In the name of diversity **

Objectives :
  • Equal recognition and opportunities for all employees, whatever their country of origin, gender, age, culture or profile,
  • Drive and coordinate diversity policies that are adapted to particular contexts, and implement tools to monitor and report on diversity that are also adapted to context,
  • Develop diversity in management, notably by increasing the number of foreign and female executive staff,
  • Inform and train mangers and staff on the importance of diversity,
  • Pursue the active recruitment and long-term employment of disabled employees.
Highlights in 2009 :
  • Société Générale counts 19% of women within decision-making bodies, such as the Executive Committee, Management committee etc. In 2010, the Group shows a diversity rate of more than 20%, at all levels of the Bank (workforce, supervision, Exco, Board of Directors)*,
  • 41.3% of managers in France are women; an increase of 7.3% compared to previous year (40.4 %),
  • 1,950 disabled employees in the Group,
  • Signing of the Employment Charter at Fontenay sous Bois in November 2009 (along the lines of the one signed in Nanterre in 2007),
  • Société Générale has been nominated 1stamong the CAC40 socially responsible enterprises, for the quality of its practices in terms of diversity (Ranking Capitalcom – RiskMetrics 2009*),
  • Rewarded by “Enterprise and Diversity” for its action “Coup de pouce pour l’insertion”, created by Nora Communication and Claude Suquet Consulting,
  • Komercni Banka was rewarded “best company” for its efforts in women/men equality efforts. This external reward has been issued by “Gender Studied” under the patronage of the French-Czech chamber of commerce.
Diversity, a daily reality and a strong commitment
Société Générale’s commitment to diversity stems from its "open-minded" approach, from its capacity to foster a variety of talents from a variety of nationalities, cultures and social levels, gender mixity and from its ability to ensure an equal balance between generation and minorities.
Diversity is a key performance driver, a source of creativity and innovation which contribute to the Group’s development. Our policy is to offer each individual his/her chance, whichever social category he/she belongs to.
In France and abroad
  • The integration of Young people without diplomas through the action “Coup de Pouce pour l’insertion”. Given its success, such an event will be organised again in 2010 in Lyon and expand it to the whole region around Paris and Marseilles. The objective is to hire around 50 young new employees,
  • Organisation of awareness campaigns during the yearly woman day: portraits of women entrepreneur, employees, in France and abroad at all level of the Group,
  • Organisation of a play called “J’aime pas beaucoup ce que vous faites” (« I don’t very much like what you do ») about diversity in order to make Parisian collaborators aware for this important topic,
  • In the UK, set up of a programme on education. The volunteers from Investment Banking have spent their lunch breaks with children between 9 and 11 years old, to teach them sports, languages, IT and other topics,
  • In Brazil, launch a policy in April 2009 on women’s career management : tools that help them to grow professionally and to get access to better positions within the Group have been in place.
In its recruitment policy
  • For the third consecutive year, Société Générale took part of Phénix: action that aim at opening a third professional way next to education and research, to young graduate students from Master 2 (Literature, History or Humanities etc),
  • “Sogelive in the branches”: one-day session to discover the job of Bank Adviser in 2 agencies in Paris (Saint Lazare and Boulevard Saint Germain), where about 200 applicants were received.
In its enterprise “agreements”
  • Czech Republic : to increase the number of women returning to work after having maternity leave, KB has implemented a set of measures including the protection of women’s salaries while they are on maternity leave, systematically providing them with the resources (internet connection, newsletters, and so on). KB has set up a communication portal for them,
  • France : a programme for reducing unjustified wage gaps between women and men, has been pursued with a budget of 1 million Euro against 800 000 Euro in 2008 (+25%).
Concerning gender equality, a committee has been set up in February 2010 in order to analyse with the social partners the improvements realised.
Professional insertion of disabled persons though “Mission Handicap” in France
Set up in May 2007, Société Générale’s Mission Handicap coordinates all of the Group’s initiatives in France aimed at promoting the employment and integration of disabled employees within the workplace. Run by local “relays”, Mission Handicap focuses on four key areas: the recruitment and training of disabled employees, the implementation of concrete aids and subsidies for their long-term employment and the setting up of partnerships within the protected sector.*
Some of the initiatives carried out in 2009 include :
  • Participation in more than 50 forums on the recruitment of disabled employees throughout France,
  • In partnership with ADAPT, Société Générale organised the Forum “Pass pour l’emploi”, a one-day session to promote employment research (June the 16th, 2009 at La Défense). This forum has gathered more than 2 500 applicants. “Pass pour l’emploi” offers interviews preparation workshops, resumé presentation and creation of video resume. Conferences and job workshops will train applicants to get ready to meet recruiters, and be informed about job offers,
  • Partnerships with leading universities and business and engineering schools to enable their 9,000 disabled students to learn more about Société Générale*,
  • Development of work placement schemes leading to qualifications to ensure that disabled people acquire the necessary skills *,
  • Creation of the blog www.tousuniques.fr where the aim is to create a discussion forum with applicants and professionals,
  • Support of an original communication initiative concerning disability: the play “Un nouveau cap!”. This play is played by a group of able and disabled persons and has been set up thanks to Société Générale and others companies,
  • An awareness campaign has been put in place in France about prejudice against handicap. Objective: to show that disability is not only visible, that it doesn’t only concern people in wheelchairs. This campaign aimed to remove the prejudices. Then, all the Group staff is being trained to this initiative thanks to a specific internal communication.
Société Générale has a policy governing the long-term employment of disabled staff. Committed to making their lives easier, the policy is also in place to ensure that their disability does not “handicap” their professional lives. In 2009, the Group carried out over 300 initiatives aimed at helping disabled employees to “do their jobs”. 58 disabled people also joined the Group in France during the year.
* verified by Ernst & Young
eZ Publish™ copyright © 1999-2010 eZ Systems AS