{"id":238517,"date":"2023-03-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/international-womens-day-talent-is-gender-neutral\/"},"modified":"2025-01-27T17:49:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T16:49:58","slug":"international-womens-day-talent-is-gender-neutral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/international-womens-day-talent-is-gender-neutral\/","title":{"rendered":"International Women\u2019s Day: \u201cTalent is gender-neutral\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Since 1946, the principle of gender equality is inscribed in the French constitution. The law guarantees women the same rights as men in all walks of life, but despite a large corpus of legislation already on the statute books, gender equality and the place of women in the workplace is still an issue and all too often fuels debate and needs to be reaffirmed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>At CLS, we strive every day to pursue a holistic approach that has enabled us to achieve a gender equality index of 93%, a fine score for a company operating in the science and engineering field.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>For International Women\u2019s Day, Head of Human Resources C\u00e9cile Espinassous reveals how CLS is ensuring fairness and equality for our female employees.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_16552\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16552\" class=\"wp-image-16552\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/cecile-espinassous.jpg\" alt=\"C\u00e9cile Espinassous\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-16552\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">C\u00e9cile Espinassous, CLS&#8217;s Head of Human Resources<\/p><\/div>\n<h2><strong>How is this index calculated?<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The gender equality index is based on several indicators:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gender pay gap<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pay rise gap<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Promotions gap and pay rises on return from maternity leave<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gender distribution among the top ten salaries<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Each indicator carries a score out of 15 to 40. They are then added together to give an index out of 100. At CLS, we scored almost full marks on all our indicators, but we\u2019re 7 points from achieving full equality!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do you see gender equality at CLS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I talk about gender equality at CLS, I don\u2019t see it as an issue that needs addressing\u2026 it\u2019s a guiding light illuminating everything we do, every day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Each and every employee needs to develop their skills, find their place, build confidence and show their abilities. It\u2019s our collective responsibility to make sure our policies are fair. <strong>I like to say unbiased in any way, because talent is gender-neutral!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, at CLS talent isn\u2019t gender-specific and everyone has their place, with no need for positive discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What positions do women occupy at CLS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-16580\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/salaries.jpg\" alt=\"CLS's employees\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" \/>Women occupy all kinds of positions at CLS: administrative assistant, Deputy CEO, artificial intelligence engineer, or space oceanographer, for example. We have a higher proportion of women in support, but they\u2019re represented across all functions, including engineering.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We make it a point of honor to ensure women are well represented, but we don\u2019t do positive discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, we have women at all levels of our organization, including on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee. In fact, 50% of our Board of Directors and 40% of our Executive Committee are women, and they make up 41% of the total headcount.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What actions are you pursuing to maintain gender equality at CLS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Equal opportunity is our watchword!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When we fill a position with someone in house or an external candidate, we look at their skills and experience, their commitment, motivation and values. Gender doesn\u2019t come into the equation! Gender equality must be and is a given\u2026 and that\u2019s how it must stay. It\u2019s not even an issue.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-16575 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/egalite-h-f.jpg\" alt=\"Gender Equality\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong><em>Does being a green tech company make it harder for CLS to achieve gender equality?\u202f\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-16560\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/globe-mains.jpg\" alt=\"Planet\" width=\"374\" height=\"211\" \/>I don\u2019t think our sector is holding back gender equality or how it\u2019s maintained. What can prove an obstacle is that women are under-represented in STEM subjects and functions we\u2019re looking to recruit in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, fewer women in STEM disciplines means fewer female candidates\u2026 and proportionally that has an impact, but at CLS it\u2019s lower.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the 2017 population census conducted by the national statistics office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notre-environnement.gouv.fr\/donnees-et-ressources\/ressources\/graphiques\/article\/part-des-femmes-dans-les-professions-vertes-en-2014-en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">INSEE<\/a>, 48% of jobs in the environment sector are occupied by women. CLS is a company whose technologies are serving the environment, which is possibly what makes us more attractive than some high-tech sectors. But men are joining us too because what we do is meaningful to them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What advice would you give to a young woman, manager or director starting a new job?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-16585\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/salariees.jpg\" alt=\"CLS's employees\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t have any advice for them as such, other than to say \u2018you can do it\u2019!<\/p>\n<p>Have faith in your abilities, values and convictions, in your personality and your differences, and in men!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Because men are our allies in this\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>I encourage<\/strong> all women looking for a sense of achievement not to conform to stereotypes, to cast off the shackles, and to believe in who they are and what they want!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But let\u2019s not forget there are no free lunches in life, and you have to work to get what you want\u2026 that\u2019s something I keep repeating to my two teenage daughters, for whom gender equality has never been an issue, because for them it\u2019s a given\u2014and that\u2019s how it should be!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, I say to all women: <strong>BELIEVE IN YOURSELVES<\/strong> and give yourselves the opportunity to achieve your ambitions, with enthusiasm and conviction!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Do you have a message for men?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That they\u2019re right to BELIEVE IN US!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Let\u2019s work and succeed together, let\u2019s take pride in being together, recognizing each other\u2019s skills and qualities, let\u2019s share our projects, combine our strengths and move forward into the future hand in hand! Let\u2019s be resolutely positive and optimistic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since 1946, the principle of gender equality is inscribed in the French constitution. The law guarantees women the same rights as men in all walks of life, but despite a large corpus of legislation already on the statute books, gender equality and the place of women in the workplace is still an issue and all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cls-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241496,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238517\/revisions\/241496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}