Translations

GROUPE 3SI - CONNECTELLES: The GROUP 3SI's women's network

3. Labor relations / working conditions

Working conditions

Sector Business / Distribution

Year 2012

Country France

Transmitter

Context

The GROUPE 3SI is one of France's leaders in e-retailing, with 22 business entities operating in the apparel and home furnishings sectors as well as in corporate e-retailing services. In 2011, within the framework of implementing a gender equality policy throughout the Group, senior management sought to build a network in order to accompany the Group's female workforce, support their initiatives and contribute to resolving the difficulties they most likely encounter both during their day-to-day job performance and in their career advancement.

Objectives

-   Assemble the Group's women regardless of their job classification, trade or place of work
-   Provide a forum for generating new ideas and stimulating dialogue / experience sharing
-   Offer constructive feedback to the Group thanks to the unique perspective of women staff, and introduce a new approach towards achieving gender equality to benefit Group teams

APPROACH

- A steering committee composed of women from each of the Group's retail entities has been formed to: guide the strategy, identify areas for collaboration, and report to senior management.

- Each entity has composed its own steering committee to: relay Group-wide action strategies, organize specific missions targeting individual entity needs, and circulate information back up the hierarchy as input to deliberations held by the Group's steering committee.

- This network is event-driven (e.g. hosting of a women's day, with conferences and training sessions) and features working groups dedicated to priority issues identified through surveys conducted among the Group's female personnel.

- The network has also established contact with other women's networks for the purpose of exchanging best practices and extending their networking outside the Group.

- During 2011-2012, three initial projects were designed and implemented:

- Day care assistance: strategies and actions in response to problems experienced by women in the workforce

- Telecommuting: introduction of permanent or temporary telecommuting solutions

- Mentoring: a relationship of solidarity and sharing among women (by pairs of 1 mentor and 1 mentee), creating the setting for colleagues to discuss difficulties, raise questions and brainstorm for solutions. This mentoring set-up is intended to facilitate the personal and professional advancement of women throughout the Group.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

- Greater attention paid to male/female diversity in the workplace
- Women's motivation and identification of new potential
- Innovative solution proposals to address specific problem areas.

Benefits

- Better balance between professional life and private life
- Partnership with local business for contracted services (concierge service)
- 3 projects launched in 2011-2012
- More than 50 women participating in working group sessions.