Diversity is a strength

Societe Generale group’s Generale Management team is committed to making diversity a managerial priority.

Over the past few weeks, an important spotlight has been put on issues of discrimination and fairness in our societies, as recent events have affected many of us. We believe this is an occasion for each of us in our company to reflect and ask ourselves whether we are up to the challenge of inclusion and diversity.

Societe Generale is an international group with 136 nationalities and 138,000 employees. All of them are essential to our company, regardless of their beliefs, age, disability, parental status, ethnic origin, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, social origin, membership of a political, religious, trade union or minority organisation...

This diversity is vital to us. We may not live in the same way, we may come from different cultures and backgrounds, and we may not always have the same perspective, but it is precisely in a diverse and open environment that great ideas are born and grow, and that everyone feels involved and can contribute at his or her best. It is, of course, above all a question of contributing to a more just and fairer world, respectful of everyone's rights and identity. But the challenge is also to stay competitive and efficient by being open to society to understand its transformations, aspirations and needs. Finally, enriching our Group with diverse profiles, who have different ways of thinking and feeling the moving world around us, represents the way to maximise our collective intelligence to find out the best solutions.

We already have solid foundations. We have put in place an ambitious diversity policy that represents a common and shared framework in all our entities around the world. For several years now, we have been taking action to promote greater gender balance, the internationalization of key positions and the integration of people with disabilities. Further, in 2018, we signed the Guiding Principles against Discrimination of LGBT+ Persons in the Workplace with the UN. Last year we launched a whistleblowing tool that enables all staff who feel that they have suffered from discrimination or harassment to report these matters directly and anonymously via a secure platform to a specially-trained employee, outside of any hierarchical reporting line of the complainant.

But we can go further. Today, we want to take a step forward. We want to make fairness and diversity a reality for all our staff and a managerial priority for the Group. Therefore, we are committed to implementing a stronger diversity policy, combining objectives and individualized career paths.

• Starting in September, we will be launching a Pulse Survey (administered by a third party, BVA) that will give all our staff the opportunity to express their views on the subject of inclusion, in order to better understand and focus on the issues within our Group.
• We will set up an awareness program for all our employees and training on stereotypes and unconscious bias, which will be mandatory for senior managers and future senior managers, identified in our succession planning strategy.
• Finally, we will ensure that we increase diversity at the highest level of our organisation by setting aside a certain number of positions and systematically positioning women and international profiles in these roles, with binding targets for the number of women and international profiles in the entities' EXCOs. Each entity will initiate action plans.

Inclusion in the company is managed at different levels, from recruitment to onboarding and promotion, including management, relations with stakeholders and internal communication. Everywhere in the world, we must ensure a working environment that strictly respects the essential principle of non-discrimination, allowing each of our employees to be themselves and contribute to the collective efforts of the bank. We will make no compromises on this subject.

 We all have our role to play, an obligation to fight discrimination every day and to make progress in diversity and inclusion through respect, dignity and kindness, which are all fundamental human values. So, let us continue to move forward together step by step, as colleagues, as partners, as a responsible company, contributing to build a better and sustainable future.

#DiversityIsAStrength

#TheFutureIsYou
 

Frédéric Oudéa
Chief Executive Officer