Sustainability

Social sustainability

In the interest of humans

What does sustainability have to do with people? It turns out, everything.

A short path to belonging

We’re fostering a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture for our people. But first – what do these concepts mean to us?

Priorities, priorities

We can only achieve our vision to shape the future of society through technology by working enthusiastically with the following areas:

Closing the gender gap

Gender balance in management, boards, and talent and graduate programmes.

Bias awareness

Getting familiar with our conscious and unconscious biases.

Embracing our uniqueness

The belief that everyone should feel included, respected, listened to, and valued for who they are.

Equal pay for equal work

A 1:1 salary ratio for men and women, excluding all other factors (education, experience, etc.).

Zero tolerance for discrimination

No incidents of discrimination, harrassment, or bullying.

Diversity beyond gender

Recognising that hiring people with a variety of backgrounds and (dis)abilities makes us better.

Let’s look at two of these...

Closing the gender gap

Men still outnumber women in many industries – not least in software. We have:

40

women

35.3

women leaders

22

women developers

How are we improving the balance?

We’re taking gender distribution into account throughout the recruitment process. The same is true in our talent and graduate programmes, which we rely on to find and cultivate our future leaders.

Some examples:
  • In cases where a gender is underrepresented in a role, we might invite a more balanced set of candidates to interviews.
  • We make sure that the people who represent Visma at school activities and interviews for our graduate programs are diverse.
  • We have internal guidelines for using inclusive language in job ads.
  • We’re working to make tech a more attractive career path in society.

Embracing our uniqueness

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. So we ask our people how they perceive Visma’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) in a monthly index. Here’s where we are today:

65

D&I score

The D&I score is on a scale of –100 to +100.
Our score is in the top 5% of the IT industry.

Our goal is for 100% of our teams to report a D&I score of at least 50. And we aim for the entire company to reach a score of 70.
To do that, we are:
  • looking at people’s monthly feedback to see how we can improve
  • sharing stories internally about biases people have experienced to increase awareness on how these affect inclusion
  • promoting inclusion as one of our core values and celebrating those who act inclusively

Universal principles, local touch

We’re also active in our local markets supporting various Diversity & Inclusion causes. To find out more, visit our national websites.

Our customers and communities

What are we doing for those who depend on us the most?

Access is power

Part of being inclusive is making sure that our products are accessible to all, including those with a disability. Everyone should have equal opportunity in society and the workplace. Having mental or physical limitations is not in itself disabling – inaccessible products are.

Software for better social outcomes

We help the most vulnerable in society to have better lives.

Integrating refugees

Many people are currently fleeing war, violence, and conflict – a massive humanitarian challenge. The European countries that provide safe haven for these refugees need digital solutions to help with case management and integration.

We help municipalities in handling the settlement and integration of refugees in line with local legislation.

Enabling more time for patients

Nurses who do home visits for chronically ill and elderly patients previously had to manually plan their driving routes. With just three employees and 30 tasks, the number of possible routes exceeds the number of atoms in the universe.

Today, we use AI-based software to plan these routes automatically. Nurses now spend 15% more time with patients instead of driving.

Creating a better school day

Planning school admissions and time tables is a daunting and time-consuming process for school administrators each year. There are many factors to consider, such as rooms, teachers, time slots, subjects – the list goes on.

Our school solutions automate admissions and scheduling, reducing processes that used to take months down to a matter of seconds. Now, school employees can devote more time to the curriculum and the most in-need children.

AI – as ethical as we make it

AI and machine learning have a role to play in sustainability, by improving efficiency and thereby reducing emissions.

But less talked about are AI’s social impacts. How can we make sure that AI excludes the human biases that are responsible for so much inequality we see today?

Transparency. Awareness. Compliance. Risk.

Dig deeper into these terms and you’ll see how Visma’s security, privacy, and data protection efforts are a vital part of keeping societies running.

Sustainability Report 2023

Sustainability Report 2023

See our latest Sustainability results