Sodexo progresses towards 2015 diversity goals

Sodexo will celebrate International Women’s Day on Friday March 8th, with events around the world held to highlight the achievements of women. As the global leader in Quality of Life services, Sodexo is convinced that people’s wellbeing is a key source of performance and progress for both organisations and individuals. In the UK & Ireland, Sodexo will be marking the day with the launch of its Women Work speaker series. Women Work is Sodexo’s employee network which was established in 2011 to champion the personal and professional development of women across the organisation; currently it has almost 700 members. Sodexo Ireland’s managing director and former chair of the network, Margot Slattery, is the first speaker for the new series and through a teleconference will be sharing information about her career, her achievements and the obstacles she has encountered along the way and how she overcame them. This will be followed in the coming weeks with two I.D ME! webinars, which will explore participants personal brands and how they can be developed. 12 personal testimonials complemented with OECD statistics Sodexo’s initiatives for 2013 International Women’s Day includes an 8-day online showcase of insights from 12 women – Sodexo clients, employees and opinion leaders – from Brazil, Chile, the United States, India, France, Austria, Italy and from across different sectors, including defence, justice, education, and corporations. These 12 women share their view on Quality of Life in their everyday environment as well as provide their personal recommendations for a better Quality of Life for everyone. In addition, Sodexo has asked the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to provide a comprehensive and objective overview of women’s perception of Quality of Life. This overview draws on and analyses the OECD’s Better Life Index, a unique indicator launched by the OECD in 2011. Key findings highlight how women rate their personal life satisfaction compared with men as well as professional aspects of the gender divide, such as women’s representation and advancement in the corporate world. Women at the heart of performance For many years, diversity and inclusion have been a hallmark of Sodexo’s development. Convinced that gender balance is an asset to the company, Sodexo has long given high priority to the advancement of women with a wide range of global partnerships, awareness programmes and initiatives. In 2009, Sodexo launched its SWIFt initiative (Sodexo Women’s International Forum for talent), a team of 25 senior women leaders to encourage a better representation by identifying main obstacles to women advancement and carrying out initiatives to address them. The implementation of operational Networks dedicated to gender diversity within the Group, and Mentoring, programmes focused on cross-disciplinary exchanges to structure personal and professional development of high-potential women, are another side of Sodexo’s gender-balance strategy. Diversity and inclusion: 2013 key achievements These global initiatives have allowed Sodexo to make significant progress in its diversity and inclusion agenda. In 2013, women represent 38% of the Board of Directors and hold 40% of management positions. Women’s representation among the top 300 senior executives rose to 23% (from 16% in 2007) in line with the 2015 objective of 25% target set by CEO Michel Landel in the SWIFt Agenda Sodexo CEO Michel Landel said “I am personally convinced that society can only benefit from stronger diversity and inclusion, in the corporate sphere as well as the public sector. Unless we set concrete objectives, we will not see progress. At Sodexo, we have measurable goals in the realm of diversity, the organisation is working towards them and I’m proud of the headway we have made. However the road is long and we must stay focused. Sodexo serves 75 million consumers daily, half of them women. Our ability to respond effectively to their expectations also depends on our progress in diversity and inclusion”. Over the past few years, Sodexo’s commitment to diversity and inclusion has been highlighted through numerous awards and top rankings from diversity and employer organisations across the world. In 2012, Sodexo received the prestigious Catalyst Award, which honours innovative organisational approaches to developing advancement of women and minorities in the workplace. To discover our unique International Women’s Day operation please visit: WomensInsight.sodexo.com