EDF strives to guarantee equal access to professional and promotional training, with a view to securing comparable career paths for women and men. A specific scheme has been set up to cover additional childcare costs for parents who attend training courses away from home. Steady progress has been made in recent years with its attempts to break the “glass ceiling” effect: the number of female managers has doubled at EDF since 2002. At the end of 2018(1), more than 27% of the most senior positions (top 10%) were held by women, more than 31% of managers were female and more than 25% of the members of the Management Committees were female. The percentage of women sitting on Management Committees was below 20% in 2012. For executive positions, succession plans always include male and female candidates. In addition, schemes have been implemented (see TALENTS 2.0 in section 3.3.3.1.1. “Group Talent Management”) to better identify new talent in a more open and diverse manner.
EDF is the first company to obtain the “sexiste, pas notre genre” anti-sexism label. With the support of the “Energies de Femmes” network, which has 3,800 members among the Group’s employees, the Company is providing training and raising awareness on these subjects (sexism kits for team meetings, e-learning courses on preventing sexism on e-Campus). With its Workplace Equality Game, EDF is the first company in France to develop a learning experience on workplace equality for managers, inspired by escape games. EDF is committed to preventing and combating all forms of violence against women, both in the workplace (sexism, harassment) and also domestic and family violence (support, guidance and job retention). This commitment was recognised and emphasised by the Government at the last Grenelle Summit on Violence against Women and confirmed on 10 December 2019, by the signing of the charter against domestic violence proposed by Fondation Agir contre l’exclusion (FACE) and the Kering Foundation.
In 2019, EDF strengthened its parenting support measures by introducing new rights for family carers, creating a parental leave scheme available to both women and men that takes into account the different types of contemporary families and giving parents the option to double their paternity and childcare leave.
The Group also promotes new ways of working and collaborating making it easier to reconcile work and family life and aiming to make employees more responsible, with the following benefits: more autonomous management of working time and the use of tools and devices that can reduce the need to travel (Skype, occasional or regular teleworking); EDF has more than 7,000 employees who work from home one or more days a week, control of connectivity, and promotion of empowerment initiatives.
As a signatory of the Diversity Charter (signed in 2006), the ILO’s Business and Disability Charter and the Charter produced by L’Autre Cercle, EDF is committed to preventing discrimination and promoting diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion.
EDF was one of the first large French companies involved in the occupational and social integration of disabled people. In October 1989, EDF signed its first agreement to facilitate the occupational integration of disabled people. The 11th EDF agreement for equal rights and equal opportunity and the occupational integration of disabled people was signed on 13 December 2018 for the 2019-2022 period. In terms of sports, its goal is to encourage sports for all. In 1992, EDF became a partner of the Fédération française handisport (French Federation of Disability Sports).
EDF’s commitment has not waned, as shown by the employment rates of the Group’s companies in France under approved disability agreements. Under the legislation in force at the end of 2018, the rates are: 5.09% for EDF, 6.33% for Enedis, 7% for the ÉS group and 3.88% for Framatome. In total, more than 4,700 employees recognised as disabled worked within the Group in France at the end of 2019, across the Group’s wide range of activities. Under national legislation, EDF is also committed to promoting this commitment for Group companies located outside France, as shown by its participation in the ILO’s “Business and Disability” charter and the presence of more than 5,600 disabled employees worldwide.
EDF pays close attention to the integration of disabled employees throughout their careers. EDF has implemented a range of tools to support, roll out and facilitate this policy: two guides presenting the agreement, one for the relevant employees and the other for managers, and two other guides explaining the interview process are now available. Training is also available for the interested parties (disability officers, managers). In addition to adapting workstations to meet the specific needs of employees, several Group companies in France have introduced schemes, as part of their disability agreements, to provide them with occasional, back-up aid to offset the challenges they face in the workplace. Applications for aid are examined anonymously, in a multidisciplinary framework.
As part of their approved agreements, several Group companies in France have introduced measures to facilitate the continued employment of disabled employees during the second half or at the end of their careers.
The Group’s commitment to the occupational integration of disabled people is a long-term commitment, but the issues to be addressed are constantly changing, as affected by the maturity of the organisations in this area and the challenges they themselves face and general factors. A good example of this last point is the essential role now played by information and digital technology in the workplace. Digital accessibility is one of the priorities under EDF’s most recent disability agreements. As part of this, EDF has supported the development of an e-learning platform, as part of an inter-company partnership. It is now available to all employees on its online training site. Offsetting the effects of mental disability in the workplace is also an issue and, more generally, the “tools” used to keep the relevant employees in their jobs. In this area, EDF Energy recently ran a series of campaigns to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention. It also relies on the support of the “Disability & Carers” and “Mental Health Support” networks, which can provide personal support and enhance the awareness and understanding of these issues.
The Group has adopted a code of ethics based on three main values: respect, solidarity and responsibility. Through these values, all employees should feel at ease in the workplace, regardless of their sexual orientation. Specifically, all employees must be able to exercise their rights without having to worry about a coming out or fear the effects of a coming out. As the diverse sexual orientations in society gradually lose their taboo status, they are becoming more and more visible in the workplace. This new exposure can sometimes lead to a revival of prejudices that need to be overcome to allow teams to operate smoothly and employees to live and work together in a harmonious manner. It is the role of the management team to prevent any situation that violates the law (any homophobic discrimination, harassment, comments or demonstrations). In that spirit, EDF provided its HR staff and managers with guidelines in 2015 on “Respect for sexual orientations in the workplace”, which was also one of the first guides in France to be directly inspired by situations in the workplace (case studies). EDF is a partner of L’Autre Circle(2) and has been a signatory of the LGBT charter since 2015. It has also partnered and supported the Energay association(3) since 2010. EDF has also designed, in partnership with Energay, a process to accompany and support transitioning employees within the Group. “Supporting transitioning employees at EDF – Respect for gender identity” guidelines were published in 2019, aimed at managers and HR staff.
(1) The 2019 figures were not available on the date of this document.
(2) L’Autre Cercle is an LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi and Trans) association combating discrimination in the workplace. www.autrecercle.org.
(3) Energay is the LGBT association for the electric and gas industries and their friends. www.energay.org.
