Fostering inclusivity
EssilorLuxottica is firmly committed to guaranteeing equal opportunities for every employee - at every level. No matter what your race, gender, age, nationality, religion, sexual or political orientation, marital status, union affiliation or disability, we pay our employees the same for the same work.
There’s no place for any form of discrimination, intimidation or harassment either. We’re firmly committed to building a work culture that is 100% inclusive and nurtures diversity – a culture that allows and positively encourages unique perspectives and novel ideas to flourish. A culture where professional roles and promotions are evaluated and assigned to guarantee a fair and meritocratic workplace. In 2020, EssilorLuxottica earned a spot on the Financial Times “Diversity Leaders” list, well-earned proof of our efforts around diversity and inclusion in recent years.
We strive to create a community that values all backgrounds, identities and cultures – and values them equally. Operating across more than 150 different countries, our workforce is made up of many different nationalities and languages, with talented people of every race, religion, gender, age and ability. Our goal is to make every one of them feel accepted, appreciated and inspired at work.
To cultivate a culture of diversity and inclusion, many initiatives exist in different regions to promote open dialogue among employees and provide an inclusive work environment.
For example:
Globally, EssilorLuxottica launched a comprehensive learning initiative in March 2021 focused on unconscious bias and other diversity, equity and inclusion aspects.
In the US, we tapped into our employee base to get their expectations around diversity and inclusion in the workplace through surveys, panels and open conversations. Taking its learnings into account, the Company is launching a number of employee-facing initiatives in 2021, including programs focused on further educating local teams, creating opportunities for employees to share their personal experiences and identifying actionable ideas for creating a more inclusive workplace.
We continue to support the growth of our Business Resource Groups (BRG) and Engagement Ambassadors in the US. BRGs are voluntary and employee-led, and bring employees together through common interests, backgrounds or demographics.
The five BRGs represent Women, a Multicultural and Inclusive experience, the LGBTQ+ community, and all Generations and Military Veterans. With Essilor’s Engagement Ambassadors – the network of employees who support Mission, Wellness, and Career Development – they represent over 500 dedicated employees bringing focus on inclusion and diversity to life.
In Brazil, our manufacturing site initiated a new annual program named "Olhar Consciente" (Informed Vision) in 2020, featuring a full week of activities dedicated to diversity and inclusion, and embracing surrounding communities.
Annually in China, we organize events encouraging employees to share their hometown or regional traditions and rituals to further cultivate an inclusive environment for all ethnic groups.
Promoting female career development
The Group is committed to taking concrete measures to improve gender equality at all levels, as well as implementing internal initiatives aimed at increasing the number of women in management positions.
At December 31, 2021, the percentage of women at EssilorLuxottica* represented 58% of the total workforce, 37% of the members of the Management Bodies and 28% of the Senior Executives. These ratios are indicative of the Group's efforts towards fostering career progression for women. EssilorLuxottica plans to roll out further concrete measures to promote gender equality.
In 2022, our efforts were publicly rewarded. Several women professionals at Essilor and Luxottica were honored among Vision Monday’s list of the “Most Influential Women in Optical”, representing wide-ranging industry recognition of their diverse and extensive backgrounds in the optical industry in North America.
In Latin America, Essilor has set a target of 40% female representation by 2022 in the top 180 leadership roles (vs 32.2% today). In support of this target, the region has committed to ensuring that no recruitment process – internal or external – will close without a female in consideration as a finalist. In France, for the third year, Essilor scored 94/100 on the Professional Equality Index, demonstrating the robustness of its policy on women's careers and compensation.
In China, Essilor has designed a new initiative called “She Power Women Community'' to drive diversity and improve women's workforce engagement. It is composed of various interactive activities, including panel discussions, debates, role model selection and best practice sharing that encourage women to seek higher roles. Similarly, Luxottica’s manufacturing plant in China has an event dedicated to recognizing women who have served as high-performing role models for others throughout the year.
*excluding GrandVision
Elevating those with disabilities
Our drive to foster an inclusive environment that allows all individuals to thrive extends to those living with a disability - both visible and invisible. Our Disability Mission allies the message that “Disability does not mean inability”. A message we live up to on a daily basis and shown through our local initiatives. For example:
We have been acting for a long time on the integration of disabled people. In France, the employment of disabled people represents close to 6.25% of the employee population, and 22 “handicap” correspondents lead the deployment of the Disability policy and advise employees with disability.
We work with partners such as ESAT (Company and Service for Assistance through Work, ex-CAT) or EA (Adapted Companies) who provide additional workplace support to those living with a disability who are unable to work in a traditional environment. These partners are either a supplier of traditional services or offer the provision of employees on our sites. Since 2011, cabling systems for precision optical devices have been manufactured by workers from the ESAT Vassincourt in Ligny-en-Barrois and from this, ESAT workers have acquired multiple skills: logistics, assembly, screwing, gluing, packaging, IT, etc. We have also seen the benefits of working with employees hired through this initiative, with our cabling systems produced on site show almost zero faults; a quality much higher than that of products usually sourced elsewhere.
We have a firm commitment to paying employees equally for the same work, as professional roles and promotions are evaluated and assigned to guarantee a fair and meritocratic workplace.
Engaged & empowered employees
Approximately 190,000 employees worldwide, they provide products of a highly technical and stylistically advanced nature, together with unparalleled levels of service. Our global community embodies and helps uphold our Mission – To help people See More, Be More.
We operate in a wide range of territories and cultures – it’s one of our unique strengths. We encourage employee shareholding (44% of our people currently hold a stake in the Company) and well-being initiatives – prompting active engagement and a strong sense of belonging.
Supporting our employees' development
We continually seek to develop a culture of learning, diversity and safety amongst our employees. From development and education programs to an emphasis on preventing work-related injuries, EssilorLuxottica engages, grows and looks after its employees.
We’ve even developed a common learning ecosystem, where we offer employees and customers a personalized learning journey with the latest digital solutions and content.
We’re creating a new learning culture for employees and customers alike, allowing them to continuously expand their skills and reach their full potential.
Protecting our people through Covid-19
Protecting our employees through the pandemic and in the communities where we operate has been our utmost priority.
At the very start of the pandemic, we immediately reinforced hygiene practices, health check protocols and social distances across our global network of offices, stores, factories, labs and distribution centers. Beyond that, we committed a 160 million Euro fund to support employees and their families in need, including emergency pay schemes for our most vulnerable employee groups.
Our support extended beyond just our employees. We offered our partners – including eye care professionals – direct access to new health and sales protocols, personal protective equipment as well as enhanced digital tools to fully connect via webinars, virtual summits and online training.
Commitment to UN SDGs
We are committed to creating a better, more sustainable future for all. With the above, we are proud to be contributing to the below UN Sustainable Development Goals:
