Equality plan for the Royal Danish Library

Find out more about how we work with equality at the library, which tools we use, and what our goals are with the work for equality.

Gender equality is one of the objectives of the library's diversity policy. We want to be a spacious workplace, where all employees are equal regardless of age, gender, education, position and ethnic background, and where everyone is seen and heard. We have an inclusive and appreciative culture, where we see diversity as a strength that contributes to us solving our tasks optimally.

The following equality plan is a concretisation of the diversity policy. It has been prepared based on the fact that from 2022, it is a prerequisite for participating in the EU research project Horizon Europe that the institution has an equality plan. This means that when signing grant agreements, we also sign the fact that the library has an equality plan.

This is how we work with equality

We focus on a uniform recruitment effort in connection with the employment of both employees and managers, cf. Royal Danish Library's recruitment policy.

The main element in recruitment is always an assessment of professionalism and competences based on the tasks and the context in which our new colleague must enter, cf. Royal Danish Library's diversity policy.

We focus on competence development. This is done through annual systematised development interviews, and in addition there is continuous focus via 1:1 interviews.

It is possible to apply for funds for individual skills development via the state skills fund.

We believe that these frameworks contribute to all employees having the same opportunities to develop their potential regardless of gender, cf. Royal Danish Library's competence policy.

Employees at the Royal Danish Library is covered by the general rules on civil servants' rights in connection with pregnancy, maternity and adoption in the Maternity Act, the Civil Service Act and the agreement on maternity, adoption and care days.

Men and women have the opportunity to take parental leave, care days and children's 1st and 2nd sick day with pay. Employees can find guidance on this on our intranet.

The library's salary policy intends that all types of tasks and functions can be the basis for salary improvements. Salary improvements are based on a concrete assessment of how the tasks are carried out, and an overall assessment of the employee's salary level, capacity, workload and experience, cf. Royal Danish Library's salary policy.

With the pay policy as a framework, we estimate that the risk of pay favoritism on the basis of gender is minimised. In addition, the wage development between genders is monitored once a year, cf. section on data.

There is transparency about the results of the annual salary negotiations, as they are published on our intranet, incl. justification for salary improvements. In addition, our HR department facilitates the sharing of salary information between trade union representatives and managers prior to salary negotiations.

Through the equality plan, we commit ourselves to allocating dedicated resources to work with the equality area. The responsibility for work with equality is anchored in the HR department.

The equality plan is revised annually.

Several initiatives have been launched which support a healthy and safe working environment at the Royal Danish Library:

  • We work systematically with health, safety and well-being. This happens in the Work Environment Organisation, where these topics are on the agenda at every meeting.
  • We continuously review our well-being policy, cf. Royal Danish Library's well-being policy. In connection with the employment of new employees, they are informed about the policy, cf. Royal Danish Library's introduction policy.
  • We have a whistleblower scheme, which can be used, among other things, to anonymously report serious matters to an impartial unit.
  • We regularly carry out well-being measurements, cf. section on data.

We want to raise awareness of unconscious gender bias, so that we become aware of our own behaviour and any stereotypical perceptions of gender. In order to support the desired culture, the managers at the library have received information about unconscious bias in connection with recruitment.

In general, we strive to be an attractive workplace with a high level of well-being, and our personnel policy values, among other things, focus on constructive and trusting dialogue and job satisfaction. All new employees at the Royal Danish Library is introduced to the values ​​through our introduction programme.

Data on gender in the library

The starting point is the current gender distribution of 56/44 women/men. In the executive board, the gender distribution is 50/50.

We will follow the development of equal pay through gender-disaggregated data for pay, which is prepared prior to the annual pay negotiations, and to which all trade union representatives and managers have access.

We carry out the statutory psychological workplace assessment, and employee satisfaction surveys are undertaken every 1½ years to monitor well-being. The results can form the basis for targeted initiatives as needed.

In addition, we endeavor to follow developments through monitoring gender-disaggregated data in the following areas:

  • The gender composition among managers and employees broken down by personnel category
  • Use of parental leave and child sick days

In 2023, statements of the above gender-disaggregated data will be presented to the library's management. This is done with a view to being able to launch targeted initiatives either at department or area level in the event of any challenges.