Avon Products Inc. announced its inclusion in the Bloomberg Gender–Equality Index (GEI), which distinguishes companies committed to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality.
As one of 230 companies selected, Avon achieved above-benchmark scoring across 67 criteria in a survey, which awards points for disclosure and examples of best-in-class practices for investing in women.
Avon has been selected in its first year of entry and is proud of the opportunity to showcase its gender equality efforts in the GEI. Empowering women is part of Avon’s DNA and in 2014 the company launched its multi-year Global Women’s Strategy, making a conscious effort to raise the bar for female employees across its global organization. Through this data-driven strategy Avon has embedded a robust pay equity process, advanced a culture of flexible working, enhanced benefits and support for working parents and put in place programs to help women fulfil their potential and move into roles or functions where women are not so well represented.
“We are proud of our reputation of being a great place to work, particularly for women, and are very happy to see this reflected with our inclusion in the Bloomberg Gender–Equality Index for 2019,” says Jan Zijderveld, chief executive officer. “However, there is always more we can and should continue to do. What gets measured gets done so this benchmarking program helps us to continually raise the bar and make progress when it comes to gender equality and broader diversity and inclusion. It’s crucial to business growth.”
“We applaud Avon and the other 229 firms tracked by the index for their action to measure gender equality through the Bloomberg GEI framework,” said Peter T. Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg and founding chairman of the U.S. 30% Club. “Avon’s GEI inclusion is a strong indicator to its employees, investors and industry peers alike that it is leading by example to advance ongoing efforts for a truly inclusive workplace.”
Disclosures from firms included in the 2019 GEI provide a wide-ranging and comprehensive look at how companies around the world are investing in women. According to GEI data there was a 40 percent increase in executive-level positions between fiscal years 2014 and 2017, 60 percent of firms conduct compensation reviews to identify gender-based variations in pay, and 34 percent have programs in place to recruit women looking to return to work after a career break.
