Everyday commitment to diversity and inclusion
Promoting the fundamental values of diversity and inclusion inside and outside the company is an everyday commitment for L’Oréal.
From diversity to inclusion
If diversity has become an everyday reality at L’Oréal, this can be put down in part to the Group’s clearly asserted policy over the last 20 years to facilitate the inclusion of disabled people in the workplace, to encourage gender equality and cultural and socio-economic diversity, and more generally to oppose all forms of discrimination. It is also a process of continuous improvement, with the progress made closely monitored by L’Oréal’s senior management.
To achieve its objectives, L’Oréal has opted for an inclusive approach. Inclusiveness means understanding, accepting and encouraging differences. All over the world, the Group is building and developing work environments in which all individuals feel they are truly valued, regardless of ethnic origin, social background, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. By creating an atmosphere that is conducive to the development and self-fulfilment of all employees, the whole company benefits.
For the third year running, L’Oréal has been ranked one of the world’s leading companies in the Thomson Reuters index. The index ranks more than 7,000 international companies based on a series of indicators and four core values: diversity, inclusion, people development and news controversy. L’Oréal’s high scores have led it to the 8th position in the overall rankings.
Gender equality policy rewarded
Recognised as the gender equality leader in Europe in the Equileap 2018 rankings and already strongly committed to gender equality in the workplace, L’Oréal is now going the extra mile with its commitments and initiatives this year.
Alongside the Korian Group, L’Oréal is one of the first companies to join the “OneInThreeWomen” company network, co-founded by the FACE foundation (Fondation Agir Contre l’Exclusion ) and the Kering Foundation. The network studies the impact of violence against women in their private lives and implements initiatives for awareness raising, monitoring, training and guidance for employees and stakeholders, in an effort to foster an environment of equality between men and women.
Initiatives are being introduced in various countries. France is one example, where L’Oréal has launched – in conjunction with AccorHotels and EY – #StOpE, a collective initiative aimed at opposing “everyday” sexism in the workplace, under the patronage of the French Secretary of State for Gender Equality and the Prevention of Discrimination. This effort has been backed for a number of years by a full range of awareness, prevention and alert initiatives set up by Human Relations and Ethics. More than ever before, the Group is striving to promote the values of respect for individuals and inclusion that it upholds, both inside and outside the company. The three companies that set up #StOpE have since been joined by more than 30 other companies and organisations.
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Top 100
L’Oréal has been included in the Top 100 of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2018, based on the strength of corporate commitment to gender equality in the workplace.
Employability initiatives for the disabled
Year after year, the Group is actively reasserting its commitment to promote the employability of disabled people. In 2018, all the Group’s subsidiaries took part in a Diversity Week culminating in the 10th annual “Disability Awards”. This internal competition, focused on the inclusion of disabled people, encourages the sharing and implementation of best practices: hair salons that are 100% accessible for everyone, mental health awareness raising campaigns, special training courses for young people with learning difficulties, beauty tutorials in sign language… The 65 projects entered for the 10th awards competition spanned all fields of disability inclusiveness, from employment to consumer service accessibility, training, awareness raising and collaboration with professionals in the adapted work sector.
Being inclusive and breaking the silence
The main idea behind this Trophy scheme, launched in 2018, is to highlight the methods that work and to share, and potentially roll out, a local idea on a worldwide scale. This is what happened with the visual campaign “Break the silence”, aimed at encouraging the employees concerned to declare their disability. An employee who declares a disability feels more comfortable and happier about working in the company. The idea proved a winner in the United States, where the number of disabled people increased from 71 to 285 in the space of four years. The initiative won a prize at the 2016 “Disability Awards” and is set to be adapted and rolled out across all countries.
The French subsidiary of L’Oréal, which employs 7% of disabled people, has adapted the American best practices with a visual campaign in which 18 disabled employees talk about themselves, raising the awareness of their colleagues and managers about differences, and breaking the silence around disability. Another initiative in 2018 is the opening of an external phone line – HandiProLine – to support, inform and guide employees about disability, and where disabled people can be listened to and receive advice.
