Diversity Charter - Welcome on Diversity Charter website

Signing the Diversity Charter is the first step in a long-term process. By committing to encourage diversity, a company needs to clearly identify its stakes in promoting diversity and choose the key topics it will address that apply to its context.

In an effort to assert and facilitate the incorporation of the diversity policy into the company’s general strategy, the commitment will be made at the highest level, by the company’s chief officer. This commitment shall also be visible and known to all who come in contact with the company.

Once the Charter is signed, the company can make its commitment known through a press release outlining its action plan.

Inside the company, the chief officer can send out a letter to all employees stating the company has signed the Diversity Charter and why. For example, this letter could be sent to the employees’ homes along with their pay stubs. It contains the commitments the company has made in this regard. This initiative helps affirm that the diversity policy is part of the company’s general strategy, thereby making diversity an operational requirement in that it is recognised as a performance driver.

In its relations with stakeholders (shareholders, clients, suppliers, training agencies, potential employees, etc.), the company can signal its commitment by displaying the Diversity Charter’s signatory logo on its correspondence.

Beyond its ethical commitment, in an effort to define the foundations of a ongoing pro-diversity approach that is in line with its strategy, it is in the company’s interest to predetermine its key stakes: to attract and retain new employees, optimise skills management, plan its age pyramid, have a presence in a strained job market, better establish itself in its territory, encourage innovation within the company, improve its image and reputation, etc. Once this thought process is completed, the company can identify its key themes (gender equality, jobs for seniors, professional integration, the disabled, access to employment for people from disadvantaged areas, etc.).

In order to drive change, a diversity policy requires the participation of all employees. Raising awareness (meetings, information packs, brochures, etc.), training and, more generally, any methods that might help make people aware and mobilise them are crucial drivers.

These actions aid employees in becoming open to diversity, gaining a better understanding of the laws and recognising the power of stereotypes and discriminatory practices that are at work, albeit unintentionally for the most part, in ordinary human resources and corporate management. This also provides an opportunity to recognise practices that work against diversity.

Examples:

• Before embarking on a series of training courses, some companies opt to raise awareness among people considered to be key players in their diversity effort: executive committee, union organisations, HR committee, works council, etc.
• Anti-discrimination and diversity training sessions can be planned for anywhere from a half day to two days. Depending on the context, the training modules address the legal aspects, how stereotypes and perceptions are formed, the stakes of diversity, corresponding changes in HR processes and managerial practices, creating action plans, deploying the diversity scheme, etc. This training can be for the HR teams, middle management or the entire staff.
• Internal working groups comprised of HR teams and employees can be chaired by a diversity correspondent. They contribute to revealing the portrayals and discriminatory stereotypes that exist in the company, identify their own issues and suggest solutions. These groups also serve as a way to convey information throughout the company. They can be organised by theme (gender equality in the workplace, disabilities, visible minorities, work/home life balance, etc.).

Adhering to and encouraging the enforcement of a principle of non-discrimination implies that each employee or potential new hire is guaranteed equal treatment and consideration. From selecting CVs to the annual evaluation interview, all of the HR procedures should be reviewed and their objectivity ensured, or new ones should be created to improve how the skills required for a position are determined.

Examples:

• The company can establish a diagnostics tool for its human resources management procedures to examine whether they correspond with the non-discrimination principle. To decipher if there are no direct or indirect discriminatory criteria (a seemingly neutral procedure could generate unintentional discrimination), the company reviews its practices on hiring, access to training, career development, compensation, etc.
• From a hiring standpoint, the company must be certain, above and beyond conforming to the law, that it has adapted its procedures and conventions so they do not hinder diversity. Example: when hiring at the Master’s level, it does not specify the candidate must have graduated from a specific school.
• The company can make hiring objective by using new methods adapted to its needs. for example, in hiring practices for low-skilled positions, the skills-based method can be used. It is based on identifying the aptitudes required to carry out an operation. Candidates role-play situations via practical exams (simulations) that are jointly developed by the company and agencies specialised in hiring and that help detect these skills. The company commits to interviewing all the candidates who pass the exam, even before seeing a CV. This method also contributes to following the non-discrimination principle since the candidate selection process relies on skills-based criteria.

Promoting diversity assumes that the diversity of all levels of staff has been improved. This implies diversifying the hiring pools and implementing simple steering tools (qualitative and/or quantitative) to assess the company’s level of acceptance of diversity. This also happens through proactive actions designed to restore equal opportunity in hiring practices for people who usually experience discrimination in society.

