A New People Strategy for a Dynamic New Era

by Stephanie Werner-Dietz

We are living through a moment of profound social change. Technology companies occupy an interesting position at this time in which so many people are embarking on a personal quest for meaning. The pandemic – and the new hybrid working practices it ushered in – have demonstrated forcefully how vital technology is to societies of every kind. Meanwhile, emerging innovations like Artificial Intelligence opening up radical new opportunities in everyday life. There’s a growing realization that technology plays a central role in developing solutions to the biggest challenges faced by humankind. This is fuelling a growing market demand for experts across all areas of digitalization. That demand is coming not just from technology firms like Nokia but from sectors as diverse as finance, medicine, and retail.

By constantly evolving, listening to our people, and responding promptly to changing dynamics, Nokia has earned its reputation as a people-centric organization, widely recognized as one of the most ethical companies in the world. Our new people strategy is a bold and innovative response to these latest currents and trends. Focussing on growth, skills and development will help us to keep building that good reputation while maintaining our outstanding technology leadership.

A strategy for our times

This new people strategy will help Nokia stay skilled and competitive as the world around us continues to change. It makes new commitments and sets out new initiatives, as well introducing new benefits. This is an essential next step on our journey to becoming a purpose-driven company, creating an environment in which people can thrive.

I’m delighted to share that people across our business have contributed to its development, in response to a company-wide invitation for employees to join a crowdsourcing initiative to co-create, evaluate, and refine collected ideas.

Feeling the benefits, fast

As a first step in the launch of our new people strategy, we will be introducing two new global employee benefit policies this year. These will extend support that already exists in some countries to all our people worldwide, turning the benefits that some employees already enjoy into a global minimum standard for all our people.

• A ‘New Child Leave’ policy will provide any Nokia employee who becomes a parent, regardless of gender, with at least 90 calendar days of paid leave and the right to return to work up to one year following the date of birth or adoption.
• A Global Life Insurance policy will ensure that the loved ones of any Nokia employee who dies will receive financial support of not less than one year’s capped gross base salary.

From working to thriving

Our new people strategy puts our people firmly at the heart of everything we do while also delivering on our company purpose: At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together. The people strategy is built around four pillars which together help us achieve this:

• Growing together: We work together to align personal and professional growth with the need to sustain Nokia’s business growth.
• Leading lights: Our leaders create a working environment in which people can be open, fearless, and empowered, developing themselves and their teams.
• We belong: We have a sense of belonging at Nokia and feel personally connected to our colleagues and our work.
• Experience is everything: Our daily experiences enable each of us to be ourselves, free to focus, create and innovate.

Many new initiatives will be launched over the next three to five years. These include powerful new development opportunities for people to enhance their skills and greater support for our leaders to build teams and shape an inspiring working environment that enables everyone to thrive.

So, stay tuned throughout 2022 as I share more developments and updates on this exciting and evolving focus on the people who make Nokia what it is.

About Stephanie Werner-Dietz
Stephanie Werner-Dietz is Chief People Officer (CPO) at Nokia and responsible for all people-related topics, including HR, real estate and health & safety, to provide a supportive working environment for all employees and enable them to thrive.

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