International Equal Pay Day

September 18th commemorates International Equal Pay Day, an occasion dedicated to raising awareness about unequal pay and advocating for the closure of the gender pay gap. Over the past two decades, the pay gap has been shrinking, albeit slowly. In 2022, it was March 15th. Back in 2005, Equal Pay Day was April 19th. This year, Equal Pay Day for all women was Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 whereas Moms’ Equal Pay Day occurred on August 15th. Acknowledging this disparity, the Group has taken proactive steps by extending the French best practice consisting of increasing the salaries of women returning from maternity leave to the 17 other countries where the Group operates: all women returning from maternity leave were guaranteed a salary increase, at a minimum, in line with their respective country's budget. This year, the 7 employees who came back from maternity leave benefited from this.

Furthermore, in line with ESI commitments to the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles (WEP), the Group monitored and maintained close vigilance over the percentage of employees receiving salary increases by gender, as well as the average percentage increase by gender. ESI Group maintains its steadfast gender-neutral compensation policy, using objective market data tailored to employee positions and organizational levels, irrespective of gender. It actively promotes gender equality and proactively recommends salary increases to campaign-involved managers, with a strong focus on fine-tuning gender equity in the salary review process this year.

Introduced in May 2022, the Women@ESI network, a dedicated initiative aimed at fostering internal collaboration among employees and establishing an open communication platform for exchanging ideas that enhance the representation and empowerment of women, continues to evolve. Moreover, the Group has been recognized for its initiatives to promote gender equity in the workplace, among numerous other CSR initiatives. ESI Group was awarded a Silver Grade from the Ethifinance ESG rating on the 28th of July 2023 (formerly Gaia index), also contributing to the UN 5th Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) "Gender Equality".

“At the start of the year, ESI Group made a resolute commitment to propel gender equality in the workplace, marketplace, and our community by formally endorsing the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles (WEP). Our steadfast dedication remains persistent as we actively cultivate an environment free from discrimination. This remains a paramount goal for our organization, and we continuously refine our efforts to ensure gender equality at work and to make ESI Group an exemplary workplace for all.”

Yannick Charron

Senior Vice President of Human Resources at ESI Group