Personal employee background (nationality, gender) is the basis for performance reviews, promotion and layoff - Finance AkzoNobel Employee Review

3.0
24 Oct 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay, holidays, pension scheme, personal development.

Cons

Worked over 10 years at Akzo in different functional areas. There is a forced diversity plan, which unfortunately disfavors white, north western european men. So if you are working at akzo or pursue a career here, think twice. Your background is the basis for year end reviews, layoff and promotion. Unfortunately not always performance. My 2nd level manager was a top ten exec at Akzo and confirmed this HR strategy /plan already in 2016 so its not my assumption :-). Many colleagues happened the same: “no future for you here”, “unexplained and unexpected 2 ratings” etc. Not all people like to read to this, but its the factual reality over a longer period. Akzo was used to be an employer, with a skew to people with over 20y employment and white male, which is of course not ideal, but correcting the numbers / changing the mix in a couple of years and letting the young generation pay for that to get your diversity numbers right? This is not an opinion, its simple math. I don’t think thats particularly D&I&E and in contrast on how Akzo present itselves to the outside world. They managed their objective i left as i dont want to be part of such culture.

Explore other reviews about AkzoNobel

5.0
23 Aug 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great standard continuous improvement 'package' that provided a consistent approach at all AN sites.

Cons

None. It was a great experience. Lot of travel, but well worth it.

3.0
14 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good place to learn different things

Cons

Plant environment can make it tough day-to-day

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