L’Oréal praises diversity importance in understanding and product development

On top of this, company chairman CEO, Jean-Paul Agon, says that the management of diversity is a strategic lever for the French firm.

"A diverse workforce in all functions and levels of a company enhances our creativity and our understanding of consumers, thus allowing us to develop and market products that are relevant to their expectations,” ​he says.

Gender equality​

In 30 countries, L’Oréal has been certified either by GEES (Gender Equality European Standard) or EDGE (The Global Business Certification Standard for Gender Equality) for its progress in gender equality.

Last year alone, the company obtained the EDGE gender equality label in Russia, Australia, India, the Philippines, Brazil and Canada either as the first company in the country or as the first company in the cosmetic sector in the country.

Inclusion of people with disabilities​

To build awareness and promote the subject of disability in its subsidiaries worldwide, L’Oréal has set up the ‘Disability Initiatives’ Trophies to recognize operational entities for their local initiatives.

As of today, L’Oréal claims that 65 subsidiaries have initiated local actions to promote disability in the workplace or marketplace.

Last year also marked a new milestone for the company with the signing of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Global Business and Disability Network Charter, which formalises its commitment to manage the inclusion of people with disabilities, serving as a guideline to help accelerate efforts on the topic.

Inclusion of people with diverse social and ethnic origins​

L’Oréal says the diversity of origins of its employees is an important success factor of the Group and one of the priorities aiding this is given to the diversification of recruitment, as 50 subsidiaries have partnerships with schools and universities, and 25 have partnerships with associations to recruit talents with diverse ethnic and social origins.

To reinforce the importance of diversity and enhance the internal awareness of this topic, L’Oréal also says that more than 18 000 employees worldwide will have benefited from a specific training by the end of 2015.