Destia
Building inclusive recruitment practices in the infrastructure sector
Inclusion Strategy, Learning and Development, DEI-to-Day Development
Destia is Finland’s largest infrastructure services company and part of the global Colas Group. The company designs, builds, and maintains traffic and energy infrastructure, contributing to a well-functioning society. Their work is carried out by approximately 1,800 professionals across Finland.
“Working with deidei has been very smooth. The collaboration has been practical, thoughtful, and tailored to our needs. The inclusive recruitment project gave our supervisors and recruiters concrete tools they can use immediately and helped us recognise the areas where we can grow.” Mikko Niiranen, HR Business Partner & Lead.
Destia recognised that strengthening diverse representation and inclusive practices is critical both for their future talent pipeline and for building a workplace where more people feel they belong.
To support this ambition, Destia partnered with deidei to develop more inclusive recruitment practices, build capabilities among supervisors and recruiters, and lay the foundation for broader inclusion development across the organization.
During our partnership, we:
Equipped Destia with the “Mitigating Bias in Recruitment” e-learning course. A twenty-minute course for all recruiters and team leads that builds a shared understanding of inclusive recruitment and serves as core training for regular recruiters and a refresher for supervisors who recruit less frequently.
Hosted a tailored webinar for team leads and recruiters. A live session focused on practical steps for making recruitment more objective and fair, and for recognising common pitfalls that influence hiring decisions.
Reviewed and audited job advertisements. Five job ads were analyzed to identify strengths, development areas, and concrete changes to make the future job posts more attractive to a wider audience, especially women.
Provided consulting support. We worked with internal stakeholders, reviewed employee survey insights from a DEI perspective, and offered sparring throughout the year to help Destia’s stakeholders deepen their understanding of inclusion themes.
Held a strategic workshop for key stakeholders. The workshop brought key stakeholders together to connect inclusion initiatives with business goals, strengthening internal alignment and clarifying messaging to drive broader engagement and enable effective implementation.
“The online course and webinar were useful for our team. The training helped clarify what inclusive recruitment really looks like in practice. We now have a better understanding of our own decision-making and how to attract more diverse candidates.” Niiranen continues.
Shaping a more diverse future in infrastructure and construction
The infrastructure sector often faces structural gender imbalances, and many organizations assume these gaps cannot be changed because the talent pipeline is limited. Destia has taken a more ambitious approach. While industry-wide challenges exist, there is still significant room for companies to improve internal practices, reach new audiences, and increase representation.
Destia’s work with deidei demonstrates that even small, practical steps can help build more inclusive recruitment processes and create better conditions for long-term inclusion development. These early efforts are laying the groundwork for broader cultural change.
“The collaboration with deidei has encouraged us to continue improving our internal processes to support more inclusive recruitment, even within an industry with clear gender gaps. The strategic workshop helped us identify concrete steps to build a strong foundation for future work.” Niiranen sums up.
Destia is Finland’s largest infrastructure services company and part of the global Colas Group. The company designs, builds, and maintains traffic and energy infrastructure, contributing to a well-functioning society. Their work is carried out by approximately 1,800 professionals across Finland.
Destia recognised that strengthening diverse representation and inclusive practices is critical both for their future talent pipeline and for building a workplace where more people feel they belong.
To support this ambition, Destia partnered with deidei to develop more inclusive recruitment practices, build capabilities among supervisors and recruiters, and lay the foundation for broader inclusion development across the organization.
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