CEO Statement of Support and Form for Signing We, business leaders from across the globe, express support for advancing equality between women and men to: • • • • • • Bring the broadest pool of talent to our endeavours; Further our companies’ competitiveness; Meet our corporate responsibility and sustainability commitments; Model behaviour within our companies that reflects the society we would like for our employees, fellow citizens and families; Encourage economic and social conditions that provide opportunities for women and men, girls and boys; and Foster sustainable development in the countries in which we operate Therefore, we welcome the provisions of the Women’s Empowerment Principles – Equality Means Business, produced and disseminated by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Global Compact The Principles present seven steps that business and other sectors can take to advance and empower women Equal treatment of women and men is not just the right thing to – it is also good for business The full participation of women in our enterprises and in the larger community makes sound business sense now and in the future A broad concept of sustainability and corporate responsibility that embraces women’s empowerment as a key goal will benefit us all The seven steps of the Women’s Empowerment Principles will help us realize these opportunities We encourage business leaders to join us and use the Principles as guidance for actions that we can all take in the workplace, marketplace and community to empower women and benefit our companies and societies We will strive to use sex-disaggregated data in our sustainability reporting to communicate our progress to our own stakeholders Please join us CEO Name: Michel LANDEL CEO Signature: (If you wish to use an electronic signature, please fill out the online form: www.weprinciples.org/Site/HowToSign/) Date: June 9th, 2015 Signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles – Equality Means Business Please complete this form and return it to: womens-empowerment-principles@unglobalcompact.org If you wish to submit this form electronically, please complete online at: http://weprinciples.org/Site/HowToSign/ Please note: the CEO Statement of Support is strictly for signature by the CEO (or equivalent) of a corporate entity with a minimum of 10 full-time employees Learn how non-business organizations can engage with the WEPs at www.weprinciples.org/Site/NonBusiness Company Information (Required) Name Industry/ Sector (please circle only one subcategory) Country France Number of 419317 Employees Chief Executive (Required) Prefix (Mr.; Ms.; etc) First/Given Name Last/Family Name Full Job Title Signature Date Mr Michel LANDEL Group Chief Executive Officer June 9, 2015 Primary Contact Person (Required) Prefix (Mr.; Ms.; etc) First/Given Name Last/Family Name Full Job Title Email Telephone Ms Rohini ANAND Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity Officer Rohini.anand@sodexo.com + Alternate Contact Person (Required) Prefix (Mr.; Ms.; etc) First/Given Name Last/Family Name Ms Nataliane THOULON Full Job Title Email Telephone Vice President Client Relations and Strategic Projects, HealthCare, France Nataliane.thoulon@sodexo.com + Additional Contact Person (Optional) Additional Contacts (Name & E-mail) Engaging with the WEPs CEO QUOTE (optional) Please provide a quote from your CEO about the reasons she/he signed the CEO Statement of Support and why women’s empowerment is a company priority The quote will be included with WEPs materials, both web-based and hard copy, to highlight the company’s commitment “Since its foundation almost 50 years ago, Sodexo has been guided by a vision: we believe that to create lasting value, organizations and society must place people at the center of their thinking We are convinced that the women and men in a company must be the real beneficiaries of its success This vision inspires our commitments and our actions And this is especially true for the advancement of women to ensure gender balanced teams We believe that by tapping into the full potential of women, we will become stronger, more innovative and better at what we do.” Michel Landel, Sodexo CEO “To succeed in developing a more diverse and gender-balanced workforce, corporate leaders must be prepared to be strong and consistent role models, drive commitment and ensure accountability even in the face of initial resistance from their executives I have found that it takes personal conviction and engagement to make progress They have to what they believe is right not just to improve an organization’s performance but to create a better world.” Michel Landel, Sodexo CEO EXAMPLE OF POLICY, PRACTICE OR INITIATIVE (optional) Please provide an example of, or link to, one or more of your policies, practices or initiatives relevant to gender equality and women’s empowerment The examples will be included in our publication Companies Leading the Way included with WEPs materials, both web-based and hard copy, to highlight the company’s commitment The Sodexo Women’s International Forum for talent, SWIFt, was created in 2009 by Sodexo’s CEO Michel Landel “to accelerate the attainment of gender balance within Sodexo, through personal drive, commitment and leadership of its high level leaders” He appointed Dr Rohini Anand, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity Officer at the head of SWIFt to design, develop and implement a dedicated strategy SWIFt is the cornerstone of Sodexo’s gender balance strategy, an advisory board for all gender initiatives