L’Oréal: Corporate Diversity & Social Justice – Connecting Passion and Purpose for Inclusion
By Angela Guy, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, L’Oréal USA
Leading the diversity and inclusion efforts for the US subsidiary of L’Oréal, the #1 beauty company in the world, is inspiring because I have the ability to harness the passion and purpose of our 11,000 employees to bring about meaningful change inside and outside the company.
In a society where living your authentic self has become paramount, the way we work, lead, and live together is an affirmation of who we are and what we hope to be. Diversity & Inclusion at L’Oréal USA is, quite simply, a business imperative. Our mission is to build the standard in making beauty inclusive, which highlights the value of all forms of beauty while reflecting and respecting the differences of our rapidly changing marketplace.
2020 will forever be viewed as a historical year that raised the awareness and importance of inclusion. We came together across the L’Oréal USA community to stand in solidarity with Black employees and all who oppose racial and social injustice. We collectively witnessed the expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement following the senseless murders of George Floyd and those before and after him, caught on camera for the world to see. Grounded in internal employee education and external community engagement, we embarked on an inclusion plan for the future to not only elevate equity gaps in representation and promotions but to better prepare ourselves for these ever-changing social conditions affecting our way of life. We are not always right and respect that in order to lead inclusion for the future we must leverage internal and external resources to help us grow and keep us forward thinking.
“See me” was a phrase echoed by many within our organization. With an increased emergence of the need for psychological safety, more employees embraced being seen fully without constraints. They learned to acknowledge and appreciate the intersectionality of their differences to gain better insight and understanding of who they are and how to work with others. The catalyst for this result included a number of critical supports:
- Managerial Guidelines to support leaders in conducting courageous conversations on issues relating to social, racial, bias, and discrimination
- Company-wide Listening Circles as a means to understand how the social issues in the marketplace were impacting employees in the workplace
- A strengthening of the communications around our Employee Assistance Program for those who might need more professional support
- And the activation of our D&I Think Tanks (employee resource groups), which are a consistent resource and support to employees across many critical dimensions of diversity
L’Oréal USA values and employee expectations are aligned for the purpose of driving a more inclusive workplace through our diversity and what we learn from each other. This work impacts each person at varied levels of their own dimensions of diversity (race, gender, religion, ability, military/parental/marital status, citizenship, and more). To this end, more than 500 employees volunteered to be Diversity Champions and Allies. Their mission is to support customized inclusion plans by business unit that impact equitable representation, engagement and belonging for all.
Coqual (formerly The Center for Talent Innovation) in partnership with L’Oréal USA, and a few other companies recently
released a study that defines Belonging as a feeling of being seen, connected, supported and proud to work for a company who shares your values. Each of us defines what it means to belong based upon our own sense of self. Each employee should feel L’Oréal is a company that values them, authentically for who they are and as contributors to an inclusive society. We are collectively committed to making L’Oréal USA a place where all employees feel that they belong.
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees—a place where everyone can thrive, grow, and be your true self.
Diversity & Inclusion is core to our business and supports key strategic initiatives for Gender, Disability, Social, Economic, Multicultural Origin, and Leadership.
The benefits of these efforts help drive us to be the most successful, aspirational and committed beauty company in America.