The good workplace: psychological safety, fair pay, and inclusion
At Ramboll, we work systematically with Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. So what are a few trends our EDI team is seeing right now?
"It’s about having respectful conversations, listening, trying to understand their challenges"
Ramboll works systematically with Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and is proud of the advances we have made as a company. Our Global EDI team helps to cascade discipline-leading perspectives and practices across our offices in 35 countries and collaborates with leaders and colleagues to make Ramboll a safer, fairer, and more fulfilling place to work. They also often serve as in-house subject-matter experts, collaborating with colleagues to ensure that inclusion is integrated into the work we deliver internally and to clients.
So, what are a few positive trends that our EDI team is seeing right now in Ramboll?
Creating psychological safety in the workplace means that you empower individuals to voice their opinions, share their accomplishments and setbacks, seek or extend assistance, and engage in constructive challenges.
“We’re talking about psychological safety with leaders and teams a lot these days,” explains Tina Gaardsøe Albrechtsen, Director for Global EDI at Ramboll. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a more mature understanding of the importance of creating safe space develop and with that comes new conversations. Leaders have a much better understanding of how integral personal well-being is for us as a company. They also are more aware of the part they play in creating an environment where people feel motivated and supported.”
Creating psychological safety, though, is no easy task. Every person is unique and will have an individual understanding of what makes them feel safe. But despite that complexity, there are very well-researched best practices that we know can promote greater psychological safety over time.
For example, creating a shared understanding is essential. To do this, our colleagues have developed training courses that teach Ramboll employees about the fundamentals of equality, diversity, and inclusion. These courses help create that shared understanding of what EDI means and what we can all do to create a more inclusive culture.
“In addition to coaching and teaching leaders about psychological safety and how to help create it in their teams, we do a lot of work behind the scenes working one-to-one with our leaders,” adds Beata Pyszniak, Global Senior EDI manager. “It’s about having respectful conversations, listening, trying to understand their challenges, and focusing on solutions that work.”
“Progress can feel uncomfortable because when you dare to ask difficult questions you need to invest time in a dialogue"
“In our area of expertise,” Beata explains, “progress can feel uncomfortable because when you dare to ask difficult questions you need to invest time in a dialogue. But we’re on the right track and we’re continuously inspired by our colleagues.”
In 2023, the European Union Commission announced a new Pay Transparency Directive. The Directive, set to come into effect in 2026, establishes baseline requirements for how companies operating within the EU must measure, manage, and mitigate any gender pay gaps that exist in their business. The Directive applies equally across all EU member states and is enforceable by law.
At Ramboll, fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace is a strategic priority. We know that transparency and equity is important and that includes pay transparency. As part of our EDI maturity journey and in response to the European Union Commission's steps to narrow the gender pay gap, we are aligning our efforts as this directive introduces significant changes that impact various aspects of the employment lifecycle. For Ramboll, pay transparency is a fundamental part of the dedicated work we do on EDI and pay equity across the company.
“Ultimately, we all know how important government legislation is to changing behaviour when it comes to protecting the environment and it is exactly the same with EDI-related issues,” Tina continues. “Regulation really matters and empowers companies that are working to make positive change,” she concludes.
As a global engineering, architecture, and consulting company, Ramboll works on a great diversity of projects across industries and countries. Globally, communities and companies are learning more all the time about the importance of inclusive and accessible design – both in the built environment and in organisational environments.
A few years ago, client-facing teams at Ramboll started seeing in tenders and hearing from a growing number of clients that they wanted and needed solutions that explicitly take equality, diversity, and inclusion into consideration. As this demand continued to grow, we realised that we already had much of the expertise we needed in-house.
“I think a lot of people were quite surprised at first,” explains Beata. “They don’t necessarily realise how exclusionary a pretty regular design choice can be. And for a lot of our clients, integrating inclusion into projects is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’. It’s the gold standard.”
Today, our EDI team collaborates with colleagues working on projects to think inclusion into their deliverables. This not only means that our clients get more holistic, future-proofed solutions but also that our colleagues see inclusion being more effectively integrated throughout their lives at Ramboll.
“We’re focused on seeing progress and advocating on behalf of and in partnership with our colleagues,” explains Tina. “It’s so crucially important that we stay very close to EDI developments around the world,” she continues, “as it’s a discipline that is constantly evolving. That’s also why it’s a no-brainer that our EDI team is global. With five team members, we span thirteen time zones.”
To learn more about EDI at Ramboll, explore our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion page here.
What is Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion?
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Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (often shortened to “EDI”) is a framework for advancing the values of equality, diversity, and inclusion within an organisation. Equality means ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents.
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At Ramboll, we work towards incorporating equity with the understanding the individuality of each person and the distinct resources needed for them to prosper and excel. Diversity is about who we are. It encompasses everything about us. It is how we show up and is everything that makes us unique, both seen and unseen.
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Inclusion means welcoming and acknowledging what makes us diverse. It means making sure that everybody is heard and able to participate. When all of these values are prioritised across a business, they together help create a workplace that offers fair opportunities for growth, that rewards diversity of thought, and that makes employees feel welcomed and safe.
Want to know more?
Tina Gaardsøe Albrechtsen
Director, Global Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
+45 51 61 61 97
Beata Pyszniak
Global EDI Manager
+49 1522 2582202