Diversity and Inclusion

Developing an inclusive culture

Our aim is to overcome stereotypes by continuously reinforcing an inclusive mindset that recognizes the value and richness of a diverse workforce.

To help us achieve this, we provide diversity and inclusion training for ST employees. By the end of 2020, more than 3,500 managers and human resources (HR) leaders had taken our Diversity and Inclusion awareness e-learning. I 103-2 I 103-3 I

We also delivered 45 unconscious bias workshops for more than 500 ST employees from all regions where we operate. Due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we revised the workshops to be delivered remotely, supported by a team of more than 40 internal trainers to accelerate deployment. During these workshops, participants experience how their own unconscious bias and micro-behaviors can impact other people and learn how to be more attentive and mindful when interacting with others.

LC Koh

Process Engineering Manager, Ang Mo Kio (Singapore)

We often find ourselves multi-tasking or working under time pressures in today’s fast-paced environment. This can sometimes activate unconscious attitudes and beliefs that need to be overcome as we strive towards respect, engagement, and productivity in the workplace. The unconscious bias workshop helps us to refocus on self-awareness, reminding us to carefully consider every aspect of our decision-making and, most importantly, our interactions with people.”

Striving for a diverse workforce

Our ambition is to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, particularly in terms of gender, culture, age and disability.

Diversity is an important message of our employer value proposition. It is prominent in all our employer branding campaigns and is a tracked indicator in all our recruitment worldwide.

Increasing the number of women at all management levels

At the end of 2020, women represented 34% of our global workforce, 24% of our exempts¹and 18% of our technical jobs.

During the year, 27% of the exempts we hired were women, two percentage points above 2019 but below our target of 30%.

To address the shortage of women in technical functions and encourage girls to choose technical studies at an early stage of their education, we continued our STEM program launched in 2018 (see Community and Education). We also participated in dedicated programs for girls, such as ‘Elles Bougent’ in France (see Focus).

Focus

Going beyond stereotypes to inspire technical careers

In mid 2020, ST France signed a partnership with ‘Elles Bougent’, a French non-profit organization created in 2005 to tackle the lack of girls in science and engineering in higher education. Its goal is to promote exciting scientific and technical jobs to girls by sharing the experiences of female engineers working in different industries.

We organized a number of online sessions across all our French sites to introduce the organization and its aims. Subsequently, 67 female ST employees volunteered to become ambassadors for the organization.

When participating in Elles Bougent events, such as job fairs, innovation contests, site visits, rallies, conferences, and school visits, the ambassadors’ role is to share their experiences, demonstrate their passion for microelectronics, encourage young girls to consider STEM subjects in their studies, and help them to learn more about the exciting career opportunities in science and engineering.

Our goal for 2025 is to increase the percentage of women at all management levels to 20%. As shown by the data in the table below, we are making progress, but we are still far from the target for senior and executive management.

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Women in management I 405-1 I SDG 5.5

	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Women in experienced management(1) (%)	16%	16%	16%	18%	19%
Women in senior management(2) (%)	11%	12%	12%	13%	13%
Women in executive management(3) (%)	9%	9%	9%	9%	10%
Number of women on the Board	3	3	3	4	4
(1) Job grade 15 to 16. (2) Job grade 17 to 18. (3) Job grade 19 and above.

Studies show that, generally speaking, women are less likely to be promoted than men. Therefore, to achieve our 2025 goal and accelerate the progression of women in management at ST, we introduced specific objectives for the percentage of women nominated for promotion: 30% of women candidates for experienced and senior management and 20% for executive management and directors. In 2020, we were very close to the target for senior management and directors with 19%, but we missed the target for middle management with 24%.

Although these figures are an improvement, they are not sufficient for us to stay on track for our 2025 goal. To accelerate our progress, therefore, we organized a brainstorming session at the end of 2020 to collect ideas from over 100 HR leaders. The results will help us adapt our strategy and programs to ensure we achieve our long-term goals.

Attracting young talent

Our workforce is highly skilled and experienced, with staff turnover in our engineering and management population of just 4%. To continue to build our capacity for long-term success, however, we also need to attract young talent.

Our objective is to recruit more than 60% of new non-manufacturing employees with less than five years’ experience. In 2020, we achieved 53%, six percentage points above 2019, but three below 2018. 

In line with this objective, we revised our talent acquisition strategy to reinforce our external image and better attract younger candidates (see Talent Attraction and Engagement).

Enhancing hiring and inclusion of disabled people

We increased our employment of disabled people by 11% in 2020, reaching 2% worldwide.

In France, thanks to longstanding, innovative and dynamic disability inclusion programs, such as our ‘Adapted Training for Trades Apprenticeship’ program (FIAM), the percentage of workers with disabilities increased from 1.2% in 2006 to 5.4% in 2020².

In Italy, where the percentage of workers with disabilities we employ is 2.6%, we continued to integrate workers with disabilities through programs such as Isola Formativa³ and partnerships with associations providing cleaning and gardening services, despite the pandemic. These initiatives created opportunities for an additional 13 workers with disabilities to be employed at our Italian sites in 2020.

Supporting women’s career development

Strengthening the role of women in building ST’s future is another of our priorities.

Women in Leadership

Our ‘Women in Leadership’ (WIL) program, targeted at junior and middle management, aims to prepare the next generation of female leaders. Launched in 2015, it has already trained over 300 women.

Extended in 2019 into a full career path, it also includes coaching, mentoring and co-development sessions for women. To support this, we aimed to dedicate 30% of coaching to women. We exceeded this target, achieving 37%. In 2021, we will increase the target to 40%.

In 2020, we went a step further by adding an advanced module for senior managers and directors to help them increase their self-confidence and become more visible and recognized within ST. It is a five-step blended learning program, including individual coaching, self-awareness, a two-day workshop and a personal development plan. A pilot session was successfully run in January 2021 and three sessions are planned by the end of 2021.

Local initiatives are also in place to reinforce women’s soft skills and support their further growth. One example is a seven-module course in Italy called ‘Lavorare al femminile’ (‘Working from a female perspective’), targeting women in managerial roles. In 2020, 92 women registered for this program.

Gender equality

We are committed to providing equal opportunities and equal pay, regardless of gender.

In 2020, ST France scored 88/100 in the Gender Equality Index introduced in 2019 by the French government, one point above our 2019 score.

The index, covering salaries and promotion rates, was extended to other European sites in 2020. The worldwide roll-out will be completed in 2021 and we will develop an action plan to address any gaps identified.

At the end of 2020, we launched a worldwide survey of social benefits to get an exhaustive view of practices in the different countries where we operate. The aim is to help us define corporate policies that foster a work-life balance and support a diverse workforce.

ST is included in the 2021 Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, which recognizes companies committed to gender equality in the workforce and transparency in gender reporting. It rewards our 2020 performance as well as the success of our ongoing programs in this area.

Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals

Our commitments and programs as described above contribute to:

SDG target 5.5 – Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

SDG target 10.2 – By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.

⁽¹⁾ Employees who hold positions normally requiring graduate or post-graduate education and who are not eligible for overtime compensation.

⁽²⁾ This figure may be subject to change, as it is based on the DOETH (Mandatory Declaration of Employment of Disabled Workers) calculation which is currently under review.

⁽³⁾ An initiative at our Agrate site (Italy) to employ people with disabilities and train them in professional bicycle maintenance techniques, equipping them with knowledge and skills to help them enter the world of work.