10 actions for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive company :

Beyond the ethical aspect, implementing actions for employee diversity and inclusion can also make your company more successful. In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, the most diverse companies perform 46% to 58% better than companies with below-median numbers of ethnic minority employees. To help you improve your company's social performance, here's a non-exhaustive list of actions you can take to make your business more diverse, inclusive and equitable.

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‍1. Take stock of inequalities through a social audit

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), "social auditing is a systematic, documented process for objectively evaluating, reviewing and verifyingan organization's practices,policies and performance with regard to respect for fundamental rights at work, labor standards, working conditions and industrial relations. It aims to identify the organization's strengths and weaknesses, as well as to provide recommendations for improving compliance with labor standards and promoting the well-being of workers."

In France, all companies with more than 50 employees are required to publish theEgapro Index. In particular, this index measures the pay gap between men and women, parity among the ten highest-paid employees, the individual increase rate gap, the promotion rate gap, and the presence of women among the best-paid employees.

Even if your organization is not subject to this legal obligation, we recommend that you carry out a social audit to diagnose existing internal problems.

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2. Greater transparency on salaries

Salary is a thorny and sensitive issue in every organization. If it isn't transparent, it can be a source of gossip and a heavy atmosphere.

By communicating the methodology for allocating salaries and bonuses to each employee, and by making each employee's salary allocation visible, you limit tensions on these subjects, as well as arbitrary and unfair allocations.

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3. Training HR and managers in cognitive biases

A concept developed by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, cognitive bias is a quick, intuitive way of making judgments or decisions. It's simpler than analytical reasoning, which takes into account all relevant information. This rapid thinking process, whileeffective, is also at the root of typical misjudgments.

One of the best-known biases is confirmation bias. This is our brain's natural tendency to select information that confirms our way of thinking, and to ignore all information that might challenge it.

In all, there are more than 200 cognitive biases.

In particular, these biases can contribute to the perpetuation of unfounded racist and sexist stereotypes.

You can either delve deeper into this subject on your own, based on the work of Daniel Kahneman, which is detailed in his book "System 1 / system 2: the two speeds of thought". You can also take a training course on the subject.

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4. Set up an internal mentoring system dedicated to women

According to the article "Des femmes et des réseaux : mentoring et réseaux affinitaires au service de l'égalité" by Maria Giuseppina Bruna and Matthieu Chauvet, "mentoring is a mode of support and exchange between an experienced person, designated as a mentor, and a less experienced person, designated as a mentee".

Mentoring dedicated to women, in fine, aims to break the glass ceiling thatwomen can encounter. To this end, mentoring provides a sympathetic ear in the event of difficulty, invaluable advice and the benefit of a wider network.

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5. Sign the Diversity Charter‍

Created in 2004, the Diversity Charter is a commitment document for employers. Its aim is toencourage companies to promote diversity in their recruitment, human resources management and career promotionpractices.

By signing this text, they must respect 6 commitments:

• Raising awareness and training executives and managers in diversity
• Promoting theapplication of the principle of non-discrimination
• Develop the representation of the diversity of French society and communicate on its commitment
• Communicating these diversity-related commitments to all stakeholders
• Make the development and implementation of our diversity policy the subject of social dialogue with employee representatives.
• Make diversity policy the subject of social dialogue with employee representatives.
• Evaluate progress regularly

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6. Sign the Parental Challenge charter to take better account of parenthood and make it easier to manage

The aim of this charter is to ensure that parenthood is better integrated into the world of work.

Here are the 12 commitments resulting from this charter:

• Enable all my permanent employees to benefit from parenthood-related measures, regardless of seniority.
• Applying the law and communicating their rights on the subject of parenthood to all my employees
• Better support for long leave (maternity, adoption, second parent, parental) linked to parenthood
• Protect the confidentiality of my employees, so that they can assert their rights and benefit from measures without having to confide in me about their personal history.
• Authorize and remunerate the absence of employees applying for adoption for compulsory meetings that take place during working hours (the information meeting and meetings required for the psychosocial assessment of applicants).
• Equip our managers to better support and welcome parenthood, and raise their awareness of discrimination.
• Enable all our employees who are parents and whose positions allow them to telework 100% of the time during the key moments before and after parenthood.
• Set up working hours that do not exclude any employee
• Propose 3 days' paid bereavement leave in the event of miscarriage, for both biological mothers and second parents.
• Encouraging the involvement of second parents from the earliest stages of parenthood
• Provide financial support for maternity, second-parent and adoption leave and ease the administrative burden.
• Grant at least 5 days of paid "sick child" leave

The charter has already been signed by over 150 organizations, including L'Oréal and PwC.

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7. Offer childcare solutions

Childcare is an indispensable subject when it comes to parenthood.

Here are several solutions that your company could offer your employees, depending on your means:

• more flexible working hours to better reconcile their parental responsibilities
• chèques-services or childcare vou chers: these vouchers cover the cost of childcare with approved service providers
• a company crèche: this allows employees to limit their commuting time by having the crèche close to their work.

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8. Highlight the inspiring stories of people who have broken the glass ceiling within your company, or within other companies, through communication or conferences.

Organizing an event highlighting people who have broken the glass ceiling can be a way of encouraging diversity. In fact, according to the "Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership" study by Eagly and Carli in 2007, women are more likely to pursue executive positions when they have examples of female leaders to follow.

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9. Participate in a charity race such as Nuit des Relais, Race for Equality, etc.

In addition to internal actions, you can also help finance and raise awareness of certain issues by taking part in sports charity events. Over and above its charitable impact, this is also an opportunity tostrengthen bonds within your team, and to contribute to their physical and mental health.

Here are a few examples of races in which your company could participate:

• Relay night :

This race is organized by the Women's Foundation and aims to fund associations that supportwomen in precarious situations or who are victims of sexist and/or sexual violence.

It takes place in Paris, Bordeaux and Tahiti.

• Les virades de l'espoir :

These charity races are held all over France. They raise funds for the "Vaincre la mucoviscidose" association. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease characterized by thickening of secretions in several organs (mainly the lungs and pancreas). The crippling disease is not present in all patients to the same degree, enabling only a minority to work full-time.

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10. Set up harassment, sexist and sexual violence or discrimination referents

The appointment of asexual harassment and gender-based harassment representative is mandatory for all companies. Appointed by the CSE, and by the employer - if it's a company with more than 250 employees - this person is the guarantor of respect for everyone within a company.

The guide published by the Ministry of Labour "Harcèlement sexuel et agissements sexistes au travail : prévenir, agir, sanctionner" defines these missions more precisely:

• carry out awareness-raising and training activities for employees and supervisory staff
• refer employees to the appropriate authorities (Labour Inspectorate, occupational medicine and the Défenseur de droits)
• implement procedures to facilitate the reporting and management of situations that do not comply with the law on diversity issues
• conduct an internal investigation following a report of sexual harassment

To complement the legislative and governmental information, we recommend that you appoint a person in each team to deal with these issues.