Great Britain: electric goods retailer Currys is providing paid gender reassignment leave Diversity On 26 June, UK white goods retailer Currys (32,000 staff worldwide and at least 10,000 in the UK) announced it was offering its UK employees undergoing gender reassignment, access to an additional six-week paid leave scheme. This announcement comes at a time when the retail sector in the UK is still having to cope with unprecedented staff shortages.
France: Apicil proposes a tool to improve inclusivity in companies Diversity In partnership with Mix’r, (a network of responsible companies) and Humando (employment agencies), Apicil, the Lyon-based mutual social protection group (2,000+ employees) has put a questionnaire together that aims to measure employees' perceptions of inclusion and diversity, the goal of which is to make progress in this area. Deployed across its own employees in particular, this tool was able to identify several subjects that respondents perceived as potential factors for discrimination (including physical appearance), and the results will now drive the implementation of specific measures starting in 2023.
Interview Anne Talagrand (Fujitsu France): “Japan’s inclusive culture for older workers is being infused in France” Diversity With almost a third of its employees over the age of 55, Fujitsu France – 300 employees, 93% of whom are executives – is very much an exception, particularly in the IT sector. The average age of employees at the Japanese IT services provider is 47 for the workforce as a whole, and 37 for those who have arrived in the past six months. Anne Talagrand, HR director of the group's French business, tells mind RH how the company is successfully integrating older works in terms of recruitment, development, employability and retention.
United Kingdom: Lloyds Banking Group aims to double number of people with disabilities in senior roles Diversity British banking group Lloyds has a "disability target", which will be to reach 900 employees with disabilities in management roles by 2025, up from 450 at present. The move marks the first time the group, which employs 58,000 people, has set itself an objective in this area.
Interview Brooke Finlayson (Haleon): “Creating a new company was a unique opportunity to assemble a diverse Board” Diversity With 45.5% female representation, healthcare company Haleon (24,000 employees) sits among the top ten of the U.K. FTSE 350 stock index’s most diversely represented corporate management boards. On 23 February, the FTSE Women Leaders Review announced that companies in the index now have 40.2% female representation on their management boards, and as such have secured the 40% milestone that was set in 2022 some three years ahead of the target date. thus achieving the 40% target for 2022 three years early. Brooke Finlayson, Haleon's Global Head of Talent, explains her company's methods for achieving this.
Interview Christian Ruckriegel (Allianz): “Our Equal Pay project is an important part of a broader commitment to gender equality” Diversity How do you ensure male and female employees enjoy equal pay when you are a multinational company operating in more than 70 countries with different customs and traditions? This is the challenge that the German insurance company Allianz set itself in 2020 and which earned it the renowned German HR Management Prize in the 'HR Tech & Digital' category in September 2022. According to the award panel, Allianz succeeded in deploying a data-driven method for identifying and closing potential wage gaps on a global scale in record time. Christian Ruckriegel, head of employee benefits at the German insurance group, gives us an insight into their efforts.
France: Generali launches action plans to boost female representation across its distribution network and STEM professions Diversity After striving to narrow the gender pay gap, which has resulted in the French arm of the Italian insurance group scoring 94/100 on the gender parity professional index, Generali is now seeking to strengthen gender parity within its distribution network and its technical professions in France, where women are under-represented. The company also intends to boost female representation in its management bodies, an area in which it is lagging and which is costing the French division almost all the points it needs in order to achieve maximum points.
Italy: the government presents a maternity-related code of conduct to the social partners Diversity One woman in five quits her job after the birth of a child, according to a report by the INAPP (National Institute for Public Policy Analysis), and according to the INPS (main component of the Italian public retirement system),…
Healthcare group Organon gives staff 8 March off work Diversity Global pharmaceutical group Organon, which specialises in healthcare treatment for women, is to give staff time off on International Women’s Day on March 8. The firm decided to give its 11,000 staff members across the world this day off as part of efforts to raise awareness of specific healthcare matters, as well as to boost employee loyalty.
United Kingdom: companies turn to older workers amid labour shortages Diversity Airline EasyJet surprised the labour market in recent days by launching a recruitment campaign for cabin crew members aimed exclusively at those over the age of 45. At the same time Halfords, the retailer of motoring and cycling products, which employs around 10,000 people, has announced an apprenticeship programme for people over 50. These are illustrations that the return of older people to the labour market – who have exited en masse since the pandemic – is now seen as a solution to recruitment struggles.
