Ingka Centres: In a world of uncertainty, being human-centric is essential

The world is living through extreme uncertainty – whether that’s political, economic, environmental or technological.

The reality is that “we cannot guarantee certainty”, but there’s a responsibility for organizations to step up to support their workers in these challenging times.

In an exclusive interview with UNLEASH, Rita Accord, Global People & Culture Manager at Ingka Centres, shares how the retail giant is supporting employees amid uncertainty.

Ingka Centres is one of the business segments of €42 billion-revenue Ingka Group, which is the holding company of IKEA.

With 50 years of history, Ingka Centers are shopping centers that are “a destination where you can shop, but also meet, work, live and play”, and now exist in 13 countries globally, employ over 1,000 people and had 271 million visits in 2024.

Let’s dig into why keeping a people-first mindset, and leaning into company values, is key to how Ingka Centres is leading through uncertainty.

You cannot promise stability”, but “you can listen and you can communicate”, Accord tells UNLEASH.

‘Lead with transparency, empathy and consistency’ in challenging times

Uncertainty is everywhere, so the key, for Accord is to “re-emphasize, focus and share the core of what we believe in” – at Ingka Group, that’s creating a “better everyday life for many” and “to be true to ourselves”.

Being people-first is essential – for Accord, “the only thing you can do in uncertain times is lead with transparency, empathy and consistency”.

One particular challenge in 2025 has been the attacks on DEI by the new US administration – as Ingka Centres is a global company, and has meeting places in the US, UNLEASH was keen to find out how the retail giant is responding this challenge.

In line with IKEA values, “what we did is reaffirm our commitment that equality, diversity and inclusion is really integrated in our DNA, and to make sure that we stand firm in our beliefs”, Accord shares.

“It’s not always easy to have a diverse team, but it is powerful, it increases decision-making, supports growth, and has a great impact on business results.”

Rita Accord, Global People & Culture Manager, Ingka Centres.

Despite the political environment, Ingka Centres have continued with equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives, whether that’s offering internships to individuals with intellectual disabilities, or providing training and job opportunities to refugees.

Inclusion is Accord’s personal mantra, and inclusive leadership is a top priority in her role as Global People and Culture Manager – she’s very clear that “if you feel included, you feel empowered. If you feel empowered, you’re engaged. If you’re engaged that leads to better productivity and eventually results”.

Empowerment comes to life at Ingka Centres in its view that everyone is a leader, no matter your job title.

There’s a perspective that “you are part of the wider ecosystem, and that everyone needs to pitch in” – “you can take responsibility if you want make a change”.

This approach is embedded into Ingka Centres’ unique approach to performance evaluations – 50% of them are based on goals, and 50% is about how you achieve those goals based on Ingka’s values of togetherness, simplicity and responsibility.

This leadership for all approaches also ensures Ingka Centres to talk with its employees about how “change is inevitable”, and things are evolving, but success comes from having the right agile, continuous learning mindset.

Ingka Centres on balancing being people-first with AI innovation

Another significant challenge facing organizations right now is AI – how should they be thinking about this evolving technology in their workplaces?

UNLEASH was keen to find out how Ingka Centres is embracing AI and digital transformation.

Accord is clear that the retail giant is actively using AI – the core tools that support the employer come from Google, Microsoft and Develop Diverse.

Develop Diverse is a standout tool for Accord – it helps the HR team use inclusive language and wording in recruitment.

While Ingka Centres is embracing AI, a focus for the HR team is to “make sure that we bring co-workers on this journey” with us.

Ingka Centres makes it clear that AI is “not replacing people, it’s replacing tasks. It is also not replacing human decision making, it’s there to support human decision making”.

This means having AI solutions that are “inclusive, transparent, with ethics in mind”, states Accord.

The retail giant has a Digital Ethics & Responsible AI team that sets the guardrails for using AI responsibly in line with IKEA values – this includes upskilling employees with the knowledge to use AI effectively.

The key for Ingka Centres is for employees to see what is in it for them from using AI; to achieve this, the employer does a lot of pilots and testing, and providing role-specific training and use cases for AI.

This approach is reaping rewards for Ingka Centre workers and their productivity. For instance, AI is helping workers at the Ingka Centre meeting places to dig into visitor experience data and figure out what improvements to make.

This has created hours of savings in the pilots, and Ingka Centres is going to scale up this AI use case to drive even more productivity.

Credit: Ingka Centres.

The future of HR at Ingka Centres

Future proofing the workforce is a top priority for Ingka Centres looking ahead to the end of 2025, and towards 2030.

“AI fits perfectly into that”, as does learning and development. The retail giant wants to make sure that its people have the skills they need to thrive in 2025 and over the long term.

The key is matching “people’s preferences and skills with what the organization needs”, and ensuring people have that “agile mindset”.

Agility also comes to the fore in Ingka Centres’ focus on People Operations transformation in 2025.

We’re on a journey to deliver people services in a different way, more agile, more modern, more transparent” with the help of technology.

Underlining all of this change and transformation, Accord and her team want to continue deepen Ingka Centre’s human-centric culture – “that’s part of our DNA that stays, that’s what we’re good at it, and it needs to remain”, Accord tells UNLEASH