Coface’s commitment to equity

GENDER EQUALITY: GRADUAL FEMINISATION OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT

At a little over 54% women, the gender ratio is largely balanced across the Group. In addition, the Group's executive committee, one of Coface's key governing bodies, is made up of 33% women.

Progress in some areas

• In overall terms, 34% of Coface’s female employees form part of the company’s senior management team (top 200), a figure that is in line with the goal set for 2022.
• The proportion of women on the regional management committees is also rising steadily, standing at 46% in 2022 compared to 40% a year previously (and 29% in July 2020).

Key initiatives

• Since senior managers are the first agents of change, women's representation at this level is the subject of a specific measurement and annual target figures.
• A recruitment policy geared towards gender equality was introduced. When the Group recruits externally, it first reviews talented women prior to formalising the final short-list of applicants.
• Every year Coface measures the progress made by women in the succession plans.

What's next

“Gender equality is a vital part of our CSR strategy. It improves the work experience, creativity and collaboration since all our employees can then work in a more diverse and inclusive environment without discrimination. Our goal is to guarantee equal pay and equal opportunities in career advancement. The objective in concrete terms regarding the latter is for women to make up 40% of Coface’s senior management by the 2030 deadline set by the ‘Rixain’ Law (on equality in management bodies) together with the gradual feminisation of the company’s top 200 managers. We are ramping up our efforts to #EmbraceEquity!” – Pierre Bévierre, Group Human Resources Director.

EQUAL PAY: ON AN UPWARD TRAJECTORY

For the third year since the Global Gender Gap Index was introduced, Coface has upped its score: the Group obtained 88/100 this time, i.e. up 4 points in a single year!

Calculated for the year 2022, the Index measures professional gender equality based on five indicators:

• Equal pay between men and women 
• Gender equality in decision-making for salary increases 
• Gender equality in decision-making for promotions 
• The share of women in the population of senior managers (top 200) 
• The proportion of women in the Group's 10 highest earners

progress in some areas

• Coface has made progress regarding equal pay – one of its primary objectives – including a higher proportion of women among the company's top earners.
• Decisions on salary increases and promotions are now genuinely egalitarian, with all Coface's regions worldwide implementing this principle.
• Coface's score for criteria such as decision-making about promotions and salary rises has been at its maximum in previous years. Accordingly, the challenge has been to maintain this level by continuing with the planned initiatives and awareness-raising actions.

key initiatives

• Coface’s pro-active approach: automatically set up our own index on professional gender equality on an international scale following the Index’s mandatory implementation in France.
• Expanded the Index with the inclusion of an additional measure: the proportion of women holding senior management positions.
• Central management with progress thresholds set annually for every Coface region.
• Substantive year-long work and awareness-raising actions during salary review exercises.

What's next

“Since we introduced our index, we’ve made a lot of headway on what has been in our control in the short term: equal pay. Over the coming years, we will expand our index by including a new criterion devoted to the feminisation of succession plans so we can step up the promotion of women inside the company. In fact, this reservoir includes most of the talented individuals of tomorrow!” – Charlotte Tripier, Group Compensation and Benefits Specialist.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT: FAST-TRACKING TALENTED WOMEN

Coface is stepping up initiatives to fast-track and support the development of women's careers in the company, with a particular focus on managerial decisions regarding promotion and recruitment.

progress in some areas

• 39% of internal senior manager promotions were women working in the company, up 7% from 2021. In addition, 45% of these women took up the position of manager for the first time.
• Among the high potentials identified in 2021, 65% of women took up a new post under two years ago.
• 46% of internationally-mobile talents in 2022 were women (compared to 38% in 2021).

key initiatives

• The career acceleration programme for talented women, which identifies individual actions to facilitate career development: promotion to a new position, taking part in a project, short assignment to another country or new job, mentoring.
• Mentoring to Lead: an international mentoring scheme – made up of 58% women – to broaden the talent pool of future female leaders.
• Move & Grow: encourages internal mobility across the Group and makes the operating methods clearer.
• Reverse Mentoring: capitalises on a greater understanding between talented individuals from different cultures and generations as a way of fostering better collaboration.

what's next

"Although we’ve made meaningful progress in recent years, it’s vital that we carry on with our work recruiting female leaders and expanding our pool of talented women at every level of the organisation. This starts with middle managers through external recruitment or by giving our female employees opportunities to develop. For every succession plan, do we routinely ask: Who would be the most able woman for this position, even if her name doesn't feature among the ‘obvious’ successors? This paves the way for talented women with more diverse profiles who, backed by a strong development plan, can be very suitable for and successful in these functions” – Sandrine Guyot, Group Talent Director.