True equality and balance happen organically when you focus on and respect individuals for who they are as a person, and the skills and expertise that they bring. Not just on one day, but all the year round.
With a top management gender balance of 49% female, 51% male, a global employee ratio of 46% women and 54% men, and an equal 50%-50% balance in ECS Group’s Cargo Digital Factory despite the general consensus that tech is a male-dominated environment, ECS Group is an exception to the rule in the air cargo world. And it has achieved this set-up naturally, without quotas or gender parity programmes. Gender balance is an effect of its recruitment and promotion process, not the result of an enforced goal.
“Intend to or do – those are the two options when it comes establishing an equally balanced, sustainable, and diverse corporate culture,” says Adrien Thominet, Executive Chairman of ECS Group. “At ECS Group, we never single out a particular gender and then highlight them over the space of 24 hours, while communicating company intentions. Instead, our focus has always been on the doing. We hire and promote based on skills, talent, and attitude, not on what a person identifies as. And our employees are actively appreciated and recognised for their service throughout the entire year.”
Equal pay and equal opportunities are standard at ECS Group. Being an Augmented GSSA also means going further in other areas, too, always seeking to improve the status quo. “The HR department is currently working on a joint assessment process model for ECS Group, to ensure that one-to-one meetings and staff feedback are carried out the same way across the group,” says Laurence Sauphanor, Chief Sustainability Officer, responsible for the fourth pillar of the ECS Group corporate strategy: Sustainability, which incorporates Social Responsibility and employee well-being. “This is part of a larger, people-focused intranet project, aimed at bringing our employees even closer together across our 100+ global locations.” Social Responsibility forms a large chapter in the ECS Group Sustainability Guideline and includes, for example, a zero-tolerance policy on employment discrimination on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion, social group, or ethnic origin. To ensure any blind spots are eradicated, ECS Group trains its teams on inclusion and unconscious bias principles.
ECS Group enjoys a highly diverse cultural set-up as the result of its focus on local expertise in every location. “The success of our Augmented GSSA concept is due to our corporate culture of trust and partnership, and the many unique perspectives that our international employees bring to the table. Everyone has a voice, and everyone is listened to in ECS Group,” Adrien Thominet concludes. “Positive change is brought about by ongoing focus and action throughout the entire year. That is why, for ECS Group, the 08 March is just another day. When it comes to showing appreciation or addressing issues for improvement, it is best done in the moment.”