Commitment to diversity in the workplace

  • SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT employs people with disabilities

    SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is committed to equal opportunity in the workplace. The Group employed a total of 1,105 people with disabilities at the end of 2010.

     
  • Helping to conserve and restore biodiversity

    In addition to collective efforts to halt climate change, conserving biodiversity is a huge challenge for all inhabitants of the planet.

     
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has made diversity a key focus of its strategy and a priority of its human resources policy. In doing so, the Group takes every person into account and reinforces its capacity to understand its customers, in order to serve them better.

Promoting diversity

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT places diversity at the heart of its human resources management policy. It is also a natural ingredient of the Group, which is proud of its 80,410 employees and its multitude of nationalities in over 70 countries across 5 continents. In 2010, the Group launched a concrete action plan with precise targets and huge resources. Called “Equal opportunities – social progress – commitment”, it is based on five strategic priorities:

  • Access to employment and integration
  • Recruitment and careers for women
  • Recruitment and support for people with disabilities
  • Recruitment and careers for seniors
  • Employee involvement and quality of life in the workplace

Assessing the results of actions

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has set out a framework and quantified targets for 2012. To ensure the programme is properly monitored and governed, the Group sought a very high level of commitment by creating a Diversity and Social Development Department. This department is tasked with setting up and running diversity programmes and monitoring the results. The Group has run convincing actions to promote the integration of people with disabilities, and gender equality in its business lines. Its subsidiary Lyonnaise des Eaux  for example, has created a national back-office platform for collection and customer management in partnership with the French Association for Paralysed Persons (APF). This initiative has created 25 jobs for people with disabilities. Agbar has also taken the initiative and launched a programme to support women who have fallen out of the job market. The subsidiary has deployed a mechanism to help women acquire new skills and enter operational roles that have traditionally been filled by men.

2011 Performance

  • 19.8% of the Group’s total workforce are women, compared to 19.4% in 2010
  • 26.5% of the Group’s Management Committee are women, compared to an average 7% among French CAC 40 companies
  • 1.5% of the Group’s employees have a disability (1 in 105 employees)