People

We care deeply for our people who are part of making LEGO® play experiences possible for everyone. We have an ongoing focus on making our workplaces inclusive, safe and motivating for all our colleagues.
Critters celebrating

Celebrating diversity

It is our ambition to build a diverse and inclusive organization that helps us reach and inspire ALL children, regardless of who they are or where they come from. As we work to accelerate our diversity and inclusion, we partner with a select number of organisations that are leaders in their respective areas of D&I. The partners we choose will reflect our broad definition of diversity, encompassing gender, ethnicity, background, lifestyle and family, and help us shape both our workplace practices and creative output.
Everyone is Awesome minifigs

Everyone is Awesome

To celebrate the diversity of the world around us and especially the LGBTQIA+ community, we released LEGO® Everyone is Awesome. The set was designed by VP of Design, Matthew Ashton, a member of the LEGO Group’s LGBTQIA+ community and released to coincide with Pride month in June.

In May 2021, we partnered with three LGBTQIA+ NGOs to strengthen our efforts to become a more diverse and inclusive workplace: Stonewall, Workplace Pride and Open for Business. We also proudly partner with UK-based charity, Diversity Role Models, which works to educate children about inclusivity and empathy to build supportive and inclusive future generations.

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The "What it is is beautiful poster"

Celebrating International Women’s Day

We marked International Women’s Day by celebrating the female leaders of tomorrow. We invited girls around the world to recreate a famous LEGO magazine advertisement which celebrates girls’ creativity and equality. Hundreds of girls from around the world shared their inspiring builds.
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A group of diverse critters

Conscious inclusion training for all

We believe in creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, heard and respected. In 2021, we introduced conscious inclusion training to help all employees build the necessary skills. The training is grounded in our leadership behaviours of being curious, brave and focused. We expect all employees to have completed the training by 2022.
Critter kids in focus

Focus on children with UNICEF

We are working with UNICEF child rights and development experts to clearly understand how discriminatory norms, stereotypes and practices impact children. With a focus on product, entertainment and marketing activity, this partnership work seeks to develop a thought-leadership position that will contribute significantly to the LEGO® brand’s ambition to reach as many children as possible and help create a more inclusive, equitable world for children everywhere.
Partnership with UNICEF

Empowering everybody to develop in the LEGO Group

In 2021, we have made several improvements on how we attract, recruit and retain talent, including securing diverse interview panels and diversity training for recruiters. This is part of our work to improve diversity and gender balance at all organisational levels.

We also established six global Employee Advocacy Groups (EAGs) to help build a stronger sense of belonging and connect employees around the world. We currently have EAGs for Accessibility, Age, Asian, LGBTQIA+, People of Colour and Women and expect to establish more over time.

Evaluating progress

As one means of tracking our progress on diversity and inclusion, we measure the percentage of women who hold positions at Director level and above. In the first half of 2021, women held 39% of Director+ positions in the LEGO Group, which represents a 1% increase from 2020.

We also include D&I-specific questions in our employee engagement survey, the LEGO Pulse. We ask employees how they feel about belonging, feeling safe to share opinions and feeling valued, regardless of their gender, ethnicity or background. For 2020, the annual Pulse inclusion score was 86, +1 above target and +3 above 2019.

  1. 2017

    35%

  2. 2018

    36%

  3. 2019

    36%

  4. 2020

    38%

  5. H1 2021

    39%

Creating a safe and family-friendly workplace

Parent and child LEGO critter singing

Extended parental leave

In 2020, we launched an extended parental leave globally. All employees, no matter their location, receive a minimum of 26 weeks paid childcare leave for the primary caregiver and 8 weeks paid leave for the secondary caregiver, by the end of 2022. As we continued to deploy the scheme in 2021, employees around the globe are already benefitting from the extended parental leave, spending more time with their children at an important stage in their early childhood development.

Also introduced in 2020, employees around the world now benefit from four weeks of caregiver leave and a fully deployed global safety net to ensure financial security for colleagues and their families in case of death or permanent disability.

Critter jumping in a trampoline

No compromise on safety

Employee safety and wellbeing is a top priority, and we aim for zero accidents in our factories, stores and offices. Our Occupational Health and Safety Policy ensures all activities are carried out with health and safety in mind. We comply with national and international legislation as a minimum requirement. In the first half of 2021, the number of lost time injuries was 0.4 per million working hours.

