The Sodexo Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

“We are focused on developing thinking minds for our company, not on who those minds belong to” -Colm O’Mahony. CEO Middle Eest & Africa - Sodexo

The research is clear and unambiguous: a diverse workforce is more productive, happier and more engaged.

In terms of gender balance alone, a recent study by Sodexo showed significant increases in productivity and even safety across 5 key metrics.

 

Source: Sodexo Gender balance Study - 2018

Morally and logically there is no argument against diversity, but when you add in the real business benefits, the case is overwhelming and the only question becomes how to implement effective diversity, equity and inclusion programmes as quickly and as widely as possible.

More Than Just One Day

International Women’s Day is rightly celebrated across the world in March of every year. At Sodexo, we also take the opportunity of that day to highlight and promote our initiatives. But we also ensure that beyond making an impact of that one day of the year, diversity and gender balance issues are high on our agenda throughout the year and form a big part of our company ethos each and every day.

As a business, we are convinced of the benefits and see increasing diversity, equity and inclusion as one of the major pillars in our future success. Across our business, we have identified 4 main areas which underpin our diversity and inclusion policies: Gender, Culture and Origins, Disability and Generations and we make sure that an understanding of these topics is present in all decision making.

SheWorks

One example of where we have seen success is our SheWorks programme, where young women from across the region in the communities in which we operate, as well as from within our business are offered the chance of job shadowing with an employee in a management position. Throughout their time in the programme, participants get the chance to experience what it means to work in an environment that encourages growth and development irrespective of gender. SheWorks demonstrates to women of all backgrounds that success is both possible and well within their reach and provides them with a mentor who has already followed a similar career path. Since this project launched in 2019, over 900 women across 20 countries have benefited from it and seen their opportunities increase and their horizons broadened as a result. One of the beneficiaries of this scheme recently has been Ms Tabrin Sheikh from Kuwait who took the opportunity to experience the working life of a manager in procurement. She spent time away from her normal role as a waitress at one of Sodexo’s healthcare sites in Kuwait and gained valuable exposure in other parts of our business which will help in assisting to advance her career. Tabrin has been interested in the role of Storekeeper for some time and was pleased with the opportunity to learn first-hand what she could achieve.

 

‘It was a great experience to see what the job of a storekeeper is all about and thanks to this initiative, I hope to develop my career in that direction very soon’ - Ms Tabrin Sheikh - Sodexo

Through this programme and other initiatives, we are making sure that throughout the business, we incorporate a fundamental understanding of the issues into our working practices and policies so that from recruitment to training and development and our daily operations, diversity, equity and inclusion runs throughout.