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A group of schoolgirls on their way to school.

Fair & Equal

More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty (World Bank) Discrimination remains widespread, and human rights violations persist across the world (UN Human Rights Annual Report). Beyond the moral dimension, this inequality carries economic consequences – disrupting supply chains and undermining long-term social stability. Businesses, including Ingka, have both an opportunity and a responsibility to work alongside governments and civil society to help build fairer, more resilient societies.

Contributing to fairer, more equal societies

Respect for human rights is the foundation of everything we do to support fairer, more equal societies – it’s integrated into our strategies, policies and processes. We focus on three areas where we can make a concrete difference: our co-workers, workers in our supply chain, and the communities where we operate.

For our co-workers, we are committed to fair pay and safe, inclusive working conditions – 100% of co-workers earn equal to or above the applicable adequate wage benchmark in their location.

For workers in our supply chain, our supplier code of conduct IWAY sets clear expectations on labour rights and working conditions.

In the local communities where we operate, we run initiatives aimed at supporting people experiencing or at risk of social exclusion and poverty.

Two IKEA colleagues wearing yellow shirts standing in a store.

Refugee inclusion at Ingka

Businesses can play an important role in helping refugees build stable lives in their new homes. Employment is fundamental to social and economic inclusion, and we believe that integrating refugees brings valuable skills and diverse perspectives that strengthen our business and benefit the communities where we operate.

Ingka Group actively supports refugees in becoming part of society and the economy. Our Skills for Employment programme provides skills development for displaced people who need support before entering the workforce. Our Hiring Displaced Talent Framework complements this by proactively seeking out forcibly displaced individuals for direct employment opportunities at IKEA.

We also work to promote refugee inclusion more broadly, by inspiring other businesses to adopt similar approaches. Working with partners including UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, we support refugees’ rights and social inclusion. As shown in our Annual Summary and Sustainability Report FY25 (p. 51), we have supported almost 5,000 refugees across 26 countries since FY20.

IKEA restaurant co-worker smiling.

Social initiatives for our local communities

We work to support people experiencing or at risk of social exclusion and poverty in the local communities where we operate, focusing on five key areas:

1. Increasing access to better homes – for example, by partnering 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 – such as by partnering with the Norwegian Red Cross to support Fellesverket, a network of free, open youth centres across Norway.

3. Opening pathways to decent employment – for example, through our Skills for Employment programme for displaced people.

4. Supporting and collaborating with social enterprises and community organisations – such as through our partnership with Conexi in Sweden, which supports the creation of employment opportunities, or through our partnership with Sveriges Stadsmissioner, which supports access to essential goods and services.

5. Responding to emergencies – supporting local neighbourhoods to respond to and recover from natural disasters and other emergencies. For example, following the Valencia floods in 2024, IKEA provided free retail space to up to 25 affected local businesses and delivered a €3.5 million support package for communities, co-workers and local organisations.

In FY25, we have directly and meaningfully supported 93,789 people experiencing or at risk of social exclusion and poverty through our community initiatives, measured in line with the Business for Societal Impact (B4SI) framework – a recognised global standard for measuring corporate social 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 provide grievance mechanisms and work to address situations where we may have caused or contributed to an adverse human rights impact, including through supporting access to remedy together with our suppliers.

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 work to respect and support the rights of children and families who interact 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, 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

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19 June 2025

Ingka Group shows how inclusion strengthens business on World Refugee Day

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“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

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13 December 2023

Ingka Group to train and support integration for an additional 3,000 refugees
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FAQ

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

    Our social impact initiatives focus on supporting people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, poverty and social exclusion – including through employment opportunities, access to essential goods and services, and community programmes in the local areas where we operate.

  • 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, a globally recognised 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.