Jeff Gravenhorst, Group CEO, ISS A/S, said:
“It has been a real pleasure working with Heine during some very exciting times at ISS. Heine played an important part in preparing and executing our successful IPO in 2014. At ISS, we have a long tradition of developing and maintaining a very strong finance function, and while we regret to see Heine leave, we wish him much success as he takes up this new opportunity.”
Heine Dalsgaard, Group CFO, ISS A/S, said: “
I have had a great time at ISS. It’s been a privilege to be part of the significant transformation which brought ISS back to the stock exchange, and of delivering solid financial performance. It was a hard decision, and I will certainly miss ISS and my wonderful colleagues, but joining Carlsberg at this point in time was simply a challenge I could not refuse. In the coming months, I will continue to diligently manage my responsibilities to ensure a smooth transition.”
Heine Dalsgaard joined ISS in the spring of 2013 from a previous position as CFO of Grundfos, a leading pump manufacturer.
ISS appoints new Country Manager of Denmark
ISS A/S also announced the new Country Manager of its business in Denmark. Flemming Bendt currently holds the position of Regional CEO of ISS in Eastern Europe, and he will take over at the helm of ISS Denmark when the current Country Manager, Martin Gaarn Thomsen, becomes Group COO of the ISS Group on 1 February..
Troels Bjerg, Regional CEO Northern Europe said:
“I am very pleased that Flemming has accepted to take this very important and demanding position. It is yet another example of our strong pipeline of leaders in ISS. Flemming is an experienced and effective leader who has a profound understanding of our strategic journey and great people skills.”
“In many ways, Denmark is a pioneer country in ISS. This is where it all started and in recent years, ISS Denmark has also been a frontrunner in implementing our new strategic initiatives with great success, which other countries in our organisation are now benefitting from. The recent contract wins and expansions with, for example, Danske Bank, Danish State Railways, and Danish Broadcasting Corporation are strong testaments to the strong customer focus of ISS Denmark. I am confident that Flemming will continue keeping ISS Denmark at the forefront of our strategic development.”
Flemming Bendt joined ISS in 1998 and has worked in various senior leadership positions. He is a familiar face in the ISS Denmark organisation where he worked as CFO and, from 2012 to 2013, as interim Country Manager:
“I am honoured and very excited by this opportunity to return to ISS Denmark. The Danish organisation is one of the flagships in the ISS Group, a great organisation with highly skilled and engaged people, strong service offerings and a number of important, strategic customers. I look forward to working with old and new colleagues on developing the organisation and our customer relationships even further.”
Flemming Bendt has been Regional CEO Eastern Europe since early 2013. Prior to that, he has worked as Country Manager of ISS Australia and CFO of ISS Belgium.
ISS Finland and Metsä Group extend partnership
ISS Finland and Metsä Group have extended their facility services contract for 2016. The new contract broadens the scope of the cooperation, where ISS Finland will service three additional Metsä Group factories.
The Finnish forest industry company, Metsä Group, and ISS Finland have a longstanding relationship comprised of a facility management contract for Metsä Group’s factories in Kemi and Rauma, Finland. Under the contract, ISS Finland has provided support services, cleaning, and property services for the Finnish forest industry leader. The new extended contract entails similar scale, but extends the scope to Metsä Group’s factories located in Äänekoski, Joutseno, and Simpele, Finland. The operations in the new locations are being rolled out and will cover all locations by spring 2016.
Head of Main Category of Metsä Group, Sanna-Mari Löyttyniemi, said:
“The cooperation with ISS has been long lasting and now we are further developing it. We put emphasis on doing things together and innovating new service solutions. Sustainability and work safety are also factors of importance to us.”
Metsä Group operates in 30 countries globally and has production sites in eight different countries. The contract with ISS Finland employs 55 full-time employees and approximately 10 employees in unscheduled investment work.
Country Manager of ISS in Finland, Jukka Jäämaa, commented on the extended contract:
“We are pleased to extend the good cooperation. We will continue to work together on innovation and development.”
A diverse leadership yields higher earnings
Companies with the most diverse management teams have an operating profit margin of 12.6 percentage points more than the companies with the least diverse management teams, according to new research conducted by ISS and consultancy firm proacteaur based on data from PwC.
The study is based on data from more than 300 large and medium-sized Danish companies and the conclusion applies both when comparing within specific industries and across all types of businesses.
“Diversity is first and foremost about respecting each other and seeing human diversity as a strength, but now we can also conclude that diversity management presents a significant benefit to the bottom line,” says Lotte Hjortlund Andersen, Head of CSR at ISS Denmark.
The research report shows that there is a significant difference in earnings between the most and the least diverse businesses, but also that the most diverse companies on average earn 5.7 percentage points more than the average of competitors in the same industry.
Millions to be gained in diversity
In 2011, another study was conducted by ISS together with PwC, and it concluded that diverse teams earn 3.7 percentage points more on average than non-diverse teams.
“Now, we have taken the next step and we are able to substantiate that the difference is even greater when we talk about diversity in management. There are millions to be earned in linking diversity to business,” says Lotte Hjortlund Andersen.
Large untapped potential
The new report also points out that there is still a huge untapped commercial potential in Danish management in relation to the diverse composition, which, among other things, include gender and ethnicity:
“For our own part, we now have good and tangible arguments for working more actively on diversity management. And I hope that the report's evidence-based conclusions will inspire other companies to work strategically with business-driven diversity,” says Lotte Hjortlund Andersen.
ISS continuously works towards optimising the work on diversity for the benefit of the business, employees and the community. In addition to the new study, the company has collaborated with one of the leading researchers in the field, Lotte Holck from Copenhagen Business School, who will investigate new ways to optimise diversity in ISS.
The new report ‘A diverse leadership yields higher earnings’ can be ordered by sending an e-mail to lotte.hjortlund.andersen@dk.issworld.com and can also be downloaded here
