Image: Danske Bank employees participate in Copenhagen Pride Week in 2021. 

After two years of Covid-19 restrictions, the 2022 Copenhagen Pride Week will culminate with its trademark, colourful parade through the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday 20 August – and Danske Bank will be proud to hoist its rainbow flag and join in.

Underpinning the party and the glitter is a strong message about freedom. The freedom to be who you are. 

“By participating in Pride events across the country, we at Danske Bank are sending an important signal that we want a diverse and inclusive culture that reflects the societies we are part of, and where everyone has the same opportunities. We will only achieve that if we all work for diversity every single day,” says Karsten Breum, Chief People Officer at Danske Bank.  

Everyone’s responsibility 
Pride is often associated with sexuality, but diversity and inclusion are about much more than that. Breaking down taboos, having a whole identity as a person, awareness of how the actions of the majority affect minorities are key issues.

“I have felt a little lonely as a minority for a number of years, so finding out there are colleagues who support the LGBTQ+ agenda means something,” says Ninna, who works at Danske Bank and has previously helped the bank draw up an instruction for supporting transgender people who undergo a transition at work.       

In these videos, you can meet Ninna and four other colleagues who explain why diversity is a strength, and why it is important that those who do not feel part of a minority become strong allies of those who do.

Structural initiatives
While all of the bank’s employees have a responsibility to support their colleagues’ right to be themselves, the bank will not be inclusive and diverse if the agenda is not anchored in management, goals, processes and policies. 

That is why the bank’s ELT has established the Diversity & Inclusion Council to set the overall direction for the bank’s work in the area, while the operational work is carried out through 18 D&I leads across numerous business units in several countries.

We also scan job ads for bias and exclusive language, we have a diversity and inclusion policy, we have partnered up with the NGO Stonewall, who advise us on how the workplace can be more inclusive for our LGBTQA+ colleagues, and we have introduced equal maternity/paternity leave rights for rainbow families.          

Most recently, the Group has conducted a big survey among employees on discrimination and harassment in order to create a highly detailed foundation for our ongoing work to strengthen inclusion.