Examples:

• A company looking to hire workers can enhance its hiring pool by requesting assistance from specialised firms or job placement associations to increase the proportion of populations that are under-represented in their usual pool of candidates.
• It is important to make its commitment known during hiring periods by stating it on its employment website, displaying the “Diversity Charter” logo on its job offers or posting the Diversity Charter in its hiring locations. These practices attest to the company’s acceptance of employees from diverse backgrounds. Such communication is that much more important in that it helps limit a candidate’s tendency towards self-censorship.
• A company can participate in hiring forums with a diversity theme. This practice enables the company to meet candidates from a variety of backgrounds and inform people of its acceptance and position on anti-discrimination.
• A company that has no need for hiring can see that opportunities are provided to a diverse range of students for internships or in making contacts with universities located in disadvantaged areas.
• In an effort to encourage promotion for all employees and help eliminate glass ceilings, companies can review their career development criteria and make sure they are not stunting the growth of specific groups of people. For example, it has been proven that determining people with high potential based on a criterion of international mobility and at certain ages when women tend to be on maternity leave hinders women’s access to positions of responsibility. In fact, few women in relationships decide to pursue careers abroad, which would imply their partners put their careers on hold. Companies that have replaced this criterion with a functional mobility criterion have been able to increase the number of women in their high potential pool.
• Companies can set quantitative objectives for themselves, for example, for job interviews, wage equality or to increase the representation of specific groups: disabled workers, women, seniors, etc. These goals are not quotas since there is no mandatory outcome. They reflect a growth objective that the company will provide itself the resources to achieve by reviewing candidates from a population solely based on their skills and abilities.

Communication once the commitment has been made is a necessary preliminary step, but it is also important to communicate the objectives the company is working towards on a regular basis as well as the results achieved. This is a crucial factor inside the company in mobilising employees for the long term and instilling a diversity approach in the company culture.

Examples:

• Presenting a Diversity Action Plan and its progress on internal company communications (posters, newsletters, in-house paper, etc.) are simple ways of mobilising employees and keeping them informed of how the topic is progressing. Some companies also choose to create a diversity section on their intranet.
• Regularly putting diversity on the agenda at seminars and company conventions acts as a reminder of the company’s commitments and provides information on achievements that have been made.
• For companies that do not have internal communications tools, posting the Diversity Charter in the workplace can be a way to remind employees of this commitment and incorporate diversity into the company’s values.

Dialogue with labour and management is a vital tool in improving consideration for diversity at all levels of the company.

In SMEs, if there is no labour representative inside the company, the discussion can be held directly with employees.

A national inter-trade agreement on diversity was signed in 2006 by all the employer organisations and four French workers unions: the CFDT, FO, CFTC and the CGT. This agreement aims to ensure workers non-discriminatory practices and equal treatment and it was meant to become part of collective sector or company agreements.

Example:

• Pioneering companies have signed national or European agreements with labour representatives that are mostly, if not entirely, dedicated to diversity. Other companies have followed suit by signing agreements designed to be used by sector.
• Some companies set up commissions with equal representation on diversity and its various themes (gender equality in the workplace, the disabled, seniors, etc.). Others form diversity observatories that conduct audits, issue targeted recommendations and monitor results. These commissions and observatories help ensure consistency between the company’s various stakeholders involved in the diversity measure.
• In the absence of a company agreement, the director can present an annual progress review to the works council. SMEs with fewer than 50 employees can address the subject once per year at a meeting of staff delegates, as recommended by the national inter-trade agreement on diversity in the workplace signed in 2006.

Regular evaluations of the actions taken and, inasmuch as possible, qualifying the results achieved are needed to gauge the status of a company’s practices and thereby make progress.

Once a year, all the companies are asked to report on their actions in an online questionnaire posted on this website. In this way, actions taken by SMEs that do not produce annual reports can be recognised.

Examples:

• Regardless of its size, a company can inform others of the good practices it has put into place by presenting them at discussions or working groups organised by a business network or employer organisation. It can also compete for prizes or awards in diversity.
• Evaluations of the diversity measure and actions taken are conducted qualitatively and quantitatively. In this regard, companies put into place a system of indicators that acts as its “dashboard” and helps measure its progress. Gathering these quantitative and qualitative data provides an opportunity to make regular adjustments to its policy and action plan. This can be done in various ways: on the basis of social data, internal polls containing questions on diversity or through targeted surveys. Companies can also use an independent service to conduct an audit of the company’s status.
• It is important for listed companies (those subject to the French NRE law [new economic regulations]) to communicate their actions, practices and outcomes on diversity in their annual reports or sustainable development reports. This communication makes it possible to draw up a list of different operations and establish a progress report for all their stakeholders.