Maximising positive destination impact
Making inclusion the cornerstone of diversity
At NLTG, our vision is to enrich life – not just for our customers, but also for our employees. This means creating a culture where everyone enjoys coming to work and feels part of the team, regardless of their background, experience and outlook. That’s why we’re working to increase diversity and inclusion across the organisation and measuring our progress.
Meet Zakaria Lamnaouar
After starting his career as a Service Representative in Thomas Cook in 2013, Zak worked in Greece, Spain, Mexico, Crete, Cabo Verde and Cuba before moving back home to Copenhagen in 2019. Today, he is HR Business Partner for Denmark and Sunclass. He loves traveling and the travel industry and has made it his mission to help colleagues enjoy coming to work as much as he does.
There is no such thing as a standard career at NLTG. Zakaria Lamnaouar began with the company as a Service Representative in Greece in 2013. But he has also worked as a Service Manager, Airport Manager and Destination Manager, and has had stints in Crete, Cuba, Cabo Verde, Spain and Cyprus. He moved back to Copenhagen six years ago and took up his current position as an HR Business Partner in People Development in 2022.
Zak’s career path may sound varied, but it’s by no means unique at NLTG. “A lot of people join NLTG when they are young, whether through the airline or at a destination,” says Zak. “They love working abroad, building experiences and memories. But, like me, they stay because they can build a career and take on new challenges.
At NLTG, everyone has an opportunity to develop and impact our product and how we work. This is key to our company culture. It gives employees a sense of opportunity and inclusiveness – and that’s one of the reasons why many people stay so long.”
Building diversity through inclusion
Our company culture has developed over many years. We’re now working consciously to ensure that it remains in place – not just for our experienced employees, but for new and future employees as well. This is important because, for us, inclusion is the cornerstone of building diversity, as Zak explains.
“NLTG’s target customer group – and society as a whole – is becoming more diverse. From a strategic point of view and as a responsible company, we want to reflect that. But we can’t increase diversity if the inclusion isn’t there. Yes, we have to get the right people into the business. But, regardless of their ethnicity, cultural background, age, gender or any other perceived difference, people won't stay for very long – or won’t contribute much – if they don’t feel included. This means we must ensure everyone feels welcome, safe and secure as they are, and has the means to perform.”
31 days of DEI
Over the past few years, we have introduced measures to increase inclusion and diversity, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training for all leaders and managers, and defined clear DEI policies and goals. As part of this work, we held our first ever DEI Month in March 2024 to raise awareness of inclusion and diversity among our colleagues. In January 2024, we sent a survey to all employees who had an NLTG email account with questions around inclusion and diversity. The goal was to find out how inclusive colleagues felt our work environment is and to get their feedback on where we can improve.
The results were shared with everyone in the organisation, and Zak’s team used them to design the content of DEI Month. The DEI Month programme included lectures on various aspects of DEI, tailored DEI e-learning for all employees as well as intranet articles. One of the most popular was an article by the head of our operations in Türkiye, explaining about Ramadan and its importance to our Muslim colleagues. Inspirational lectures by external DEI specialists also created a buzz. But perhaps the biggest success of DEI Month was the dialogue that it inspired.
“We’re a diverse organisation – both geographically and in terms of our business functions – and each team faces different challenges when it comes to inclusion. So, we need everyone to talk openly about it. Only then can we actively work to ensure our colleagues feel included and valued in all situations. This is something our managers can facilitate, but it's a responsibility we all have to take,” says Zak.
Enriching the lives of our colleagues
As an organisation, we are proud of our company culture and work environment. But we also understand that we can’t assume everyone joining our team will fit in. That’s why DEI will remain a focus area moving forward.
“Our vision is to enrich life,” says Zak. “This doesn’t just apply to our customers; it applies to our employees, too.
We want to create an environment in which being at work enriches your life. Where everyone feels valued and included and can have an impact on the work we do. We already have a great culture, but we have to nurture and improve it all the time, through policies and initiatives, and by talking to each other about what we need in order to thrive.”
