PARIS — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Monday celebrated internal diversity and inclusion initiatives with the fourth edition of its Inclusion Index Awards as the 2024 Paralympic Games shine the global spotlight on excellence from all horizons and abilities.
“Concrete actions have more impact than good intentions and I am pleased to tell you that this year, we have received more than 260 initiatives in the [Index’s] six categories,” Chantal Gaemperle, LVMH’s group executive vice president, human resources and synergies, said at the ceremony on Monday.
“Each year, we observe that the number and quality of initiatives grows and that they engage tens of thousands of collaborators around the world,” said Vanessa Moungar, the company’s group chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Launched in 2018 to promote gender equity initiatives within the group, the Inclusion Index Awards have since expanded to six categories: LGBTQIA+ inclusion, disability inclusion, national and social origins, generational inclusion and inclusive culture, which covers transversal initiatives that go beyond criteria defined by a community or demographic.
Louis Vuitton scooped up the gender equity award for offering internships to encourage high school-age girls to discover the breadth of engineering jobs and consider careers in STEM.
Already distinguished in 2019, the French group’s entire “All LVMH Pride” network was rewarded in the LGBTQIA+ category for taking part in Pride walks around the world under the LVMH banner, with thousands of employees taking part wearing T-shirts designed by Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe.
Christian Dior Couture was distinguished for putting in place a broad-ranging disability inclusion policy, while Sephora North America’s first structured mentoring and coaching program to foster the next generation of culturally competent and diverse leaders, particularly talent of color, was also honored.
The still-vivid contribution and the question of “ageing well” at the heart of Chaumet’s “Club 55” initiative, involving employees over the age of 55, topped the Generations category.
Meanwhile, Loewe was distinguished in the “Inclusive Culture” category for turning an in-store incident into a learning opportunity that saw more than 500 people trained across Europe, the U.K., the Middle East and the U.S. for a more inclusive retail experience.
For Gaemperle, the broad range of initiatives represented at the awards illustrated the group’s ongoing commitment and long-term diversity and inclusion policy in the broadest sense.
“That’s why we have the ‘Inclusive Culture’ category that can reward very different initiatives that all have the objective of pushing boundaries to return to a meritocratic universe where each person has their voice, feels respected and is in turn able to push boundaries,” she said.
The six winners this year were determined by a jury that included Gaemperle alongside Stéphane Bianchi, group managing director; Frédéric Arnault, chief executive officer of LVMH’s watch division; Moët Hennessy CEO Philippe Schauss; Véronique Courtois, CEO of Parfums Christian Dior, and Pharrell Williams, men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton.
For Gaemperle, beyond the initiatives themselves, a special point of pride is the involvement across the French group, “from the highest level all the way to people in stores for example,” she told WWD.
The Inclusion Index Awards also fit into a broader picture that includes the EllesVMH women’s empowerment award created in 2017, as well as its Institut des Métiers d’Excellence, the You & ME vocational fair and a recently launched online program called Inside LVMH showcasing experts, talents and partnering schools.
“Having been something of a pioneer in these different dimensions and seeing today results that are quantified and quantifiable as well as having high levels of engagement is how we win [more inclusion and diversity],” she said. “Win minds and hearts, then results follow.”
