What's in it for me?
Find out how this global, medium-sized software company actively recruits and manages a diverse workforce to:
- Drive creativity in the design of new products
- Offer products in an extended range of global languages
This case study highlights ways in which the company harnesses this diversity and undertakes a series of targeted actions including adapting its recruitment approach and providing personalised induction support.
The ideas and approaches can be applied to organisations working in a UK context.
Case study summary
This case study shows how Opera Software set out to employ a diverse global workforce, from the company’s creation 12 years ago, in order to design and deliver products and services to a global audience. Its core products are web browsers for computers and mobile devices which are sold to a worldwide market. Opera Software uses the diversity of its employees and partners to:
- Create products in an extensive range of languages not offered by its competitors, for example the company has launched its products in Hebrew, Russian, Arabic and Korean
- Understand the cultural differences between users in different parts of the world
Opera Software employs around 42 nationalities in its organisation of approximately 400 staff. In order to manage this international workforce it undertakes a structured series of activities including a culturally sensitive induction in order to hire, train and retain diverse staff.
This case study shows the steps that Opera Software has taken over the years and includes some of the challenges and lessons learnt along the way.