Our eyes and ears for workplace equality

Ensuring that equality is observed and well managed throughout a large company and across many sites can be a challenging task. At Zalando, our internal policies - along with the relevant legal frameworks - encourage equal opportunities and nurture our inclusive company culture. Since 2022, we can also count on a very special group of people to be our eyes and ears across the organisation: the Equality Allyship Network - a network of more than 25 Zalando employees who volunteer as ambassadors to raise awareness of upholding equality across business units and locations.

The network’s members play an important role in promoting inclusive behaviours, such as the use of inclusive language. In order to take up this advising role, each member of the group receives training on active listening techniques, the German General Equal Treatment Act and Zalando's policies such as the Code of Ethics, Dignity at Work and Health & Safety. Each quarter the Allies meet to share learnings with each other. “With the Equality Allyship Network we want to focus on prevention. By creating awareness around our ethical standards for a safe working environment and by empowering people to speak up, we can act before unwelcome situations happen.” explains Equality Manager Michele Pazzini.

Always attentive

Equality Allies also help to protect our work environment by being able to recognise unwelcome behaviour and providing support to employees affected. Connection and trust are key concepts as these individuals become an informal point of contact and offer peer-to-peer support in their extended network of colleagues across departments. The Equality Allies have been trained to offer a non-judgmental listening ear to colleagues who reach out to them, ensure confidentiality on the exchange and provide guidance if steps beyond prevention are needed.