.
According to the company, gender equality positively affects colleagues, businesses, and the world. Equality means more innovation, more financial freedom, and more happiness. Moreover, the interaction of companies and employees with gender equality has proven to be effective (“Equality works better,” n.d.). Ikea has achieved gender parity in leadership; however, there is still much to be done. The company’s goal is to achieve equal pay and gender balance in all areas and positions. IKEA is developing a plan for distributing labor and roles between men and women, which should be implemented by 2022.
Caring for people, diversity, and inclusion are integral parts of a company’s culture and values. At the IKEA Group, management believes that diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. Recognizing differences among colleagues fosters creativity and supports profit growth and branch expansion. The company cares about every employee and believes that gender equality is a human right. Gender equality is also linked to creating an inclusive culture where all genders are valued for their unique contributions. The company is a part of the UN’s first high-level group on the economic empowerment of women, which helps unleash the potential of women to participate fully in the economy and achieve financial independence.
However, even though the company has balanced the gender balance in the organization’s management positions, there is a gap between the number of male employees and female employees among workers in the lower jobs. Thus, injustice toward female workers has continued throughout the company’s existence, and management has yet to come to its resolution, despite ambitious plans on this issue (Kollen et al., 2018). This raises the question of how companies can balance the balance between male and female employees in the organization.
The company cannot fire men because of gender inequality, contrary to labor protection laws. The subjects that need to be studied are the expansion of the company in the market. Moreover, in some countries, women’s labor is not as developed as men’s, so women need additional training (Nadiv & Kuna, 2020). In this regard, creating individual training is also critically important in matters of equality in the organization.
It is also necessary to study the market for wages. Unfortunately, many companies maintain higher salaries for men, especially when using physical labor. However, decent and equal pay must be paid to both men and women. Despite many women at IKEA, some jobs are paid better for men than for women. In this regard, the general question arises of how to equalize male and female wages, considering individual abilities and skills in a particular area.
Such research will increase diversity within the organization and contribute to the company’s best interests as it considers the cultures of different countries and the individual characteristics of the employee. Thus, the company will take into account all the needs of the labor market and will be able to expand its branches while balancing the balance between male and female employees. This will allow IKEA to gain a foothold in the labor market and establish itself as a friendly, inclusive company.
References
Equality works better. (n.d.). IKEA. Web.
Kollen, T., Kakkuri-Knuuttila, M.-L. & Bendl, R. (2018). An indisputable “holy trinity”? On the moral value of equality, diversity, and inclusion. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 37 (5), 438-449. Web.
Nadiv, R. & Kuna, S. (2020) Diversity management as navigation through organizational paradoxes. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 39(4), 355-377. Web.