Publicis Groupe is committed to respecting gender equality and has been involved for many years in promoting women’s rights in civil society and in the workplace (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and Inclusion”).
Publicis Groupe ensures a balanced representation of women and men up to the highest levels of responsibility. There has been balanced gender representation on the Supervisory Board since well before it became a legal requirement, making Publicis Groupe SA one of the first groups to apply gender parity to its Board.
As of 2018, Publicis Groupe has set itself a gender diversity target of 40% women in key management positions by 2020, a target that was achieved (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and Inclusion”).
In accordance with the recommendations of the Afep-Medef Code, the Management Board, after consulting the Supervisory Board, has adopted a policy of gender diversity within the governing bodies.
In addition to the statutory governance bodies, Publicis has defined a group of “key management positions” made up of all members of the Management Board, the Management Committee and the Executive Committees of the main countries and regions. Apart from the Supervisory Board, whose gender balance is governed by Article L. 225-69-1 of the French Commercial Code, these are the bodies with the most responsibility within the Groupe.
The gender balance of the governing bodies is included as a performance criterion in the annual and long-term variable compensation of the members of the Management Board, with the target of having 45% women among key management positions by 2025.
| Percentage of women | Objective by 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Global workforce | Global workforce Percentage of women 51.5% |
Global workforce Objective by 2025
|
| Management Board | Management Board Percentage of women 25% |
Management Board Objective by 2025
|
| Management Committee | Management Committee Percentage of women 33.3% |
Management Committee Objective by 2025
|
| Key management positions | Key management positions Percentage of women 41.1% |
Key management positions Objective by 2025 45% |
In order to achieve this objective, Publicis is continuing its gender diversity policy, which has been in place for several years (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and Inclusion”). Special attention has been paid in recent years to the promotion and career development of women within the Groupe. An action plan is implemented by the Chief Talent Officers to ensure that there is an equal number offemale and male candidates in both recruitments and promotions, including in the final short-list phase. A more specific plan has been drawn up for countries or jobs where there are fewer women in order to act in favor of gender equality from the recruitment of junior profiles. Finally, arrangements are made to promote the retention of female talent in order to allow them flexibility in the organization in their professional and personal lives, which is also granted to men. The 2021 data can be found in Section 4.1.2, and the history is publicly available on the Publicis Groupe website, Section CSR Smart data.
The results show a steady progression, with the target of 40% having been achieved in 2020 for women among the key management positions, which made it possible to raise the target to 45% for 2025.
This is a very ambitious target. The Groupe’s development in technological professions where women are often less well represented is a new challenge in terms of improving gender balance, particularly among managers.
The Management Board has implemented cross-functional actions to achieve the target of 45% women among key executives by 2025, in particular:
In addition, for the past 10 years, Publicis Groupe has voluntarily chosen to publish interim indicators specific to the Company and its occupations, such as the percentage of women on the Executive Committees of agencies or the percentage of women CEOs of an agency, data supplemented in recent years by the percentage of women leading the Creative, Media, data and Tech teams, corresponding to the Company’s major business lines (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and Inclusion”). The VivaWomen! internal network plays an important role in agencies, particularly with younger women, as a space for dialogue, meeting, inspiration and support.
