Equal opportunities: French employees very concerned about equal pay

According to the 11th edition of the barometer of the perception of equal opportunities in business, 53% of the 1,500 people surveyed last May by TNS Sofres consider equal pay a priority issue for their company. They are even 20% to quote it first.

This concern affects both women (56%) and men (51%), said Armelle Carminati, president of the Medef Inclusive Business Committee, at the opening of the Responsible and Inclusive Business Week in Paris.

Equality between women and men occupies the second place (49%) of concerns, followed by age (39%) and the vision of disability (35%).

Age, main concern for employees

But 32% of those surveyed still believe that they could be a victim of discrimination in their company and the proportion is for the first time the same for men and women. Age is still largely at the top of the factors that arouse this fear (43%), ahead of physical appearance or educational level (23%) and gender (21%).

Between 2017 and 2022, the proportion of employees who consider their company to be increasingly representative of the diversity of society has increased from 71% to 82%.

The Medef finally listed six social issues of potential “tension” in business, including religion, politics but also the protection of the environment and animals, and a growing number of respondents (36%, eight points more) consider to have been confronted with at least “extreme” behavior on one of these topics.

CSR, a subject still little known by employees

The employers’ association also presented this Monday its annual barometer on the perception of CSR (corporate social responsibility), a subject still little known by employees. Thus, 36% of the employees surveyed know of an entity dedicated to CSR in their company, little more than the entity dedicated to diversity and equal opportunities (33%).

According to the CSR barometer also carried out by TNS Sofres, the priority for employees continues to be health and safety at work (74%), almost on a par with quality of life at work (92%) and ahead of equal opportunities (57%). .