Veolia launched its first YES WEDO gender diversity week from March 8 to 12, on International Women's Day (March 8). Under this banner, the company is raising the visibility of gender diversity in the workplace through its internal WEDO network. 80 events are planned in 25 countries, reflecting the theme of the UN day: "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world".
At the week's opening conference at Veolia's head office, Anne Le Guennec, CEO of France Waste Recycling and Recovery Solutions (RVD) for Veolia, and Olivier Carlat, Veolia's Director of Social Development and Training, presented the company's gender diversity goals. Then Patrick Scharnitzky, an expert on gender stereotypes and unconscious bias at AlterNego, expanded on his analysis of "Diversity: how we all benefit”.
Veolia is making progress on achieving gender diversity at RVD: we have 36% of women managers and 33% on the Executive Committee. Even if our businesses are still perceived as traditionally male, we are now players in an ecological transformation that concerns everyone, both women and men, and with new technologies our businesses are diversifying. Through the local WEDO network, collective intelligence enables us to identify the benefits of gender diversity for everyone. This network also makes it possible for women to talk to each other and counter bias and self-censorship,
Anne Le Guennec, CEO of Veolia's Waste Recycling and Recovery Solutions activity in France
Central to the multifaceted performance in our purpose, the diversity indicator is above all an indicator of exemplarity in breaking the glass ceiling. To achieve the target of 25% women among Group executives by 2023, a series of actions have been validated by the Executive Committee, notably: the inclusion of at least one woman in the succession plan for each executive; between 30 and 40% of women in development programs; the inclusion of at least one woman in the terms and conditions for executive hires; and the implementation of a mentoring program for women.
In the context of the Covid-19 health crisis, women have been the most heavily impacted in their professional and private lives. We need to be on the alert to ensure that their situations do not take a step backwards. For example, teleworking often leads to a work-life overload. In this phase of upheaval, the 36,000 women working at Veolia must be listened to more carefully and considered in order to prepare for the future. The WEDO gender diversity network is working on this.
Olivier Carlat, Veolia's Director of Social Development and Training
Businesses need to understand that gender diversity is no longer a choice but a necessity given the changes in society. In 2019, 12% of girls completed a Baccalaureate with distinction, compared to 7% of boys. So, there are more and more women among the best. In addition, these women now have no desire to emulate men in order to be accepted at all levels of businesses. But it is indeed gender diversity, and therefore the fact that men and women work together, that generates individual well-being and collective performance. It is therefore necessary to design gender diversity for the benefit of everyone, by working, for example, on open recruitment and by tackling all forms of self-censorship
Patrick Scharnitzky, from AlterNego, expands on his analysis of "Diversity: how we all benefit”
Global mobilization
Almost 80 events are planned in 25 countries during YES WEDO week: round tables, conferences, workshops, meetings, breakfasts, site visits, awareness raising events for girls. They illustrate the dynamics of local networks on the issue of gender diversity and professional equality. A "Yes WEDO at Veolia" album will testify to these events on the WEDO website. Excerpts:
-
Asia
CHINA - Careers and work-life balance. Launch of a training program specifically for women. -
Australia - New Zealand
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND - STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). -
North America
USA - STEM career advice, mentoring program. -
Latin America
BRAZIL - Discussion with women leaders and on social networks.
COLOMBIA - Webinar with a woman leader who champions equality in the country.
MEXICO - Video where men describe the importance of women in the workplace.
PERU - Equity and equality in everyday life and discrimination against women. -
Central America
ECUADOR - Helping women empower their careers. -
Africa / Middle East
CÔTE D'IVOIRE - Gender discussions and webinars on learning about diversity.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - STEM students and engineers in our company.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Online conference with teenage girls
MOROCCO - Webinar on the theme: "From women students to women engineers, a successful challenge in North Africa?"
OMAN - Virtual session with teenagers.
MIDDLE EAST - Debate with external speakers on equality and diversity. -
Europe
GERMANY - Presentation of a thesis on diversity and discussions with participants
BELGIUM - Message from the CEO: "Diversity as a pillar of the Group's purpose".
HUNGARY - Introduction to the technical department for employees’ daughters.
ITALY - Site visits by some fifteen "women in technical departments".
CZECH REPUBLIC - Women in the field share their experiences.
ROMANIA - "Gender stereotypes", by a renowned Romanian professor
FRANCE - Presentation of careers to girls from underprivileged backgrounds.
FRANCE, Veolia's headquarters - Workshops "The making of unconscious biases", simulation of a court of law. Conferences: "Gender diversity: how it benefits everyone" with Patrick Scharnitzky; "Inspiring women in history" with historian Adeline Pavie; "Supporting change on an individual and collective level" with Delphine Guyard-Meyer, FHink Égal.e.
Veolia's WEDO network: 3,130 members with equal numbers of women and men
WEDO is Veolia's international gender equality network. Its aim is to contribute to the achievement of the company's gender diversity and professional equality goals. There are 25 local WEDO networks on five continents with the mission of delivering action plans locally. Each local network is run by committed Veolia employees who, in addition to their usual duties, have a role in coordinating and monitoring the action plans. The company's gender diversity and professional equality policy is based on three main areas: developing job diversity in operations; increasing the number of women in the company's governing bodies and in management; promoting gender diversity in representative bodies, etc.
“41 heads of large companies commit to parity, with quantified objectives".
In an opinion piece in the Journal du Dimanche (a French weekly magazine) published on March 7, 41 senior executives of major companies, including the Chairman and CEO of Veolia, Antoine Frérot, committed to achieving "by 2027, or even 2030, a minimum of 30% of women in the 10% high responsibility positions, i.e. a minimum increase of 2% per year in the percentage of women".
More:
> International Women’s Day 2021, led by the UN and UN Women, the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
> International Women’s Day 2020
> Guarantee that everyone's fundamental rights are respected
> Working atVeolia, means being part of #WeAreResourcers
> Our HR promise