Telecommunications companies are under pressure to deliver next-generation services but they encounter the sourcing of the right talent difficulty, whether in-house or externally; one of the greatest challenges is to challenge bias of being a male working domain and to close the digital skills gap; but for this, the educational system has a critical role to play in attracting women to become skilled in STEM, to ensure companies have a varied workforce, with differing viewpoints and opinions.
Could you share with us some key milestones in the D&I journey of Orange Romania?
Our first steps in D&I started some years ago with introducing rules for action and behavior for HR people, people managers and employees to offer equal opportunities and non-discriminatory access to all HR processes.
Then, we go to organizing different training modules for people managers to take unbiased hiring, promotion and evaluation decisions.
Currently we have in place: the ORO D&I Policy, Gender Equality & Diversity Committee, dedicated mini-site on Intranet to communicate with colleagues, “Speak up!/ Spune pe bune!” whistleblowing channel to receive concerns and alerts.
Since 2015, ORO has received the Gender Equality & Diversity European & International Standard Certification, awarded by Arborous Foundation/France.
What aspects of diversity management have the highest priority in your company?
- work life balance
- % of women in technical domains
- % of women in people management positions
- equal pay for equal work and competencies for women and man
Which D&I activities have been implemented in your organization so far?
- Multiple and strong initiatives to create work-life balance for all employees
- Career counselling & coaching programs
- KPI Gender Pay Gap – internally monitored; specific guideline provided at each salary review process, as this KPI being one the objectives of the process
- OFS – Orange First Step – to build an internal recruitment pool to fill a permanent junior position within company (internship for students)
- Orange Educational Program - the longest running educational program (since 1997), partnership with Polytechnics University, Bucharest – to attract young graduates or students (dedicated training on ITC delivered by Orange Romania experts and specialized internship)
- Different trainings to prepare professional reconversion of our employees
- Dedicated learning programs for awareness of diversity, inclusion and inner self
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by your sector in creating a diverse and inclusive workforce?
Telecommunications companies are under pressure to deliver next-generation services but they encounter the sourcing of the right talent difficulty, whether in-house or externally; one of the greatest challenges is to challenge bias of being a male working domain and to close the digital skills gap; but for this, the educational system has a critical role to play in attracting women to become skilled in STEM, to ensure companies have a varied workforce, with differing viewpoints and opinions.
Also, internally, mentoring and training must be used as an important component in changing the gender and generational balance within STEM area throughout a company.
What business benefits do you see as a result of increasing D&I?
Building an inclusive working environment will increase employees’ morale, the intrapreneurial spirit could be seen more often, innovative ideas and projects could arise and, in the end, the overall performance of the company would be improved.
Can you name three diversity challenges that companies have to pay attention to?
- increase generational diversity
- disability and temporary fragility inclusion
- integration of diverse cultures
What do you do to convince your colleagues to see the value in diversity management, or even more to truly get them on board?
Awareness and again awareness.
Interview by Dana Oancea. Copyright Carta Diversitatii, all rights reserved