Paris, July 10, 2019 – Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life Services, has been awarded the “Grand Prix de la Mixité” recognizing it as the French CAC 40 company most committed to gender balance. The award was presented at a ceremony on July 10 organized for the third year by the Institut du Capitalisme Responsable and Ethics & Boards.
Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman of Sodexo’s Board of Directors, said: “As the largest French-based private employer in the world, we are honored and humbled by this award that highlights our collective efforts and our strong commitment to accelerate the promotion of gender balance within our leadership. Achieving gender balance drives our performance and is critical to reaching a Better Tomorrow for our employees, our clients and consumers, as well as the communities we serve.”
Sodexo’s Board of Directors is now 58% women, while the Group's Executive Committee stands at 35% women, and 32% of the company’s executives are women. Overall, women make up 55% of Sodexo's 460,000 employees.
Looking beyond numbers, Sodexo believes that gender equality is a strategic imperative. Sodexo surveyed 50,000 managers from over 70 entities as part of its Gender Balance Study, which revealed that teams with a male-female ratio of between 40 percent and 60 percent out-performed on financial and non-financial indicators. Sodexo’s goal is that by 2025 women will represent at least 40 percent of its senior leadership staff.
To reach this goal, Sodexo has established a global strategy for gender equality, in order to ensure opportunities for the advancement of women. This strategy forms the basis for a number of initiatives, including inclusive workplace training, mentoring, and gender networks throughout the company. The cornerstone of this strategy is the SoTogether advisory board, which is dedicated to promoting women's professional advancement, and more broadly, gender equality on a global scale.
About the Institut du Capitalisme Responsable
The Institut du Capitalisme Responsable is a centre for applied research – meant for companies – on integrated and responsible thinking. As an independent and non-profit organisation, the Institute develops, manages and facilitates working groups between company managers, civil society representatives and lead experts. Their common goal is to drive companies, investors and the wider financial community towards a more integrated, responsible and sustainable thinking. The ICR regularly shares its work and research by publishing studies, ratings, recommendations or white papers, by organising landmark events on specific themes, and by answering national and international consultations.
About Ethics & Boards
Ethics & Boards is the leading European provider of data-driven corporate governance solutions. We turn aggregated data into analysis tools that simplify Board assessments and governance risk identification by tracking over 250 real-time governance data points on all listed companies in major global stock indexes. Our benchmarks, rankings, and data visualization solutions facilitate the design of Board strategies. Our strive in providing the highest quality data-based solutions and intelligence is testified through the trust we have from our clients, institutional partners, and media.