Diversity and inclusion: the keys to beauty for all
Cultivating diversity at every level
L’Oréal aims to reflect the diversity of the markets in which it operates at every level of the Group. This mission can only be achieved by promoting inclusion and diversity to ensure teams include people from all cultures, with different backgrounds and lifestyles. To that end, the Group trains its managers and recruiters to watch out for unconscious bias in the hiring process. The goal is to raise awareness of the prejudices that can slip into individual and collective decisions in general, and in particular in the hiring process, and to show people how to reduce these biases. L’Oréal provides training on the value of diversity and the Group’s commitments via multiple platforms (online, remote and in-person training sessions). More than 65,000 people had been trained in this field by the end of 2020.
Keeping pace with social issues
2020 was also the year major social issues came to a head with the Black Lives Matter movement. To rise to these challenges, the Group launched discussion groups among its employees in certain countries, including the United States, the UK and Ireland. The goal was to provide a safe space for everyone to share their experiences of, and questions about discrimination to help the Group build an even more inclusive corporate culture. More than 3,000 employees participated in these groups in the United States. In Brazil, as part of the Racial Equality Movement, the Group committed to working with 11 other companies to develop an action plan for combatting all forms of racism.
The Group also created a global Advisory Council on diversity and inclusion comprising both internal and external stakeholders. This Council aims to bolster the company’s strategy and action plan for diversity and inclusion to enable the Group to continue making progress in all areas, particularly when it comes to socio-economic background and diverse cultural heritage.
Strengthening our commitments
Since 2015, L'Oréal has been committed to fostering a return to work for refugees. In 2019, the Group joined the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a global network of 150 companies dedicated to refugees. Since 2011, L'Oréal has also participated in the Equal at Work programme run by the European Network Against Racism, which promotes progress on this key issue.
L’Oréal Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Agon signed the “Valuable 500” charter in December 2020 to support disability inclusion, adding this commitment to the priorities of the Group’s Executive Committee.
Last but not least, to extend the Group’s initiatives to prevent violence against women, L’Oréal Paris partnered with the NGO Hollaback! to launch Stand Up, a bystander intervention programme to stop street harassment. In September, Yves Saint Laurent announced the launch of its Abuse is Not Love campaign to prevent domestic violence.
2020 also saw the second anniversary of the French #StOpE initiative, co-founded by EY, Accor and L'Oréal and which now includes more than 114 organisations committed to sharing and promoting best practices to prevent everyday sexism in the workplace. Over a thousand L’Oréal employees in France have completed the online #StOpE training course since its launch in July, and 600 employees have downloaded the Guide to Everyday Sexism.
