Women in gaming: Diversity will change the gaming industry

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is starting to claim its place in the gaming industry and we, at Paf, welcome that. It was a great acknowledgement by EGR to establish a new category at the EGR Nordics Awards 2023 for the best D&I model. This proves that D&I is becoming a real part of the industry and we are here to embrace it. We submitted our application in this new category and were pleased to be shortlisted at first, and then absolutely thrilled to win the actual award. We’re true believers in D&I, as we believe it will only enrich our companies and change the gaming industry for the better.

Diversity is a strength for a company. It is not an easy strength to take full advantage of but when applied in the right way, worked with on a daily basis and pushed for in the company’s strategies, it can empower a company with that extra vital spark. This is because we do need people with different backgrounds, we need people from different cultures, and we need more women within the industry. Diversity results in a mix of people who can provide businesses with different angles, new ideas and a better understanding that things can be done differently to achieve desired results. The range of group dynamics you can achieve from having the right mix of people in your company is massive.

Building a solid D&I strategy

Paf’s tech-education, grit:lab, is a deep-diving experiment into the core of diversity and inclusion. We decided to fund, start up and launch a totally new tech coding education programme in our head office, and our owner, the government of Åland, gave us the green light. The tech-education scheme is based on the very principle of diversity and inclusion, with an extra focus on trying to attract more women into the tech sector. In order to give the opportunity for all to participate, the tech-education programme is totally free of tuition fees, giving more people from different socioeconomic backgrounds the chance to study tech.

This new approach to tech-education goes hand in hand with Paf’s latest D&I strategy as laid out in our equal opportunities plan. In it, we state: “Creating a culture of inclusiveness, where each individual’s relevant professional skills and experience stand in the foreground, and where diversity becomes an asset instead of a barrier is today a matter of course for organisations that want to operate in a competitive market.” This is Paf’s strategy, and it truly describes how we view diversity as a key asset for our business.

We’re a relatively small gaming company compared to the large publicly listed operators, but among our 315 employees, we have 29 different nationalities. This has not happened by chance, but from many years of hard work to create a culture that is open to diversity and we wholeheartedly view it as a strength that enriches our business. So, my tip is that you should make your D&I plans work. Don’t just leave them as another nice-to-have policy. Instead, update them regularly, measure and integrate them in your everyday work.

When we, as businesses, manage to achieve more diversity and inclusion in our companies, they will better reflect the societies in which we live and work in, and that is vital if we want to keep ourselves current. I would also argue that good D&I will make our gaming companies more widely accepted, increase our sector’s likeability and help make us the fun part of everyday life we aim to be. It is great that more discussions about diversity and inclusion have reached the gaming industry. It will surely be a game-changer for us all.

Jenna Ekström has 10 years of experience in the gaming industry and leads both the responsible gambling and HR teams at Paf. As Paf’s HR team leader, her role is to drive the company’s ambition to become a more sustainable and attractive workplace based on the basic belief that employees are the very core of the business and an inspiring work environment goes hand in hand with being able to give customers what they want.