We are on a journey to create a world of love, confidence and belonging. It is our purpose, and it is at the core of everything that we do.
Our workforce is as diverse as our geographical imprint. Since our very early beginnings, we’ve been fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion. We recognize that each associate has individual experiences, views and opinions, and it’s our goal to maintain an inclusive work environment that encourages each one of them to embrace who they are and reach their full potential.
We value our diversity and we know that true innovation can only be born through a free exchange of knowledge, ideas and personal experience. That’s why we love all people regardless of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identification, and background. Just take a look at our global workforce, where nationalities are represented from all corners of the globe.
For 2020, our training efforts will focus on educating and reinforcing to all of our teams the importance of diversity & inclusion not only within our workplace, but also in everything we do and how we connect with each other, customers, partners and our global community. This training will address unconscious bias, how to prevent any form of discrimination, harassment, and ultimately will aim to foster inclusivity.
In the coming years, our focus will be to consciously de-bias all recruiting and talent processes through training, workshops, networking groups, work/life integration initiatives and reporting our results in a regular and transparent manner.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
The ALDO Group has always been a company that stood against social injustice. We
stand behind this movement, and we’re working on making a real impact, together.
We’re committed to creating an actionable, measurable impact for the ALDO Group, for
the long term.
Guided by our values of love, respect and integrity, associates and customers are
our eyes and ears on the ground and are best placed to observe misconduct.
That’s why in 2017, we launched an independent global ethics hotline. Given the
2020 events surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, we have chosen to
reaffirm our commitment and extend the hotline services to our
corporate store customers and associates.
We have also chosen to pay the legal fees for any of our associates, should they
be detained while participating in a peaceful demonstration supporting this
movement.
Finally, we formed a Diversity and Inclusion Committee to ensure continuity and
consistency in our efforts to support the Black Lives Matter movement, and our
positioning on diversity and inclusion at all levels of the organization. This
committee is led by our CEO.
WOMEN & LEADERSHIP
We are committed to female leadership and believe that gender diversity on executive and leadership teams positively contributes to business performance. Our CEO, David Bensadoun, is a committed ambassador to this cause and is determined to move the needle forward. To this end, we are a proud member of the 30% Club (30percentclub.org). We are also the title sponsor of the Two Ten Women in Footwear Industry (WIFI) program, which brings women together from across the footwear industry to empower and support each other’s professional and personal growth.
In 2017, 69% of our global workforce and 68% of management level associates were women. Our goal is now to improve gender balance at the senior director and executive level. Today, over 50% of our directors and 40% of our vice-presidents are female.
PRIDE AT WORK
We are proud of our diverse workforce. It makes us stronger and ensures that everyone has a place where they feel celebrated for who they are. To support this even further, we are a National Partner of Pride at Work Canada, a not-for-profit organization focused on promoting LGBTQ2+ inclusion in the workplace. Our partnership provides our Canadian associates with access to resources and events that encourage dialogue, education, and thought leadership.
Continuously striving to build a diverse and inclusive environment allows us to create safe spaces where associates can grow and achieve both their personal and professional goals. Recognizing gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation in this is essential.