Under-represented Groups

Built on a foundation of steady progress on gender balance, Telenor expanded the diversity agenda to build upon the experience of including people with disabilities.

The Open Mind programme for people with disabilities currently runs in Norway, Sweden and Pakistan. This is a one-year job-training programme that creates opportunities for people to get back into active workforce. The original target group is people with disabilities, including those with physical challenges, hearing and/or visual impairments, or mental health problems. Our flagship Open Mind programme in Telenor Norway also gives job training opportunity to persons with an immigrant background from non-EU countries. Open Mind in Norway has given opportunities to 344 people, while Telenor Pakistan has had more than 100 participants. Open Mind is an integral part of the global diversity and inclusion action plan and we will continue to explore opportunities for implementation across Telenor units. While dtac in Thailand does not have a trainee programme like Open Mind, it employs 14 visually impaired colleagues in the customer service centre.

LGBTI

To further our commitment towards diversity and inclusion, Telenor signed UN business standards of support for LGBTI to include unrepresented segments in our workforce. In addition, Telenor continues to support employee networks and local events (such as Pride) in some of our business units. Other examples from the business units include recently changed dtac benefits policy, so that same-sex partners are entitled to similar benefits as married individuals. This was a front-runner initiative by dtac that gained significant recognition for their employer brand, and a source of pride amongst employees. Dtac also allows retail store employees to choose masculine or feminine dress regardless of gender.