11 Mar Equality Plan: Registered
This month, coinciding with Working Women’s Day, we announce that we now have a registered corporate Equality Plan, one which we have also already begun to implement. But before presenting the result, let’s rewind a bit and see why we have done this and how it was developed over the last year.
Why did we decide to make an Equality Plan?
As we explain in this post, in 2019 Rieusset considered the need to have an Equality Plan responding to internal concerns that were derived from a psychosocial study carried out on the entire staff of the company.
The project was started also taking into account the legal framework on equality at work that is set out in the following laws:
- Organic Law 3/2007 of 22 March for effective equality of women and men, which establishes in its article 45 that companies are obliged to respect equal treatment and opportunities in the workplace.
- Law 17/2015, of 21 July, for effective equality of women and men, approved by the Parliament of Catalonia.
- Royal Decree Law 6/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures to guarantee equal treatment and opportunities among women and men in work and occupation.
What do we propose with this Equality Plan?
Given the internal concerns of the team, the corporate commitment to the cause and the existing legal framework, Rieusset considered the development of a plan in order to achieve equal opportunities and treatment among women and men who work together in our company, advancing in the integration of equal opportunities in a transversal manner throughout the entire organization.
The intention of the plan is to establish strategy, objectives and actions that allow the organization to develop actions in terms of equal opportunities. Furthermore, the aim is for it to be carried out in a totally personalized and focused way according to the diagnosis of our company and the needs that arise from it.
The phases of the equality plan:
The project was started in 2019, the commission was established and work began on the situation analysis phase of the company with regard to equality in order to identify the areas which would be necessary to address as a priority. During this phase, quantitative and qualitative data were collected through personal interviews, online questionnaires to the entire staff and documentation of the organization.
Based on this analysis, an extensive and detailed Diagnosis Report was prepared, in which the state of the situation was reflected and opportunities for improvement were proposed in each of the following areas of action:
- Equality Policy and Culture
- Internal organization
- Selection and hiring, evaluation and promotion policies
- Training and professional development
- Right to work conciliation
- Prevention of occupational hazards and occupational health with a gender perspective
- Prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment and sexist attitudes
- Inclusive communication and non-sexist or discriminatory language
Once the report was finalized, the process of analyzing the document by the negotiating committee began as shown in this publication.
During this last year, the work of the negotiating committee has consisted of holding periodic meetings in order to finalize the diagnosis for the preparation of the equality plan.
Current situation: Rieusset has its Corporate Equality Plan
Last November the diagnosis phase was concluded and the Equality Plan was drawn up. In its 122 pages it basically covers the following aspects:
- An action plan structured according to areas, with general and specific objectives.
- The area of responsibility for the person in charge of the implementation of the different actions.
- A timetable for the execution of the actions.
- The indicators for monitoring and evaluating the actions.
The plan establishes the actions to be implemented over a 3-year period, starting with the priority ones that will be applied in 2021. Of the 47 actions proposed in the plan, we highlight the 10 most significant actions to which Rieusset is committed:
- The commitment to promoting the reconciliation of work and family life, and zero tolerance in relation to any conduct that constitutes sexual and/or gender-based harassment.
- Controlling changes in the management bodies in favor of equal representation.
- Establishing criteria to incorporate people in highly masculinized areas, promoting the incorporation of the less represented sex when there are equal conditions.
- Advancing in the integration of workers with functional diversity and other groups at risk of social exclusion.
- Carrying out periodic pay reviews to advance transparency and the security of offering equal pay among women and men.
- Ensuring that advertisements and selection criteria do not contain requirements that prevent people from applying, and not selecting people of a specific gender.
- Providing training on equal opportunities and gender perspective to the people in charge of the selection processes and positions of responsibility.
- Communicating the selection processes for internal promotion to people who are on maternity or other leave, or leave related to the reconciliation of work, personal and family life.
- Stating the commitment to zero tolerance towards sexist attitudes and sexual or gender-based aggressions in contracts with suppliers.
- Carrying out an awareness session for the entire staff in the area of non-sexist or discriminatory language.
It should be noted that during the elaboration process, all the parties involved –both the management representatives and the works council– have worked in a fluid and coordinated manner, thus contributing to achieve a fully agreed plan, which guarantees gender equality in the company and benefits all parties.
The Plan has been approved by all parties and this month of March it will be officially registered.
Why is it so important for Rieusset to have an equality plan?
For our organization it is important to have and work with an Equality Plan to integrate the gender perspective into the Company Culture. The Equality Plan reinforces the Company’s commitment to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) since it helps us to carry out policies towards more ethical and responsible management.
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