Carrefour celebrates inclusiveness with its 384,000 employees and takes stock of its progress in equal opportunities
Boulogne-Billancourt, France, 2017-Jul-03 — /EPR Retail News/ — On 30 June, for the 2nd year running, Carrefour celebrates diversity and equal opportunities with a series of initiatives across 10 different countries. The company is also celebrating the daily commitment of its 384,000 employees to inclusiveness. With 12,000 stores which are reflections of the neighbourhoods and communities in which they trade, Carrefour has been a signatory of the Diversity Charter since 2004. All year round, it implements initiatives specifically designed to tackle various local issues, ensuring that diversity is a key feature of all the company’s professions and at all levels.
A balanced gender mix at all levels of the company and across all professions:
+10.7% increase in women in managerial roles since 2011 – women now account for 39.2% of management
Carrefour supports the professional development of its employees and attaches particular importance to the role that women – who make up 57.5% of its staff – play within the company. In a bid to help them get promoted to senior management level, Carrefour launched the “Women Leaders” programme in 2011. While embodying an ambition shared by all countries where the Group operates, this programme is also tailored to cater to specific local situations, encouraging people to share examples of best practice. These initiatives have a tangible impact: there has been a 10.7% increase in the numbers of women in managerial roles – they now account for 39.2% of the Group’s management. Female representation on the Board of Directors is 42%.
- The Women Leaders programme is implemented on various fronts in various countries with the support of UN Women, with mentoring schemes in France, Italy and Argentina, and the appointment of careers committees whose job is to identify female talent, create women’s networks (France and Italy, Brazil) and enterprise crèches, and prevent gender violence (France, Italy, Argentina, Spain).
- Carrefour Argentina has introduced a flexible shift scheme incorporating a salary lock with phased return from maternity leave, allowing women to work part time for a full-time salary for up to 6 months after their return to work. Carrefour has also extended its paternity leave allowance to one full week (the law stipulates just 2 days). Carrefour Argentina has doubled the amount of female employees in managerial positions in just two years, with women now accounting for 40% of managerial positions (against 23% in 2014).
Disability, inclusion and keeping people in employment:
+28% employees with disabilities working at Carrefour since 2011, and +8.3% since 2016.
To promote the employment of people with disabilities and keep them in their jobs, Carrefour has implemented initiatives in all the countries where it operates. Carrefour meets and exceeds all legal requirements on this matter, and in countries where no such legal provisions exist, implements action on an ad hoc basis. As a founding member of the ILO’s Global Disability Network, Carrefour employs 12,200 people with disabilities (end 2016). Some examples.
- In France, employment of people with disabilities in hypermarkets is above the 6% legal threshold, with disabled staff accounting for up to 14% of the workforce in certain hypermarkets. The “Mission Handicap” agreement was launched in 1999 and has been renewed six times since. Agreements and initiatives have also been launched in Carrefour Market stores over the last 10 years, as well as across the supply chain. Carrefour also helps those with mental disabilities, working with the French armed forces to provide immersion traineeships to wounded military personnel. Carrefour also promotes the professional integration of young adults with Asperger’s syndrome (coaching sessions, simulations etc.).
- In Belgium, Carrefour launched the “Duo Day” programme in 2015, organized in partnership with AWIPH (Walloon agency for the integration of disabled persons). Under this scheme, employees are asked to work in tandem with a disabled person for several days. The campaign is an opportunity for people with disabilities to find out about life in the workplace, and to raise people’s awareness of how these people – who are full of potential – can be employed.
- In Poland, Carrefour has been working with the Ekon association since 2010 on the professional integration of people with disabilities. Created in 2003, the scheme gives disabled people the chance to take vocational training and helps them join or return to partner companies (of which Carrefour is one). Ekon also provides social supervision, allowing people with disabilities to regain their self-confidence and learn their rights. Carrefour employs 600 people with disabilities, which is 5% of its total workforce.
- In Brazil, all Carrefour stores employ people with disabilities. Carrefour has deployed the “Eu pratico a inclusão” (I support inclusion) programme, together with the “Meu amigo e especial” (My friend is special) scheme to help them integrate into the company. This volunteer-based policy has increased the number of disabled employees to over 2300.
Youth employment:
34% of Carrefour’s employees are under the age of 30 – that’s 130,500 people. The Group supports employment of young people from all backgrounds, with or without qualifications.
In all the countries where Carrefour operates, it supports initiatives to integrate and include young people through apprenticeship schemes and training programmes.
- In Brazil, 2700 apprentices have been recruited under Carrefour’s Young Talents programme. And 2000 young people living in shanty towns have been given the opportunity to visit stores, find out about the various jobs available in retail and attend workshops on food-related professions through the Rede Cidade association.
- In Argentina, Carrefour’s Jovenes con futuro (Youths with Future) programme is designed to provide job opportunities to young people from deprived areas who have had to abandon their studies.
- In France, Carrefour hired 20,000 young people under the age of 26 in 2016. 6000 of these were on permanent contracts, and 5500 on work/study programmes, with some of them awarded professional qualifications and hired by the Group on completion of their courses. Every year, the retailer holds a Youth Employment Day and a competition to find the best apprentice butcher or baker. Carrefour also supports initiatives to integrate vulnerable young people via its own Employment Centre, in collaboration with training and integration bodies, such as Apprentis d’Auteuil, Tremplins des Restos du Cœur and Ecole de la Deuxième Chance.
Carrefour is also implementing wide-ranging initiatives aimed at young, high-potential graduates. Its Graduate Programmes in France, for example, enable 40 young graduates every year to take on fully-fledged roles at international level, while at the same time receiving customized support. This quickly equips them with the managerial and commercial skills they need. These Graduate Programmes are available for various job functions: managers, digital professions, logistics, hypermarket manager, supermarket manager, etc.
Promoting diversity with labour representatives
Every year, Carrefour enters into nearly 200 agreements with its labour representatives in France and other countries on issues such as employment, disability and gender equality. These include an international agreement formalized in 2015 with international union federation UNI Global Union on the promotion of social dialogue, diversity and respect for basic human rights.
Carrefour joins the Alliance for Apprenticeships
In 2017, Carrefour joined the European Commission’s Alliance for Apprenticeships. In signing the pledge for apprenticeship, Carrefour undertakes to employ young people on work experience programmes and apprenticeships, improve recruitment opportunities on the completion of these initiatives and offer young people international appointments. Carrefour has also introduced an international mentoring charter designed to cultivate the talents of young recruits and their trainers.
For all request about the Carrefour Group (sales, financial results, governance, international,…), please contact the Carrefour Group media relations office:
. By phone:
Switchboard: +33 (0)1 41 04 26 00
For journalists: +33 (0)1 41 04 26 17
. By e-mail: presse_groupe@
Source: Carrefour Group