An inspirational Women's Talent Day celebrates its third edition with the companies associated with Empowering Women's Talent
Strengthening the commitment of organisations to the development of female talent and leadership, as well as diversity and inclusion, Equipos&Talento held the third edition of Women's Talent Day at the Reina Sofia Museum. With the participation of the 120 companies involved in the Empowering Women's Talent and Diversity Leading Company programmes, and more than 350 attendees, the conference presented different success stories in the field of female empowerment and reflected on the challenges ahead to achieve a more egalitarian and inclusive society.
Two awards were presented at the event. On the one hand, 30 companies have received the Empowering Women's Talent seal: Albia Servicios Funerarios, Grupo Aldesa, Alsea Iberia, ANVISA (Antonio Villori S.A.), Armonia, AXA Seguros España, BASF, Beiersdorf, CaixaBank, CIRSA, Ence – Energía y Celulosa, EQUATORIAL COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY, Grupo EULEN, Eviden, Hijos de Rivera, S.A.U., Iberostar Group, ILUNION, Indra, INECO, NTT DATA, OW Ocean Winds, Pernod Ricard, Raventós Codorníu, Reale Seguros, Schneider Electric, Steelcase, TENDAM, Toyota Motor Corporation and Votorantim Cimentos. All of them promote, through various corporate initiatives, the talent of their female employees.
In addition, the Diversity Leading Company award was also presented to 15 companies after they passed the 90-question Equipos&Talento questionnaire in which they displayed their leadership in diversity: Alsea Iberia, Banco Sabadell, Boehringer Ingelheim, Grupo EULEN, Hijos de Rivera, S.A.U., Iberostar Group, NTT DATA, Raventós Codorníu, Reckitt, Saint-Gobain, Schneider Electric, Securitas Direct by Verisure, Steelcase, TENDAM, Toyota Motor Corporation.
The event opened with the panel "Women Engineers", in which the participants shared their own experiences in a corporate context of recruitment and development. The speakers were: Izaskun Ramos, Head of Public Sector, Financial Services and Insurance Industry at SAP, who pointed out: "There must be specific female leadership programmes, this is very important. We have detected that there is a need for specific training in branding and networking. The most important decisions about our future are not taken in a room in which we are present, so it is very important for women to network"; and Marta del Olmo, Head of Hydrogen Analysis Optimization & Modelling at Cepsa, who commented: "Women make up almost 39% of the company and for the last couple of years we have been committed to the goal of women occupying 30% of our leadership positions".The panel was closed by Maria Fernanda M., Data-Driven Fujitsu Services Manager at Fujitsu, who reflected: "I love being able to visit high schools and universities, talk to girls and boys and tell them about my experience because what they tell me serves as feedback for me. It's very inspiring for me"; and Teresa Lopez Monzo, Chief People, Culture & Organization Officer at Raventós Codorníu, who pointed out: "In oenology positions, which are historically very male-dominated, women account for 40% of the workforce thanks to a very powerful initiative we launched years ago in the company."
Mireya Muñoz, Director of Culture, Organisational Talent, Employee Experience and Diversity at AXA SEGUROS, was entrusted with the keynote talk "Gender Equality at AXA: The importance of having a voice". In her intervention, Mireya invited us to reflect: "We realise that women see barriers in professional environments and many of them are self-imposed. There is an issue of confidence that we have to work on in order to overcome the impostor syndrome".
Palmira García Antón, Director of Talent, Development and Culture at Pascual gave the presentation: "Equality in the industry, a long-distance race", and during her talk she commented: "It is very important to make men and women aware of equality, as we all have a cultural bias. It is necessary to highlight these behaviours. It is very difficult, but we have to change the way we see the world".
