Gender Equality Plan for Soletair Power
As part of the European Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy for 2020–2025, the European Commission is committed to promoting gender equality in research and innovation. This is alongside the well-established regulatory framework within the EU on gender equality, which applies widely across the labor market, including the research sector.
It is important to address issues related to gender equality in research and innovation in order to overcome the relevant structural and cultural barriers. These issues within research have been typically addressed through the following measures:
- funding instruments such as Horizon Europe
- the European Research Area in collaboration with member countries and research organizations.
Soletair Power has always been committed to enhance gender equality at work.
Gender Equality at Soletair Power is part of a wider context related to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) framework. We are strongly committed towards gender equality within our working community and in the wider research ecosystem.
Soletair Power supports and promotes a diverse and inclusive working culture where everyone is treated equally, respectfully and inclusively, regardless of their background. As clearly stated in our Culture and values, we do not accept any discrimination against employees on the basis of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation, political activity or any other reason. All Soletair Power employees adopt the code of conduct as a part of induction and are committed to act according to it.
Soletair Power supports the development of structures and targeted measures that enhance gender equality and social equality within the organization. Equality (gender and in a wider context) is emphasized in all processes, including recruitment, competence development, talent programs or career progression.
Soletair Power works on a gender equality plan made in accordance with the requirements of the Finnish Act on Equality between Women and Men (in Finnish: Laki naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta 609/1986). The plan is re-evaluated and updated by employer and personnel representatives. The plan takes a systematic stand on actions advancing equality and parity, defining goals, actions, metrics and responsible parties.
Dedicated resources
Soletair Power emphasizes on establishing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, with a strong commitment from the top leadership. This support also includes overlooking the integration of the gender dimension and gender balance and it is done in close cooperation with the research team on ethics and responsibility of innovations.
Data collection and monitoring
Soletair Power has a plan to collect data and monitor sex/gender disaggregated data on its personnel. The collected data will include the following:
- The percentage share of men and women
- The percentage share of men and women in different personnel groups (executive leadership team, top management and middle management, team leaders, researchers)
- The percentage share of international personnel
- The average age of personnel
- The percentage share of men and women in different age groups
- Statistics on equal pay
Work-life balance and organizational culture
Soletair Power is aware that organizational culture and work-life balance are key components for establishing an environment where all employees can thrive and have equal opportunities in building a fulfilling career. Organizational culture and work-life balance is a wide area that covers issues such as the following:
- Gender-sensitive communication
- Childcare provisions and flexible working arrangements
- Maternity/paternity/parental leave provisions.
Soletair Power offers tools and has policies in place.
Soletair Power offers the possibility for flexible working hours and supports remote and hybrid work. This helps the work-life balance. Soletair Power strongly supports the opportunity given by Finnish legislation to work part-time when children are small, and thus we contribute to being a family-friendly employer.
Gender balance in leadership and decision making
Soletair Power strives to be a gender-balanced research and development company, where its members have equal access to and a balanced participation in leadership and other decision-making roles.
We plan to conduct an annual leadership talent review, and the evaluation is done according to aspiration, ability and motivation, as well as behavior. By setting the criteria in advance, the objective is to tackle the unconscious biases to avoid their impact on the assessment. The managers are trained and supported on how to use the criteria, and cross-company evaluations are conducted to ensure a fair and equal assessment.
Gender equality in recruitment and career progression
Soletair Power’s recruitment goal is to attract top researchers and professionals in their field regardless of their gender, country of origin or other aspects irrelevant for the job performance. In all Soletair Power recruitments, we utilize a competency-based approach. This means that, in the beginning of the recruitment process, we select the key competences and criteria used for the candidate evaluation through the process to ensure equality and objectivity. In all recruitment trainings for hiring managers and recruiters, we highlight the importance of being aware of bias affecting hiring decisions and provide the related support materials. A recruitment team member supports managers in each recruitment process and provides consultation for the hiring decision and equal treatment of the candidates.
Talent review is based on predesigned competences and behaviors supporting and defined by the Soletair Power strategy.
Integration of the gender dimension into research and trainings content
Gender dimension is taken into account in the EU and other funding proposals and projects. Soletair Power has created a special support for researchers (tools and advisers) for investigating the gender perspective regarding their research context.
Soletair Power has built its own guidelines and examples on how to approach the ethical and gender issues in drawing the research project plans and has regular internal training sessions and allocated resources to support its implementation.
Against gender-based violence, including sexual harassment
Soletair Power does not tolerate any form of harassment. Sexual harassment is criminalized by the Criminal Code of Finland (Chapter 20, section 5a). To prevent harassment and to facilitate intervention, we follow guidelines and tools for cases of harassment and inappropriate treatment occurring in the workplace.
Soletair Power aims to build a whistleblowing tool, where employees can draw the attention to all types of misconduct. The tool can also be used for observations of possible harassment of any kind. The topics are investigated by our compliance committee.
Recognizing emotions and understanding their power in decision making is a key to successful leadership, and this is why Soletair Power emphasizes training all employees to enhance their skills on emotional intelligence.