1. WHY DOES LEGO BELIEVE IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO HAVE AN INCLUSIVE AND DIVERSE TECH TEAM?
The LEGO Group believes in building a diverse organisation with a unique sense of belonging to inspire and develop All builders of tomorrow. Also, by acting boldly to tackle D&I unlocks tremendous business value and delivering our vision.
It unlocks the benefits of diversity e.g innovation, improved decision making, expanded market awareness and access to new markets. This means we have stronger employee attraction, retention and engagement and employees feel proud to be associated with companies that lead with purpose and has stronger relevance and engagement with consumers and leads to stronger company performance
2. WHAT IS LEGO DOING TO ACTIVELY RECRUIT A DIVERSE TEAM?
For the LEGO Group, creating responsible workplace, to value differences, conscious inclusion & behaviours and attract, develop, empower, and retain diverse talent are some of the D&I priorities.
There are conscious inclusion trainings, LinkedIn learning paths on Inclusive behaviour, Leadership & Hiring for Diversity are some of the examples of how the LEGO Group increases awareness.
The LEGO Group ensures equal opportunities in recruitment and career development for all and for talent acquisition and promotion communication to attract diverse candidates and widening the talent pools.
The LEGO Group also have tools to leverage data insights on diversity and track progress on gender balance targets. There are also efforts made to make the job descriptions more inclusive.
3. HOW DOES LEGO WORK TO RETAIN ITS TECH TEAM IN AN INCLUSIVE AND SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT?
The LEGO Group inspires a culture change and accountability for inclusion in employees at all levels.
The LEGO Group ensures there’s equal opportunity in recruitment and career development for all
Transparency on internal career opportunities is open for all, conscious inclusion trainings, equal pay analysis and Senior leadership mentoring are some of the ways the LEGO Group create the supportive culture
It provides organisational support and encourage peer-to-peer connection and there are diverse groups run by employees for inclusion and to bring everyone closer and making sure every individual knows that they are valued.
Ensure employment practices and policies are inclusive, have best of both ways of working, mentorship programme.
Pulse survey reports are collected twice every year which gives opportunity to gather feedback from employees and above all listen
4. WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO CREATE AND LIVE BY A SET OF COMPANY VALUES?
An organisation’s values lay the foundation for what the company cares about most.
It provides a common purpose that all employees should understand, work towards, and live by. Once you define and promote your values, employees come to understand the behaviours that are expected of them that will lead to success, engagement, and retention. The LEGO Group values are Imagination, Fun, Creativity, Caring, Learning and Quality, which bring all the employees closer working for the same mission and towards the same goals.
And like I said, having a well-laid set of company core values will keep everyone from top to bottom in the organisation on the right track. Furthermore, when we associate value with a certain thing or activity, it emphasises the importance of the same. Also, it is worth noting that employees or job seekers on their lookout for the best workplaces prefer the ones that have got a sound vision and goal.
5. WHAT FIRST SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN WORKING IN THE TECH INDUSTRY?
Maths was my favourite subject when in Secondary school and I decided to pursue my graduation in Mathematics. I was introduced to my first programming language at the university which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I enrolled myself for a diploma in computer science alongside my Maths degree. It was very apparent to me that critical thinking, problem solving, and analytical thinking are some of my key skills and tech industry was the obvious choice where I could contribute and use my skills and be really productive. Moreover, tech industry was thriving at the time and looking for young graduates when I started my tech career, and it is an industry which is constantly evolving and provides an ample opportunity to learn and grow.
6. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF JUST STARTING OUT?
Keep learning and growing and learn the strengths of each language and understand their weaknesses. Don’t fall in love with a specific language and then refuse to look at other technologies because you’re sold on one.
Work on the foundation and keep a close eye to attention to detail and not forgetting you are not in a race but working together as a team with a focus on the same goal and achieving it together.
Start believing in your abilities. Be humble and cultivate relationships. Don’t fear failure. Be brave, curious, and focussed! And Be patient – It may be a long, tough journey to get to where you want to be, but that what makes life fun! Enjoy the adventure and learn from it.
7. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN YOUR CAREER, SO FAR?
I am so proud of my journey so far in the tech industry, from being a software engineer to be a Senior Engineering manager. There have been so many proud moments, as a software engineer when the very first product I worked on was launched and we received the feedbacks from the end users, some +ve and some -ve which encouraged me to do better than before. As a manager where I have got the opportunities to be a mentor, guide and grow engineers in their careers and encourage them to take up challenges and play an important role in inspiring change and achieving equal representation between genders and create inclusive phycological safe environment & culture where everyone can thrive.
