Social Responsibility - Sustainability
With a team of over 2,000 employees across 26 countries, it is important to have a strong commitment and clear standards.
Social Responsibility - Sustainability
Delivering on International Human Rights
We are committed to working in compliance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights by implementing the UNGPs and OECD guidelines in Laerdal and throughout our supply chain by 2030. These guidelines are being increasingly incorporated in national legislations, for example, the “Transparency Act” in the UK and “Åpenhetsloven” in Norway. To assure our commitment, we have developed several policies including our Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) policy. We are also an active member of the UN Global Compact Initiative and the Norwegian Skift initiative.
We have developed a cloud-based, human rights risk assessment tool with Global CSR. This helps us assess adverse impacts on human rights and the environment, and anti-corruption initiatives in our own business. It is being implemented at a corporate level and in other parts of the company based on risk assessment. We also require our suppliers to share our commitment to business integrity and respect for human rights and have introduced the Ecovadis tool to assess standards and risks in our supplier base.
Transparency Act
We work actively to address risks related to human rights in our own operations and across our supply chain.
Questions related to our work on human rights can be sent to [email protected]
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts prioritize our people, striving to cultivate a diverse workforce reflecting varied backgrounds and experiences.
Currently, female representation stands at 43% of the total workforce, with slight fluctuations due to focused recruitment in software-related roles. In leadership, we’ve seen a rise to 37% in female leaders, and we reached 40% in top leadership by early 2024.
Our aim is a minimum of 40% women in leadership overall. We’re actively recruiting and promoting women to bolster our talent pool, with 47% of new hires being women in 2023.
Through analysis of our compensation system, we define gaps and take action to ensure equal pay for equal roles. Our analysis shows that women presently, on average, are at 97% to men in equal roles at equal position level.
Committing to ethics and anti-corruption
With offices in 26 countries, it is important to have a strong commitment and clear standards on ethics and anti-corruption as outlined in our Code of Conduct and in strict accordance with national laws. The Code relates to activities within our organization and towards our environment and invites discussion of concerns to ensure everyone works according to the standards.
For those who would like to be anonymous, we have for some years had a whistle-blower line. This line is operated independently by the management consultants, PWC, to secure maximum protection for the whistle-blower. We work hard to assure all employees understand our values and code of conduct, and it is an important part of the onboarding process for new employees.
Quality healthcare for everyone
“We believe that no one should receive inadequate care because of a failure to treat them appropriately and adequately as a whole patient – regardless of race, ethnicity, or any other unique characteristic.”
Recent years have shone light on several marked disparities in the quality of care between different racial, ethnic, and other demographic populations. Most pronounced is the high incidence of death among black women due to postpartum hemorrhage—a rate that is 2-6 times higher for black women (US, 2022).
We have done a lot of research in this area to produce market-facing material, all free to our client base. This material has been highly circulated, but the greatest endorsement has come from INACSL, the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning.
All members of the INACSL Board of Directors are now required to read and view all of our materials on Diversity as part of their training.
The materials include:
- Recorded Webinar: Expose, Explore, and Promote Equitable Care Through Patient Simulation
- Infographic: Priority Health Statistics Your Learners Need to Know
- eBook: How to Use Simulation-based Training to Reduce Implicit Bias and Promote Equitable Care
There is considerable disruption occurring in healthcare today. Laerdal can be supportive by showing how simulation can give providers the type of context and constructs they need to ensure equitable patient-centered care across racial, ethnic, and other demographic lines. For individuals in healthcare, this often means simply expanding skills in patient empathy and ensuring that the total patient is cared for. We believe that simulation is the best way to develop these skills.