• As part of our commitment to labor equality, we have recently approved the ‘III Equality Plan for women and men 2023-2026 of NEIKER’
• Women make up 54% of our workforce and 61% of middle-level leadership positions
• Equality is a fundamental principle for NEIKER and is one of our strategic axes

As part of our commitment to equality in the work environment at NEIKER, we have just approved the III Equality Plan for women and men, which covers the period from 2023 to 2026.

Through the approval of this plan, we reaffirm our commitment to establish equal opportunities between women and men as a strategic principle of our corporate and human resources policy. In this regard, 54% of the 190 people who make up our workforce are women.

In support of gender equity, the new plan seeks to promote equality in the workplace by focusing on four areas: good governance, the empowerment of women, the transformation of the economy and social organization, and the promotion of lives free of violence against women.

Within the first axis, that referring to good governance, we have implemented a series of actions to ensure non-discriminatory management of people, such as maintaining a balanced distribution in the workforce, carrying out health campaigns with a gender perspective with differentiated tests for men and women or monitoring the salary gap, among others.

As a result of this monitoring, the latest analysis carried out to calculate the unadjusted pay gap -the difference in actual pay received according to the working day or time worked by women and men-, in 2021 amounted to 7.39% in favor of women.

Communication, a way to promote equality

Communication is another tool that is making it possible to promote equality within the organization. So much so that in 2021 NEIKER’s Equality Committee drew up an Inclusive Language Manual in Spanish, since the inclusive use of language is essential to promote equality effectively in the workplace.

The second axis of the plan focuses on promoting the empowerment of women in the organization. In this regard, we are working to promote the proportional representation of women in decision-making and leadership positions, which currently stands at more than 54%. Likewise, in the events we participate in, we try to promote the participation of women in the presentations. At the same time, we suggest the implementation of the same measures for the external entities with which we collaborate.

In addition, at NEIKER we also participate in different initiatives to promote the empowerment of women such as 8F, International Day of Women and Girls in Science; 8M, International Women’s Day, or 25N, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. We also take part in the STEAM Sare initiative of the Basque Government, which promotes scientific vocations among girls.

Regarding the third axis, in order to transform economies and social organization, it is essential to generate effective social co-responsibility between women and men. For this reason, we promote various awareness-raising actions on co-responsibility to disseminate the measures for reconciling private and professional life included in the agreement, which are available to everyone at the center, both women and men.

Likewise, and in order to achieve lives free of violence against women -four axes on which the plan pivots-, we have a protocol for sexual harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and confidential counseling to ensure a violence-free environment and promote zero tolerance to aggressions. As part of this initiative, seminars have been held to disseminate it among the staff and the document is published on the intranet available to everyone in the center.

Long-standing commitment

At NEIKER we have a long experience in the development of equality policies, dating back to 2011, when we prepared a first diagnostic report focused on the analysis of quantitative data of the workforce.

In 2018, we decided to take a qualitative leap in our trajectory around equality policies with the support of specialized consultants approved by Emakunde and with training for the people involved in the development and monitoring of the Equality Plan.

In addition, with a view to the approval of this third plan, in 2022 an Equality Negotiating Commission is constituted with representation from the company and the legal representation of the workers with the aim of preparing and approving the Diagnosis and the III Equality Plan.

These initiatives would not have been possible without the involvement of everyone at NEIKER. In the words of Leire Barañano, general manager of the center, “our commitment to equality goes back a long way and has become a transversal axis of our strategy thanks to the participation of the entire team. With the approval of this third equality plan and the actions planned, we continue on the right path to consolidate our position as an exemplary entity in terms of equality”.