Helping our colleagues thrive

We strive to ensure that the LEGO Group is a motivating workplace and survey the motivation and satisfaction of all employees regularly. The resulting score is calculated from the answers to four questions in the annual employee engagement survey run by Ennova and called ‘the LEGO People Pulse’.

In 2020, colleagues’ motivation and satisfaction were extremely high and amongst the strongest of all companies tracked by our external survey partner, Ennova. In 2020, we exceeded our target with a score of 82 points, 8 points above the external benchmark score of 74.

During 2021 we’ve continued to take steps to ensure the health, safety and mental wellbeing of all colleagues working in our offices, factories and stores and to provide support for those working from home for extended periods.

We hosted COVID vaccination clinics for employees, families and local communities at three of our factories.

Critter working from home

Introducing Best of Both

In the first half of 2021, we launched Best of Both, a flexible hybrid way of working which offers colleagues who are able to the opportunity work from home if they need to focus or come into the office and enjoy the benefits of face-to-face collaboration. Our rule of thumb is three days in office and two days away from the office, at home.

All offices are introducing Best of Both as local government guidance allows.

Boys playing in the summer camp

Inspiring the builders of tomorrow means caring for the workers of today

As a company that cares deeply about children’s development, we understand the critical roles parents and caregivers play during a child’s formative years. Many people who work in factories in China are from rural areas and spend extended periods of time away from their children.

To bridge this separation, we launched a Summer Camp programme in China in 2018 for children of factory employees in the LEGO Group and selected suppliers. These camps are held close to employees’ factories and aim to give the children a fun summer break close to their parents.

In collaboration with Save the Children we have developed curriculum based around Learning through Play which is both fun and provides long-term benefit to children who participate.

In 2021 we welcomed 227 children to camps held at our Jiaxing factory and five supplier factory sites. This is fewer than last year due to COVID restrictions at a number of sites.

A responsible supply chain

We collaborate closely with our suppliers to ensure they uphold our Responsible Business Principles. These 12 principles reinforce our ethical way of working and how we relate to children, our planet and our colleagues. Their primary purpose is to ensure all workers involved in making LEGO products have fair and decent working conditions and that the environment is protected for future generations. If a supplier shows non-conformities with our Responsible Business Principles during a third-party audit, we work in partnership with them to identify the root causes and ensure they are corrected. Our aim is to create long-term, sustainable solutions which benefit everyone.

In the first half of 2021, 40% of audits were completed against an end-of-year target of 100%. COVID-19 continues to affect travel and factory access, which might impact our ability to complete all on-site audits in 2021. In cases where on-site audits are not possible, we will continue to support suppliers with close collaboration, clear guidance and alternative monitoring methods.

We identified higher-risk non-conformities in 33% of audits undertaken so far this year, which is below our set annual maximum of 38%.

The maximum level has been set at 38%, compared to 30% in previous years, to allow more room for the impact COVID-19 continues to have on operations in our supply chain. Some factories have reduced capacity to protect vulnerable workers, while others have been affected by staff shortages due to travel restrictions, resulting in increased working hours. Due to social distancing restrictions, some factories have also been unable to carry out comprehensive fire drills.

For these reasons, the most frequently identified risks was related to increasing working hours and lack of full fire drills. None of the higher-risk non-conformities identified any form of modern slavery or child labour

*In 2020, the audit scope was expanded to include key sub-suppliers, so the figures below are not fully comparable.

  1. 2017

    29%

  2. 2018

    33%

  3. 2019

    31%

  4. 2020*

    42%

  5. 1H 2021

    33%

In 2020, we launched a capability building programme where suppliers receive training in the Responsible Business Principles, with the aim of building supplier competences to reach a higher level of compliance and proactively resolve high-risk issues. In 2021, we continue to strengthen the programme with more training sessions, e-learning opportunities and by launching hands-on tools, such as a Management Guidebook on how to manage and comply with the Responsible Business Principles.

We have published our Modern Slavery Statement for 2020 in accordance with the requirements of the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015), the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2010), and the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act (2018) for Australia.

Responsible Business Principles The LEGO Group Modern Slavery Statement 2020