Customizing a Diversity & Inclusion training across Europe, the USA, and Oceania : an interview with Aurélie Guimera
💖 The purpose of The Allyance is to help both companies and candidates: companies wanting to reach excellence in hiring and candidates wanting to find the perfect companies.
__ __ __🔗 DIVERSITY IN ACTION N°20
Aurélie Guimera
__ __ __Who are you? Tell us everything!
My name is Aurélie, I come from Lyon. After a Master’s Degree in Business and HR, I began working in HR and never stopped since. I have been working at Esker for almost 15 years. In 2021, I was appointed Director of Human Resources.
How did you hear about The Allyance?
Two former colleagues from Esker had attended a training session by Caroline in their new company.
Since they knew we were looking to address the topics of D&I in this form, they recommended The Allyance. We discussed with other training providers, but decided to go with Caroline when we realized that everyone at Esker was aligned with her vision and international experience.
How did Esker collaborate with The Allyance? How did the training sessions go?
We wanted to provide D&I content to our branches in Europe, United States and Oceania. Because of this international context, our demands were quite high in terms of adaptability and knowledge of local particularities.
Caroline was indeed the best candidate: after carefully listening to our needs and working with Émilie, our Corporate Employer Branding & Internal Communication Manager, she suggested three training sessions, one per location, of 2 hours each.
We could see how involved she was and the efforts she put in to adapt to every location, especially when it came to time zones: the Oceania training session started at 5:00 am, French time!
From one session to another, we had the opportunity to give her feedback in order to improve the next one, which made the whole process very progressive and adjustable.
Of course, every workshop was about D&I, but Caroline managed to adapt the content to the audience, depending on their local context. She always started with a quiz to break the ice and make sure that the basics were addressed so she could go further into D&I. She even went beyond theory and gave examples of companies’ initiatives, case studies on different types of discrimination.
The training sessions are also available in replay for those who could not attend, so everyone can benefit from this important knowledge on those topics that we usually only address in the HR department.
How did you measure and observe the impacts of these sessions on the participants?
First, we sent a survey to get immediate feedback to the participants. Most of them were thrilled by these workshops and how accessible they were. They enjoyed the adaptability to each location, the precise data on D&I as well as the tangible examples and case studies.
We also heard discussions from HR departments in every branch: how can we go further? How can we take inspiration in these training sessions to make changes?
On a more corporate note, at Esker, we regularly send surveys to the employees on D&I, well-being at work, equality… The last one was very promising!
Is Diversity & Inclusion an important topic at Esker ? How do you make sure Esker is an inclusive workplace?
Our strong commitment to D&I also reflects on the employees. Each year, the question “Do I feel accepted as I am?” gets the best score in our surveys, which is a very positive signal.
Obviously, we have to constantly work on our policies and question how we can improve them to maintain this situation. What’s crucial to us is the exemplarity of managers: whether they are working in HR or in other departments, they are trained to D&I and connected topics.
D&I topics are also addressed through our taskforces named Eskuades, led by voluntary employees. This helps us a lot getting new perspectives and the upper management is very open to them.
For example, on May 17th, for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, we organize an event with a focus on how to be an ally at work. We also started a campaign about neurodiversity at work. In general, we are very committed to gender equality and to welcome women in tech.
Sometimes, as strongly as we’re committed to prevention, it is not enough. Every inappropriate behaviour at Esker is taken seriously through dedicated channels and processes. We take corrective action when needed, in order for everyone to feel safe at work.
How do you convince someone to join Esker ?
Well, we do have great arguments!
Esker is an international group whose financial health is excellent. We work on cutting-edge, up-to-date software solutions in a very good atmosphere. We aim to have a positive impact on our ecosystem by committing on D&I and ESG. Of course, it has to reflect on the quality of relationships on an internal level.
Our employees are very proud to work together on Esker’s product. They like working in an environment where they can be themselves and given responsibilities and ownership to take part in this project. They also enjoy the conversations and general solidarity between teams and departments.
Anything to add?
Companies must play their role in society, and it should come from upper management and HR so everyone feels entitled to their own initiative.
I recently discovered this beautiful quote by Vernā Myers that sums it all up: « Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. Belonging is dancing like no one's watching. »
__ __ __CONCLUSION
A few words from Caroline, The Allyance CEO :
“The collaboration with Esker was smoothless. Both Emilie and Aurélie were involved and open. When I met the other teams, I was not surprised to hear great questions, to observe kindness and willingness to improve.
When I woke-up at 5 AM to give the last training to people in Oceania and Asia, I knew Esker would always be in my mind. They were eager to trust me and I am glad they did!”
✔️ Want more?
If you are interested in knowing more about The Allyance services, feel free to get in touch with us.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ✒️ Léa C, The Allyance Contributor