The event continued with the debate "Women in management positions", which sought to discern how to increase the percentage of women in strategic positions. Angeles Marzo, Head Talent & Learning at ING, invited us to ponder: "Diversity must be linked to value. Only then will the diversity strategy be part of the business strategy. And this is achieved with a plan that takes into account the different stages of the professional cycle: recruitment, selection, progression and retention"; Estibaliz Hernández Susunaga, HR Manager at Pernod Ricard, commented: "The question that comes to my mind listening to all my colleagues is: do we, as women, really dare to lead our own potential? It is clear that we need an environment that facilitates this, but we need to create it ourselves"; Mireia Martínez Zurita, Director of Human Capital Models at Banco Sabadell, noted: "The involvement of everyone in the path to equality and diversity is very important. Everything and everyone has to contribute. Anyone who joins Banco Sabadell, when onboarding, has to be aware of everything that is done in these areas, and get involved".
Verónica Antolínez García, Director of Talent, Culture and General Services at Cecabank, closed the panel, pointing out: "It is very important to choose the right moment to address talent mapping. Each organisation must define what values it wants to drive through talent pools. It is also very important to manage the expectations that are generated when a talent development initiative is launched".
At the half-way point of the event, the "Equal opportunities" debate continued, in which we reflected on how to ensure equal opportunities in organisations. One of the speakers was Olga Salomó Monsó, HR Director at Boehringer Ingelheim, who commented: "For me, the most important thing is to set an example, and if we are not consistent in what we say in our corporate communication with the examples we set, it makes no sense. We are committed to genuine equal opportunities, starting at the top, for example, right now we have parity in our management committee"; Susana Arias Maroto, HR Director of Porsche Cars North America, stated: "For the last two years we have had parity in our management team and we have witnessed how diversity has brought us much more innovation. This is a great example of TOP-DOWN that the whole organisation has been able to see. Our job is to set an example". Izaro Assa de Amilibia, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at BBVA, also sent the following message: "On the training side we take into account all the different ways of learning to ensure that everyone has the possibility to develop. We also include equality and diversity training because we want the entire company to breathe a culture of inclusion". Rafael Pillado, Senior Director Iberia at HAVI, closed the panel and spoke about equal opportunities: "At HAVI we identify female talent, design customised development plans and accompany women throughout the process so that when they take on these leadership positions they are more than prepared and can give the best of themselves".
The event also featured Almudena Cid, rhythmic gymnast, actress and writer, who spoke to us about how to take control of your life. Beyond her sporting achievements as a gymnast, her determination and resilience have made her a source of inspiration. Almudena managed to move everyone in the audience and connect with them with her story of how she overcame adversity.
The presentation was followed by the panel discussion "Attraction & Development in STEAM sectors", in which Zobeida Duben Perez, Director of Talent Development at NTT DATA, spoke about the company's "Impulse plan, objectives and key indicators", and Susana Castanedo, Senior HR Business Partner at Carburos Metálicos, spoke in depth about the "Women with Chemistry" project.
Zobeida reflected: "The future sustainability of the organisation depends on achieving true female representation in the STEAM sector so that it can also have an impact at NTT Data. That's why we are working to raise interest in STEAM careers among women, create gender awareness and break the glass ceiling". Susana commented: "The programme (Women with Chemistry) was conceived because we realised that there is a double bias: on the one hand, we have certain managers who believe that a position in a production plant should be held by a man, and on the other hand, we have women themselves who do not apply for this type of position. We decided to create a specific programme to encourage women to apply".
The event ended with the debate "Corporate power skills" in which María Orellana, Chief People Officer at Aon Spain and Portugal reflected: "it is important that company cultures help women to make decisions in their professional careers. It's not so much that women don't know how to engage in #networking, but rather that we need to promote spaces in organisations so that this can happen"; and María Martín Fernández, Performance, Development & Diversity Manager at Securitas Direct by Verisure, commented: "The generations that are entering the workplace already have these skills to take on challenges, to embrace diversity... We must make sure that when they arrive at our company they continue to feel comfortable to demand and assume responsibility, and do not lose these important qualities".
Once again this year we closed the Women's Talent Day event with the conviction to continue fostering diversity and female talent through impactful actions and initiatives.
Women's Talent Day is an exclusive event for companies that are members of the programmes Diversity Leading Company, a programme for the development and recognition of companies that are leaders in diversity, and Empowering Women's Talent, a programme for the development and recognition of companies committed to female talent, run by Equipos&Talento.
