At Telefónica we’re opting for diversity and gender equality in order to keep positioning ourselves as an open and global company. Thus, we understand diversity as a source of talent, in capital letters, and because of this we embrace it as a competitive element that allows us to get closer to a diverse and changing society. This heterogeneity promotes empathy and innovation, and as such, generates value for the Company and has a positive impact on our results.
Taking this premise into account, the first and most important thing when we speak about diversity is that we’re opting for it in a cross-sectional and strategic manner within our Responsible Business Plan.
Because of this, we have a global diversity and inclusion policy for establishing and regulating the principles that guarantee equal opportunities within the Telefónica Group, whose main objective is to ensure non-discriminatory, fair, and impartial treatment in very field of our organization. We ensure prejudice-free management in terms of nationality, ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical capabilities, or family responsibilities.
With the intention of promoting this added value, our diversity management for the next few years has seven priority lines of action:
- Diversity on the Board of Directors.
- Equality in professional selection, remuneration, and development.
- A respectful work environment.
- A balance between our personal and professional lives.
- The elimination of physical barriers.
- Non-discriminatory communication.
- Products and services for everyone.
In addition, a Diversity Council was created at the beginning of 2016 as an advisory entity for the company in order to ensure that the company moves towards the achievement of these objectives. This council includes top level managers -women and men of different nationalities, disciplines, and origins- and its purpose is to promote initiatives aimed at consolidating diversity as a key lever towards digital transformation.
The Diversity Council has proposed gender equality as a priority line of action of the Telefónica diversity plan. Women represent 37.6% of our staff. Women represent 47.5% of all incorporations that occurred in 2016 among individuals younger than 30, and 20.5% of all managers are women. In other words, we still have a long way to go in the gender area in order to ensure that we are a company that takes advantage of diverse talent.
Because of this, Telefónica has designed a medium-/long-term work plan focused on reducing the gap between women and men that occupy positions of responsibility, and on guaranteeing equal opportunities and the attraction of talent in the selection processes. In this sense, a specific goal has been established: that 30% of all manager positions be occupied by women by 2020.
Gender equality is an important line of work, but our ambition obviously goes much further: diversity is so much more; it’s individuals with talent regardless of their gender, race, physical capabilities, or religion. And this is precisely the concept that will define our strategy: to promote the best diverse talent.
