We want to be at the forefront of shaping a healthy and professional rental market in Iceland. By having social responsibility as a guiding principle, benefits are created for society, customers and the company's shareholders. That's why we have set a social policy that deals with tenants' rights, the environment, equality and human resources. Alma's strategy is to make the rental market in Iceland more professional, family-friendly and reliable. We are convinced that by intertwining social issues with the business, we ensure the greatest benefit for everyone.
Alma and Orator's helpline
Alma supports Orator, an association of law students at the University of Iceland, in order to provide free legal advice to all tenants in Iceland. At the Tenant helpline, law students answer questions regarding rights and obligations under the guidance of a lawyer. The tenant helpline began its operation in 2017 and since then has provided assistance to a number of tenants and answered questions, including relate to communication with the landlord, the condition of the rental property, the provisions of the rental agreement, etc. You can find more information about opening hours on the Tenant helpline facebook page.
Education about tenants' rights
Alma maintains a subweb on its website where you can easily search for answers to the main questions that may arise from tenants and landlords when entering into a lease agreement, during the lease period and at the end of the lease agreement.
Cooperation with Klettabær
Alma has had a good cooperation with Klettabær for some time. Klettabær is a selective residential facility for children and young people with multiple problems. The goal of Klettabær is to promote equal opportunities for young people to participate and improve the quality of life in society. The aim is to meet each and every individual based on their needs and by offering as development-friendly an environment as possible at all times. Alma has provided the association with apartments to house their clients and the cooperation has been extremely successful.
Other projects
The company strives to support regularly occurring community projects. Thus, the company has bought the Pink Ribbon for all of its staff in recent years, and in general, a lot of emphasis is placed on making a good impression whenever possible.
The company places great emphasis on respect for the environment in all its activities, but environmental impact is a leading factor in management's decision-making when it comes to investments and the organization of services. In this way, it is a key point in the structure of the portfolio that the company has many units in the same buildings and fields, but by doing so, unfriendly trips by contractors and other maintenance persons on the company's roads are reduced and shortened. The company also tries to promote that residents can live an environmentally friendly lifestyle, i.a. by emphasizing proximity to public transport in investment decisions.
Recently, the company has placed a great deal of emphasis on electronic services, and customers are encouraged to sign rental agreements electronically, instead of making a trip to the office. In this way, the use of paper is greatly reduced, as well as the number of unnecessary trips between towns. The company also monitors the energy consumption of its properties as much as possible and takes immediate action if there are indications that energy waste is occurring due to faults or misconfigurations. The staff strives to sort and recycle the waste generated during the operation and to minimize the use of paper and non-environmentally friendly materials.
Consumers and society as a whole make ever-increasing demands for sustainability and social responsibility. The warming of the earth and oceans, the dire consequences of greenhouse gases on all life on earth, calls for a powerful collective power and determination to reverse the alarming rate of change that we are facing. Alma is a proud member of Festa Center for Social Responsibility and Sustainability since 2017. The organization is a non-governmental organization based at the University of Reykajvík. Festa's mission is to increase knowledge about social responsibility and sustainability of companies, institutions and all kinds of organizations.
Alma emphasizes that the company's customers have housing security and that there is trust between both parties. The company wants to be the first choice for families and individuals looking to rent for a long time, and to be an example when it comes to practicing professional work practices. For that purpose, the company has established the following work rules, which are inalienable:
Alma wants to promote better awareness among the public about the rights of tenants and the content of the laws and regulations that apply to the rental of residential premises, and supports various community projects to that end. It is Alma's hope that by promoting education among tenants and landlords, the rental market will become more professional and reliable.
Alma emphasizes that the company's customers enjoy equality when evaluating applications for flats. Professional factors are considered, but never gender, sexuality, religion or race.
It is important for a knowledge and service company like Alma to have strong human resources. The company strives to hire well-educated staff with diverse experience and emphasizes creating a good working environment where people feel good. By living in such a way that employees get motivation, flexibility and the opportunity to develop in their work, the company contributes to increased satisfaction among employees, low employee turnover and better performance.
Staff are encouraged and supported to acquire the latest knowledge, as the case may be through courses and continuing education when appropriate. There is also a strong emphasis on the comfort and convenience of the staff at the workplace and flexibility and growth in their work, in addition to which the company supports staff for exercise and health benefits outside of working hours.
Alma is an independent real estate company owned by Langisjór ehf. Langisjór ehf. pays its employees equal wages regardless of gender according to the law on equal status and equal rights for women and men and ensures that they enjoy the same pay for the same or equally valuable work according to the Equal Pay Standard IST 85:2012.
Langasjór's human resources manager is responsible for the equal pay policy of the company and its subsidiaries. The executive directors of the subsidiary companies take care of salary decisions in cooperation with Langsjór's human resources manager, and that consistency is ensured in all decision-making.
The human resources manager reviews the salaries of the employees once a year with the managers. The aim of the review is to ensure that Langisjór and its subsidiaries follow the companies' equal pay policy and that consistency is ensured in all wage payments.
All salary decisions are based on and in accordance with collective agreements and job descriptions that apply to each job. A job description must demonstrate the requirements for the job in question. The different requirements of the jobs include the following factors, education, work experience, responsibility, initiative and working conditions, but all these factors influence the determination of salary.
Langisjór wants to ensure that the company's employees have equal opportunities regardless of gender and that there is no gender-based pay gap.
Alma does business with a number of contractors throughout the country. It is emphasized that the contractors work according to similar values as the company in terms of environmental issues, equality and staff preparation. The unavoidable requirements are furthermore made to the parties with whom the company does business that they respect the rights of employees, pay wages according to collective agreements and do not employ children under the age of 16. At the same time, it is required that contractors reuse materials and recycle waste that is generated as far as possible and dispose of hazardous materials in an appropriate manner.
