On Monday, Princess Marie visited the Automation office space at Nordea in Copenhagen as Patron of the Danish National Association for Autism.
Nordea hired seven people with autism through Specialisterne, a company working to find jobs for people with autism through “social entrepreneurship, corporate sector engagement and a global change in mindset.” Princess Marie was able to meet with these seven people in their office space and to learn more about their daily tasks and work.
One of the workers showed Princess Marie the automation infrastructure where the programme’s modules to ensure that all of Nordea’s internal services are automated. Another showed her how services are created to perform “internal banking services and the self-service portal where customers order different items”. Princess Marie also learned about #Hack19 as one of the people took part in the last edition. #Hack19 is “a two-day event where ideas are developed by employees across Nordea.”
©Sonja Thomsen, Nordea
Princess Marie was very interested throughout the visit, asking many questions, and Christoffer from Automation governance said: “It was nice that the patron of the National Association for Autism showed interest in how we feel about working at Nordea. Princess Marie seemed genuinely interested in what we do, and she was very nice to talk to.”
After the visit, a small reception was hosted, and Princess Marie had the opportunity to have more informal chats with the seven employees as well as with the other members of the Automation team. The coordinator for Nordea’s employees with autism, Majbritt Gyldengrensaid: “Personally, I hope the visit will create more focus on employing colleagues with autism, both at Nordea and elsewhere.”
The visit was a private one as there were no photographers or reporters in order to respect the privacy of the employees as well as to not disturb them. This policy is common during Princess Marie’s autism-related event. Princess Marie is the Patron of the National Association for Autism since 2011, and this is a cause that is very close to her heart as one of her nephews has autism.
