L’Oréal recognized as the champion of gender equality among over 3000 companies worldwide

L’Oréal recognized as the champion of gender equality among over 3000 companies worldwide

AMSTERDAM/ CLICHY, 14-Jun-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — L’Oréal received Equileap’s award for Gender Equality to honor its number 1 position in Equileap’s 2017 Global Gender Equality Ranking, among over 3 000 companies in 23 countries based on 19 gender equality criteria. Jean-Claude Le Grand, L’Oréal Senior VP Talent Development and Chief Diversity Officer, received the award at a ceremony held in Amsterdam.

Jean-Claude Le Grand, said: “This recognition makes us very proud. It is the result of over 10 years of continuous efforts and a firm conviction that gender equality is a strategic lever to increase wellbeing at work, fuel creativity and innovation, and boost performance and growth. Being recognized as the champion of gender equality among over 3000 companies worldwide is a great honor and an encouragement to go further.”

Diana van Maasdijk, Co-Founder and CEO of Equileap, said: “Gender diversity is not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do, with a significant number of research papers indicating that it tends to lead to higher returns and lower risk. Today, Equileap honors L’Oréal with an award as the number one company in its gender equality ranking. I hope that this recognition encourages L’Oréal and other companies to go further to speed up the achievements of gender equality worldwide.”

In the L’Oréal Group, women represent 62% of executives, 33% of the Executive Committee members and 46% of the members of the Board of Directors; 58% of L’Oréal brands are managed by women (as of 31/12/2016).

The L’Oréal Group has a long-standing commitment to workplace gender equality, and aims to ensure equal job classifications and pay for equal skills. In France, where L’Oréal has worked with the French national institute for demographic studies (INED) to analyse the pay gap since 2007, the gender-based pay gap on a like-for-like basis was equal to 3.21% in 2015 for management and non-existent for other categories of employees.

In recognition of its progress on workplace gender equality, L’Oréal has received the GEEIS (Gender Equality European and International Standard) certification in 23 countries and the EDGE (The Global Business Certification Standard for Gender Equality) certifications in 7 countries.

About L’Oréal

L’Oréal has devoted itself to beauty for over 100 years. With its unique international portfolio of 34 diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 25.8 billion euros in 2016 and employs 89,300 people worldwide. As the world’s leading beauty company, L’Oréal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair salons, travel retail, branded retail and e-commerce. Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 3,870 people, are at the core of L’Oréal’s strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world. L’Oréal’s sustainability commitment for 2020 “Sharing Beauty With All” sets out ambitious sustainable development objectives across the Group’s value chain. www.loreal.com

About Equileap

Equileap is an organisation aiming to accelerate progress towards gender equality in the workplace, using the power of investments, grants and knowledge. Headquartered in Amsterdam and London, the Organisation is led by Diana van Maasdijk, Co-Founder & Executive Director and Jo Andrews, Co-Founder & Director of Social Impact. www.equileap.org

About Equileap’s 2017 Global Gender Equality Ranking Equileap’s 2017

Global Gender Equality Ranking assesses 3 048 global companies with a market capitalisation of over USD 2 billion in 23 countries based on a scorecard of 19 criteria, including remuneration, leadership opportunities, balance between work and private life, and paid parental leave. The information was drawn from public sources and manually researched in collaboration with the Sustainable Finance Group of Maastricht University.

“This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy L’Oréal shares. If you wish to obtain more comprehensive information about L’Oréal, please refer to the public documents registered in France with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, also available in English on our Internet site www.loreal-finance.com. This news release may contain some forward-looking statements. Although the Company considers that these statements are based on reasonable hypotheses at the date of publication of this release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or projected in these statements.”

Contacts L’ORÉAL (switchboard + 33 1.47.56.70.00)

Individual shareholders and market authorities

Jean Régis CAROF
Tel: + 33 1 47 56 83 02
jean-regis.carof@loreal.com

Financial analysts and institutional investors

Françoise LAUVIN
Tel: +33 1 47 56 86 82
francoise.lauvin@loreal.com

Journalists

Polina Huard
Tel: +33 1 47 56 87 88
polina.huard@loreal.com

SOURCE: L’Oreal