Schibsted Media Group recognises international and national employee rights. Employees have the right to participate in employee organisations and collective bargaining. Employee representatives to the board are freely elected by the employees.
To develop Schibsted in line with our ambitions we are working systematically to develop the organization, including identifying and developing skills in all companies. Leadership development, continuous improvement, sales and market knowledge are key elements in the group's development of expertise
Schibsted is a knowledge company and skilled managers and other employees are a vital part of its business. The work of attracting talented people, developing good managers and creating competent organisations is given high priority by the senior management of the Group and its subsidiaries. Competitive terms of employment and a stimulating working environment with good opportunities for personal and professional development form part of that strategy. By fostering a workplace culture characterised by employee well-being and good working relationships with colleagues we ensure that competent employees are interested in pursuing a career with us. Since 2006 Schibsted has taken part in the annual working environment survey organised by Great Place to Work. The results of the survey are studied in detail and action is taken where required.
The companies’ working environment committees are continuously striving to promote a good working environment and so to minimise the chance of discrimination among employees in the workplace.
The Group’s clear goal is to ensure that women and men have equally good development opportunities. Half of the companies' customers and readers are women. This distribution should be reflected at management level in the group companies for the benefit of the working environment and the companies’ products. For this reason, a long-term, compulsory programme to achieve a better gender balance in management is in progress. When recruiting personnel both within the company and from outside, and when taking on new trainees, emphasis is placed on finding well qualified women and giving them career opportunities in the group. This is a process is most advanced in the Scandinavian media houses and experience gained here is regulary passed on to subsidiaries in other countries.
Schibsted has had two full time employee representatives since autumn 2007. At the moment these are Marianne Falk from Sweden, a journalist and project leader at Svenska Dagbladet and Morten Lia from Norway, a typographer at Fædrelandsvennen and former member of Media Norge's works council. . Their function is laid down in the central Norwegian agreements. The employee representatives should uphold the interests of all employees, both unionised and non-unionised, in cases which are dealt with at the group level. One of the group employee representatives must be elected in Norway, the other in the country which has the most central importance to the Schibsted at the relevant time outside Norway. This is currently Sweden. The two employee representatives are elligible to be voted onto the board.
Schibsted's works council, a European Works Council, established in 2004 in accordance with EU guidelines. The works council is intended to be a forum for information, dialogue and consultation between employees and management. The importance of regular contact between employees across borders is emphasised. The Council meets twice a year. The meetings take place over three days with the group chairman and some other members of group management present on the second day.
The Council currently consists of 34 representatives from eight countries, elected by the employees from among themselves. The leader of the Council is Marianne Falk, employee representative from Schibsted in Sweden.