Reward Nerds Podcast - Becoming transparent, Novo Nordisk's internal Pay Transparency program

Episode 1.6 - In this episode Jon is interviewing Keld Nielsen, who is Sr. Director, Total Rewards at Novo Nordisk and who's been instrumental in their journey toward internal Pay Transparency. On April 1, 2025, Novo Nordisk announced that they are launching their internal Pay Transparency program, which they have been working on even before the EU announced the Pay Transparency Directive, thus becoming a world's first within Pay Transparency. Keld is one of the Grand Old Men of the Rewards business in the Nordics and he shares his experience and expertise generously. He has been part of the impressive growth journey of Novo Nordisk for the past 18 years, increasing its number of employees from ca. 25.000 to more than 70.000 world-wide and during his time they have successfully concluded many exciting Reward projects.

Spoiler alert: In the episode, Keld talks about their Change Management process, their culture and the practical steps Novo Nordisk has taken through the years to make this possible. He touches upon how they handle "skills" in their pay setting processes, how they handle "expats" and "local plus", and what their plans for external transparency are. He also reveals the use of AI tools to support Reward work and philosophizes about how a smaller company, with less resources, should approach the road to Pay Transparency.