Zalando has published its first annual diversity and inclusion (D&I)
report, ‘do.Better’, revealing the progress it’s made in that area and
outlining further targets moving forward.
Last year, the German e-tail giant announced a target to have a balanced
representation of women and men across its top six management levels,
including the management board and the supervisory board, by the end of
2023.
On Tuesday the retailer revealed it has already achieved that target in
its supervisory board, which now comprises 56 percent women. The company
said it has made “significant progress” at the senior vice president level
– where representation of women has almost doubled from last year to 30
percent – while the vice president cohort now consists of 22 percent
women.
Zalando acknowledged that its management board has the lowest diversity,
where currently no women are represented.
The retailer said that gender diversity in tech teams is a “particularly
important challenge”, with women currently making up just 17 percent of its
tech workforce – in line with the average share of women in tech roles in
Germany.
To tackle this imbalance, the company said it is investing five million
euros in dedicated initiatives to attract, develop and retain more women in
tech roles, and is extending its target to achieve a balanced gender share
of 40-60 percent by 2023 to its tech teams.
The 2020 do.Better report also revealed the gender pay gap for men and
women working in comparable roles at Zalando is just 1 percent compared to
Germany’s average of 6 percent. The company said this is thanks to a
“clearly structured compensation promise towards our employees”.
However, when comparing women and men independent of their roles, the
wage gap at Zalando is 22 percent, compared to 21 percent for all of
Germany. The retailer said this is largely due to the fact it currently
employs more men than women in senior positions and tech jobs, which have
higher wages.
The retailer said it has also made progress in terms of making its
platform more inclusive through the launch of several D&I initiatives. That
includes working with a diverse group of models who better represent the
company’s customers; introducing more skin tones to the beauty category;
and partnering with more brands that are owned by members of minority
groups. The retailer said its goal is to onboard at least 70 Black-owned
brands by 2022.
“We strive to foster a diverse and inclusive company culture because we
are convinced that it will make us a more successful business in the long
term. However, investing in diversity and inclusion is more than just a
business strategy for us. It is simply the right thing to do,” Zalando
co-CEO Rubin Ritter said in a statement.
“It is our vision to become the Starting Point for Fashion in Europe,
and we want to include everyone on that journey. Transformation takes time.
We are still at the beginning but our progress indicates that we are moving
in the right direction.”
Photo credit: Zalando