at Sodexo reporting to the Group Comex SWIFt brings together 35 senior leaders representing 17 different nationalities from continents and all areas of the organization Facilitated by a six-member Steering Committee, this group aims to increase women’s representation in leadership positions, especially in P&L roles, and to foster an inclusive culture where women and men can succeed SWIFt focuses on tangible initiatives to drive the culture change and to develop the pipeline These include fostering gender network groups that support women in networking, development and provide them with a nurturing environment SWIFt has also launched a women’s leadership development program; informed by research, this program addresses women’s specific development needs allowing them to advance in their careers Measurable impact 2009-2014 The Sodexo Gender Balance Case Study Sodexo has long considered gender balance as a strategic issue In order to better understand how gender balance at all level of the organization impacts performance, Sodexo has led an internal study, gathering data from 50,000 Sodexo managers in 80 countries – from C-Suite to site management, to demonstrate that management teams with a male-female ratio between 40 and 60 percent have a clear and definite impact on growth, profit and cash generated, but also employee engagement and client retention On each of these indicators, the results show a clear correlation between gender balanced teams and better performance on not only brand awareness, client retention and employee engagement but also on financial performance Their results are on average more steady, predictable and sustainable than those of teams with less than 40 percent or more than 60 percent of either gender Mentoring Program As an organization that supports the development of its people, Sodexo values and encourages the use of mentoring Mentoring is one of the top strategies for career development and advancement Research shows mentoring is an effective way for people to develop new skills, navigate inside the company and understand how business is carried out outside their own work environment Mentoring plays an important role in women’s career progression and at the same time many women have difficulties finding and establishing mentor relationships To address this gap, we formalized several mentoring programs Mentoring was identified as one of the key action areas for SWIFt (Sodexo Women’s International Forum for talent) in 2009 Today several mentoring programs exist at Sodexo: Australia, Canada, China, India, Chile, Colombia, UK, Ireland and Belgium All have country specific programs to develop the pipeline of talent, especially of female talent Since 2009 there have also been five cross function/cross country/entity -programs at Sodexo The initiatives develop the pipeline of female talent and also allow for cross cultural exchange As of 2014, over 1,500 women had participated in mentoring leadership programs 3 AREAS OF INTEREST (optional) Please indicate any areas of particular interest to help us to arrange events and other activities to assist with implementation of the WEPs (e.g guidance on reporting, equal pay for equal work, value chain, community initiatives etc): N/A VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION The WEPs are a tool available to all companies free of charge Global Compact participants that sign the CEO Statement of Support automatically contribute to the growth and sustainability of the WEPs initiative through their annual contribution to the Global Compact, which provides the Secretariat for the Women's Empowerment Principles Companies that are not currently participants in the Global Compact are encouraged to consider joining in an effort to broaden their understanding and approach to corporate sustainability For information on how to participate in the Global Compact, please see here or contact Lauren Gula (gulal@unglobalcompact.org) Alternatively, companies that are not participants in the Global Compact, but are interested in signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women's Empowerment Principles, are encouraged to make an annual contribution to help support the activities and efforts of the Women's Empowerment Principles initiative at the global level Suggested annual contributions are USD 5,000 for large companies*, USD 2,500 for medium sized companies** and USD 500 for small companies Annual contributions are payable to the Foundation for the Global Compact Please indicate if the Foundation may send the indicated contact person an invoice and, if so, for what amount If your company would like to make an in-kind contribution, please contact Lauren Gula (gulal@unglobalcompact.org) * A large company has > USD 250 million in annual sales/revenue ** A medium sized company has between USD 50 million and USD 250 million in annual sales/revenue YES Amount QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS NO ... attainment of gender balance within Sodexo, through personal drive, commitment and leadership of its high level leaders” He appointed Dr Rohini Anand, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity Officer... actions And this is especially true for the advancement of women to ensure gender balanced teams We believe that by tapping into the full potential of women, we will become stronger, more innovative... better world.” Michel Landel, Sodexo CEO EXAMPLE OF POLICY, PRACTICE OR INITIATIVE (optional) Please provide an example of, or link to, one or more of your policies, practices or initiatives relevant