“Diversity Drive”: Clariane, a company committed to promoting from within

“Diversity Drive” (“Élan pour la diversité”), a collective movement initiated by Sodexo aimed at bringing about lasting change in the professional world, held an event in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis) on 5 February 2025. Companies, associations, top universities and talented individuals came together with a common goal: to promote inclusion and encourage concrete actions for a more equitable future.

Clariane, a committed partner, reaffirmed its involvement with the contribution of Nadège Plou, the Groups’ Director of Human Resources, who spoke alongside Majda Vincent, Sodexo’s HR Director for France and Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, the French Minister for Work and Employment. For the past seven years, Clariane has been developing career paths that promote the development and internal promotion of its employees.

The implementation of a professional programme to management

Nadège Plou – “Today, 84% of our staff are women and our company brings together 120 nationalities across 60,000 employees in Europe, including 27,000 in France. However, the managerial structure of our sites in France did not reflect this diversity.
A glass ceiling had so far prevented access to management positions. It wasn’t that we weren’t taking action, but it wasn’t visible enough, and we weren’t offering the opportunity to progress up to site management positions.

Working with our managers, we identified that a major obstacle to becoming a facility manager in France was the requirement of five years of post-secondary education, regardless of experience in management or soft skills. As a result, we set up a professional programme leading to a master’s degree in business and organisation management (MEOS) and allocated 55 places last year. We have allocated 60 additional places this year.

But beyond that, we have set ourselves a quota, a commitment (like a number of commitments we have as part of a purpose-driven mission company) to fill 80% of our senior management positions (managers and deputy managers) through internal promotion.

This commitment is being closely monitored: we take stock every quarter and, today, we are at 54%. We still have some way to go, but the first 55 candidates (who started last year) from this course will graduate in September and will be taking up internal promotions across all our regions, in both urban and rural areas. We will gradually reach this target of 80% within two years and we look forward to undoubtedly celebrating the success of these individuals.”

Professional retraining: opening up new opportunities

Nadège Plou – “Another key point is professional retraining. Anything is possible. A few years ago, we worked with Monoprix and Derichebourg on a career transition programme for checkout operators to become nursing assistants. A priori, there is no link between these professions, and yet, this has now become a reality. We have supported people aged 25 to 55, some of whom have more than 25 years of professional experience, and who are today, we are very proud to say, nursing assistants in our facilities.”

The main thing is to never put up barriers. Clariane University, as part of being a purpose-driven company, embodies this boldness and opens up new paths in life.