Louis Vuitton 2009 Annual Report Download - page 62

The fight against discrimination and support
for equality of opportunity
All Human Resources Directors are trained in legal aspects so they
are sensitive to any form of discrimination.
The Group has put in place continuous “voluntary testing” on its In-
ternet recruitment site: an independent firm assesses the responses
of candidates subjected to discrimination. An internal committee
composed of Human Resources Directors ensures that the ethical
rules are complied with. In partnership with Sciences Po (the Paris
institute for political science) as part of the Priority Education Agree-
ments, LVMH managers participate in admission panels for young
people who come from establishments in "sensitive" areas and the
Group finances 2nd year courses abroad for young people from di-
sadvantaged areas via the apprenticeship tax. With the guiding prin-
ciple of providing access to the company solely on the basis of skill
and commitment, LVMH belongs to and participates in the “National
Network of Companies for Equality of Opportunity in Education".
This association promotes corporate involvement in establishments
located in disadvantaged areas and takes on trainees straight from
school and college.
LVMH is also one of the leading partners in the "Our Neighborhoods
Have Talent" (Nos Quartiers ont des Talents) association which ar-
ranges mentoring for young graduates from disadvantaged urban
areas by experienced managers, with the aim of giving them the ne-
cessary "kick-start" to get them into a first job. Currently, 50 Group
managers are mentoring or have mentored 76 young graduates from
poor neighborhoods.
Céline has secured a partnership with a college in a disadvantaged
area to take on16-year old students. The Management Committee
of La Grande Epicerie has decided to sponsor a young person from a
poor neighborhood. Parfums Christian Dior has signed a partnership
with a disadvantaged area school to recruit apprentices.
Promotion and the male-female mix
Beyond simply taking into account legal provisions to promote equality
and ban gender discrimination, LVMH is continuing to develop the
role of women in its teams. This also translates into a voluntary com-
mitment to professional development in all roles and at all levels of
the organization. 70% of staff promoted in 2009 are women and more
than one in two managers are women.
On March 8th, 2009, International Women's Day, Chantal Gaemperle,
Human Resources and Synergies Director, along with Delphine
Arnault, Group Board Member, as well as numerous heads of business
groups and Houses, launched the "EllesVMH" photo exhibition which,
via 80 portraits of Group employees, pays homage to women's talents
at LVMH.
This year again, LVMH has renewed its support for the "Women's
HEC Prize" which recognizes exceptional success by female HEC
business school graduates.
Concrete actions A company-wide agreement on professional
equality between men and women was signed at Moët Hennessy
Diageo in 2007, and a Male-Female Equality commission was put in
place at Moët & Chandon. A number of companies have set up career
development systems and indicators, including interviews after a
long period of leave, access to training, promotion and remunera-
tion.
Some companies give awards to exceptional women around the
world: Moët & Chandon has been sponsoring the “Women’s Gold
Trophy” since 1993, and for the second edition of the "Wine Women
Awards”; Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin offers the "Veuve Clicquot Busi-
ness Women’s Award" which this year is enhanced by the "Veuve
Clicquot Program for Economic Development”. It aims to recognize
and highlight exceptional women who live and work in developing
countries and play an important role in the economic development of
their country.
A policy favoring seniors
Access to jobs and job retention for seniors is a key concern for the
Group.
At LVMH, all references to age have been suppressed, especially in
replacement charts, the Group's recruitment site, and in the career
management documents of its companies. A working group has been
set up to help the Houses incorporate these changes and a training
module is now being established to educate Human Resources
Directors in the new systems and running "mid-career" support inter-
views.
For example, certain measures promoting jobs for seniors have now
been taken by a number of the Group's Houses:
Parfums Givenchy, Moët & Chandon, and Veuve Clicquot have all
signed jobs and skills forecast management agreements with their
unions to organize and develop career plans for seniors. Givenchy
Couture has implemented a tutoring system to facilitate knowledge
transfer, setting up 1st or 2nd workshop tutor/apprentice pairs.
Kenzo has set up ongoing orientation sessions for staff 50 years old
Equality: concrete commitments
LVMH has committed to ambitious short-term projects.
Management boards are expected to be composed of 30%
women by 2010, and 35% in three years’ time.
To do this, the Group has decided to systematically request
a female candidate for each key opening. Networking
and discussion forums will be organized at all levels and
a monitoring committee will be set up in 2010 to follow progress.
PASSIONATE ABOUT CREATIVITY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - HUMAN RESOURCES