Skip to main content
A group of schoolgirls on their way to school.

Fair & Equal

It’s part of our mission to ensure we put people at the heart of our business. We’re present in many communities, and when those communities thrive, we do too. We recognise the challenges people are facing and the rapid changes in our communities – particularly where rights and opportunities are far from equal.

What we aim to achieve

Guided by our values, we want to create lasting positive change in the communities where we are present. This means creating a fairer and more equal society, by growing our business in a fair and inclusive way

Fair and equal growth leads to motivated co-workers, innovative meeting places, and resilient and empowered communities.

Our 2030 objective is to contribute to a fair and equal society by championing human rights, positively impacting people across our value chain and contributing to resilient and thriving neighbourhoods.

We take actions to promote and support a world where human rights are a reality for all. We put respect for human rights at the heart of our business, integrating it into our strategies, policies and processes. Our respect for human rights covers our co-workers, customers, workers in our supply chain and our neighbours – in fact, everyone our business touches.

Two IKEA colleagues wearing yellow shirts standing in a store.

A healthy and inclusive workplace

The safety and wellbeing of our co-workers is our top priority. We work to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for everyone, and we support our co-workers in staying healthy, in feeling connected with colleagues and in maintaining their work-life balance. We celebrate diversity and together we will create a workplace that is as diverse as the world is, and as inclusive as the world should be.

IKEA co-workers handling flat-pack box in warehouse.

Creating better lives for the many people: Refugee inclusion at Ingka

Businesses can play an important role in helping refugees to build safe lives in their new homes. Employment is fundamental to social and economic inclusion, and we believe that integrating refugees not only strengthens our business but also enriches society as a whole. By bringing valuable skills and diverse perspectives, refugees help to enhance company culture and drive growth.

Ingka Group actively helps refugees become part of society and the economy, for example via our Skills for Employment programme for displaced people. It is designed for those who need support and skills development before they can find work. Our ‘Hiring Displaced Talent Framework’ complements Skills for Employment. It expands our recruitment efforts beyond training, proactively seeking out forcibly displaced individuals for direct employment opportunities at IKEA, particularly during global crises.

We also work to encourage a more positive view of refugees through awareness campaigns and by inspiring other businesses to support displaced talent. Working with trusted partners like UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, we support refugees’ rights and foster their social inclusion. Since 2019, we’ve supported almost 5,000 refugees across 26 countries.

IKEA restaurant co-worker smiling.

Creating positive social impact in our local communities

We strive to create positive social impact in the local communities where we operate. Our actions aim to support and improve the lives of those experiencing or at risk of social exclusion and poverty. We focus on four key areas:

  1. Increasing access to better homes, e.g., by cooperating with the homelessness charity Shelter in the UK, where IKEA funds housing rights workers to help community members understand their housing rights.
  2. Empowering youth and children, e.g., by offering training programmes for vulnerable young people.
  3. Opening pathways to decent employment, e.g., by providing work‑readiness training for refugees.
  4. Scaling fair and equal services and business models, like social enterprises, charity shops, and food banks, to ensure individuals and families in need get essential goods and services

And when unforeseen challenges arise, we stand with our communities to offer support. We engage our co-workers, customers, and partners to co-create solutions and amplify our impact.

Woman sewing textiles at IKEA supplier factory.

Our approach to human rights

The Ingka Group Policy on Human Rights and Equality is the basis of our approach. We are also guided by the IKEA Employment Standards, our Code of Conduct and IWAY – the IKEA supplier code of conduct. We are developing our new Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) framework to strengthen our approach.

Governance

The Ingka Group Policy on Human Rights is approved by our Management Board and our Human Rights and Social Impact team leads our efforts. We are currently clarifying our governance bodies and business functions’ responsibilities in implementing our HREDD framework.

Potential human rights risks

We aim to focus on the most salient human rights impacts – those at risk of the most severe negative impacts. We have identified a range of potential human rights risks for our industry, including modern slavery and forced labour, low wages, undocumented cash wages, excessive hours, unsafe working conditions, and threats to freedom of association rights. We are conducting a human rights risk assessment of our operations and value chain to identify and prioritise our most salient risks, considering risk factors such as sector, geography and commodity. The findings will be used to update or develop mitigation plans for our most salient risks.

Due diligence

The IWAY System is designed to ensure that sustainability impacts, including human rights risks, are identified before supply agreements are entered into and then continuously identified, monitored, and managed over time. As part of the selection process, potential suppliers undergo a risk assessment which covers human rights aspects such as workplace health and safety, wages and working hours. Other human rights risks are picked up via the Ingka Group risk management process.

Remediation

We take seriously our responsibility to remediate any negative human rights impacts on people, society and the environment that we cause or contribute to. Our approach to remediation, including which impacts we prioritise for remediation, depends on how we are connected to the impact and its nature and severity. If cases arise within our supply chain that are indirectly connected to us, we work with the supplier to support access to remediation, external experts or independent partners where necessary. Working with Inter IKEA, we are creating remediation principles that align with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines.

Grievance mechanisms

Co-workers who have any human rights concerns can raise them through our internal grievance mechanism, Trustline. In the EU, we are also making Trust line available to people who have a working relationship with Ingka, such as contractors, suppliers and volunteers. In addition, we request all our suppliers, via IWAY, to put a grievance mechanism in place that is known to their workers and enables workers to raise complaints or concerns without fear of retaliation.

Supporting children’s rights

We aim to support, protect and empower the children and families that come into contact with our business through our products, stores, marketing and supply chain. Our children’s rights commitment is set out in our Policy on Human Rights and Equality and we have detailed principles for child participation and safeguarding. Our approach is based on the Children’s Rights and Business Principles developed by Save the Children, the UN Global Compact and UNICEF.

Related reading

Our approach to a fair income – How we work with living wage

People & Culture

19 June 2025

Ingka Group shows how inclusion strengthens business on World Refugee Day

People & Culture

16 October 2024

“Driving Change and Empowering Communities”: A Q&A with Julia Olofsson, Director of Human Rights and Social Impact at Ingka Group
Ingka Group to train and support integration for an additional 3,000 refugees

People & Culture

13 December 2023

Ingka Group to train and support integration for an additional 3,000 refugees
Mother and three children brush teeth in bathroom.

Creating better homes: driving impact through financial market partnerships
Couple look at each other while holding a baby

Creating better lives: how responsible financial investments are supporting livelihoods

FAQ

  • Which groups do Ingka's social impact initiatives aim to support?

    Driven by the IKEA vision to create a better everyday life for the many people and as a major employer, partner, and influencer we contribute to a fair and equal society by supporting people experiencing (or at risk of experiencing) poverty and social exclusion.

  • How do you measure your social impact?

    We measure our social impact by focusing on the number of vulnerable people who are directly and meaningfully supported through substantive, long-term initiatives. We assess the significance of our contribution to these initiatives based on two key factors: the level of our contribution and the length of our partnerships or collaborations. Our methodology follows recognised global best practice and is aligned with the Business for Societal Impact (B4SI) framework, the leading standard for measuring and managing corporate social impact.

  • Do you work with social enterprises?

    We work with social entrepreneurs within indirect services, customer services and with the sales of social entrepreneur collections in our stores. We continuously trial a range of approaches including working with social businesses providing services relating to circularity, sewing and last-mile delivery.

    With IKEA Social Entrepreneurship (part of Inter IKEA Group), we are supporting individuals and organisations that pursue social goals through business models in fulfilling their mission, offering capacity building, financial support, access to the competence of IKEA co-workers, and collaboration opportunities.