CEZ Group has become a signatory to the global Women's Empowerment Principles (WEP) initiative. In doing so, they are making a public commitment to promote diversity, equal opportunities and fair treatment of women and men in accordance with the principles set out by the United Nations. This builds on activities performed by the company in this area based on the International Diversity Charter.
"CEZ Group is actively involved in transforming the energy sector in Europe towards a cleaner, greener model which is friendlier both to people and the environment. To do this, we need the most skilled and passionate people working for us. We therefore want to create working conditions which enable all our employees to develop their full potential. Women have a very difficult position in companies as they face persistent expectation to shoulder the responsibility of child and family care alongside their regular work commitments. One of our priorities therefore is to help them at this stage of their lives to ensure that we don't lose their talent unnecessarily. Joining the WEP initiative is a logical step which confirms our ambition to increase the number of women in management positions," says Michaela Chaloupková, Member of the Board of Directors and Chief of the Administration Division at CEZ.
As part of their strategy Vision 2030 - Clean Energy of Tomorrow, CEZ plans to increase the share of women in management from the current 12% to 30%.
The public benefit organisation Business & Professional Women CR spreads awareness of the WEP initiative in the Czech Republic. "CEZ has implemented a number of inspiring activities and projects in the area of equal opportunities and support for career growth of women. We are pleased that a leading Czech employer is publicly endorsing the principles which cover this area and joining our community which aims to spread examples of good practice to companies that are beginning to consider tapping into the potential offered by women. Unfortunately, the Czech Republic has some major shortcomings in this area. This example being set by one of the largest Czech employers could once again help to reduce this handicap," said Lenka Šťastná, President of Business & Professional Women CR.
Various surveys show that, in terms of equal opportunities at work, parenthood has a major impact on career development and that this turning point affects mainly women. Therefore, CEZ focuses in particular on the period of parenthood: the key target group is employees who are on maternity or parental leave or those caring for small children.
"We pursue several main goals in our activities to support employees who are parents. First of all, we ensure that these employees do not lose motivation and insight into what is happening in the company. This is why we maintain access to the company network for all employees on maternity and parental leave, the possibility to continue using their company email account and also to access information via the company intranet. Secondly, we adapt working conditions to ensure that they can effectively combine their careers with care for their families and to ensure that the period of maternity or parental leave does not mean a halt in growth of their salaries. And thirdly, we offer various educational and development programmes which make it easier for parents to adapt after returning to their work duties," says Petra Junger from the Diversity and Inclusion Unit at CEZ.
For example, CEZ runs company nursery schools, organises summer day camps, provides discounts on babysitting and cleaning services, and other family-friendly benefits to support parents of young children. Newly this year, the company is launching a comprehensive six-month series of educational seminars Academy for Parents aimed at parents returning to work. At the same time, CEZ is establishing the groundwork for creation of an employee group to support parents.
The Women's Empowerment Principles were established in 2015 as a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact. They set out seven voluntary principles for companies that want to strengthen equal opportunities within their corporate structure and develop existing or create new programmes to support women. Globally, more than 8,000 companies have already signed up to the initiative, and there are currently 12 signatories in the Czech Republic. In addition to ČEZ, these include Moneta Money Bank, Schneider Electric CZ, Lidl Czech Republic and GasNet.