People & Operations

In 2022, KIRKBI further strengthened the organisational focus on leadership development and took the next steps in working systematically with diversity, equity, and inclusion

KIRKBI employs approximately 200 specialised and experienced professionals in a diverse set of fields, all dedicated to supporting the overarching purpose of building a sustainable future for the family ownership of the LEGO® brand through generations.

As a family-owned company, KIRKBI is guided by the beliefs and values in the KIRKBI Fundamentals including the four promises, which define how play, people, partner, and planet are integral for succeeding with the mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.

The People Promise is based on a fundamental belief that organisational success rests on the continued growth and development of employees and leaders. Guided by this promise, KIRKBI continued to focus on leadership development in 2022 to ensure that all leaders have the capabilities needed to act as role models. Further, initiatives were taken to work systematically with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I).

Strong leadership and people development

Every year, the employees’ motivation, satisfaction, and engagement are measured in a PULSE Survey. The responses are used to identify possible areas of improvement both at team and organisational level.

In 2022, the PULSE Survey showed a stable high level of loyalty and satisfaction among all employees across the organisation. Also, a key finding was continued high trust among employees in their immediate leader. During the year, KIRKBI has continued building on the KIRKBI leadership model launched in 2021. The model sets out core principles for value-based leadership and guides leaders in KIRKBI to develop leadership capabilities, which complement their personal leadership style.

Lifelong learning and development should at any time be available to all employees in KIRKBI to maintain and further build their professional and personal competencies. In 2022, KIRKBI therefore continued the organisational work with Individual Development Plans and Performance Management Programmes to foster employee motivation and performance.

The working environment policy lays down the general framework for activities relating to the working environment and aims to ensure that all activities are planned and carried out in a healthy and safe working environment and in compliance with working productivity and legislation.

DE&I Vision Statement: Promoting equal opportunities for all

In KIRKBI, our way of doing business is anchored in a strong set of values such as caring, quality, and creativity and an ambition of succeeding together.

We collaborate with openness and mutual respect across a broad span of competencies. We promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our everyday practice and through our approach to active ownership and partnerships.

We allocate proper resources to build an inclusive and diverse workplace that offers fair treatment and equal opportunities for all. And we actively work to bring a diversity of thoughts, capabilities, and experiences into play.

A diverse, equal, and inclusive workplace

KIRKBI believes that a diverse organisation and an inclusive working environment represent a necessary base and an opportunity to succeed in the long term. The work culture must be a safe space with a great sense of belonging and a high degree of inclusion.

In 2022, KIRKBI continued its focus on the following four main areas:

• Engage employees

• Build inclusive culture

• Improve processes and systems

• Data insights and tracking

To provide a solid baseline for creating a diverse and inclusive working environment, a cultural assessment was conducted in the second half of 2022. The assessment showed that KIRKBI’s employees experience a high level of inclusion and belonging across gender, age, and nationality. A positive outcome as inclusion is key for establishing a diverse working environment. The survey also showed the importance of continuing to work with inclusive leadership and diverse teams.

Employee Advocacy Group (EAG)

Recognising that a change in cultural mindset has a greater chance of success when involving the organisation itself, KIRKBI established an Employee Advocacy Group (EAG) in 2021. The purpose of the EAG is to ensure that the process of exploring, learning, and adjusting our DE&I efforts is driven by employee engagement and ongoing involvement. During 2022, the EAG has been involved in creating the KIRKBI vision statement on DE&I and initiated the cultural assessment serving as a baseline for further initiatives.

Conscious inclusion training

In 2022, a conscious inclusion training was rolled out to all employees, making everyone aware of biases and how to avoid them. In 2023, this will be complemented with training in inclusive leadership to further strengthen KIRKBI’s people leaders in being role models for a diverse and inclusive culture and to ensure that every employee feels valued and able to meet his/her potential.

Gender representation

Gender is only one aspect of diversity, however it is a focal point to ensure equal opportunities for all. Looking at the total KIRKBI organisation there is a satisfactory and close to even gender distribution. However, looking at the gender balance from director level and up, KIRKBI has a lower female representation. To faciliate a balanced gender representation at all levels, the specific targets below were defined in 2022.

In 2022, Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action, joined the KIRKBI Board of Directors. She and board member Malou Aamund consititute 1/3 of the

Targets for gender distribution

Board of Directors and thereby the current target of two female board members is fulfilled.

Acknowledging that gender is only one aspect of diversity, KIRKBI will continue the efforts to ensure a diverse workforce at all levels of the organisation, including a further strengthening of the internal diversity and inclusion agenda and understanding. KIRKBI wants to ensure that every employee feels valued and enabled to release his/her full potential.

Business ethics

The Code of Conduct for employees formalises KIRKBI’s policies related to human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. In the case of non-compliance with KIRKBI’s high standards for business ethics, it can be reported via the whistleblower line at KIRKBI.com.

KIRKBI assesses sustainability and business ethics risks on an ad hoc basis across own operations and other business activities. As a family-owned holding and investment company, the risk of human and labour rights breaches as well as corruption within own operations is assessed to be low and covered by the implementation of the Code of Conduct. Within the investment activities, risks related to all areas in the UN Global Compact are managed via our approach to responsible investing and ownership.

Data ethics

The KIRKBI leadership team governs the data ethics. Our Data Ethics policy outlines the principles and what we believe is a lawful and ethical way of conducting day-to-day operation, and what employees and business partners can expect from KIRKBI when processing and procuring data.

Decisions related to individuals should always include human evaluation of data. To ensure this, KIRKBI promotes transparency towards the employees and business partners and has an approval process for the use of data.

KIRKBI only wishes to use data from trustworthy business partners and will, as part of our Code of Conduct, ensure that business partners either have a data ethics policy or conduct their business in a way that is not detriment to our Data Ethics Policy.

To ensure a high level of ethical behaviour from KIRKBI’s employees when processing personal or non-identifiable data, all employees must complete e-learning training in GDPR and personal data compliance.

Moreover, the Data Ethics Policy is part of the mandatory onboarding procedure for new employees.

Employee engagement in DE&I

Member of the EAG, Tine Heide Straarup, Communication Consultant, explains the role of the KIRKBI Employee Advocacy Group:

“The EAG acts as an employee-driven sounding board to KIRKBI’s leadership team to make sure that we introduce the right DE&I initiatives at the right time to drive the desired change and impact.”