“Proud to have a salary gap of 0.4%”

Temenos has been awarded the Positive Action 2021 label after an audit of gender inequality at work.

For Temenos Luxembourg, a software company based in Bertrange, the Positive Action 2021 label is a reward for the inclusiveness initiatives it has already put in place. “It is a notion that we hold dear within the company. Being an inclusive company, i.e. a company where it is possible to develop and progress by being oneself, is very important to the group and to Temenos Luxembourg, which has 130 employees of 15 different nationalities,” explains Didier Demange, head of human resources for Temenos Europe.

Demange details the main initiatives the company has put in place to reduce gender inequality at work. Firstly, the creation of a women’s network called Women at Temenos, whose aim is to have a clearer vision of the expectations and means of advancing women within the company. “As in many companies, we notice that the more we progress within the company, the fewer women there are. With this women’s network, sponsored by the management board, we were able to understand certain things and we then set up training and actions to promote a more modern and adapted management,” Demange explains.  The group’s board has also become more female over the last few years, progressing from a male majority to a gender balance.

It is the responsibility of companies to reduce these inequalities, which are unacceptable.

Didier Demange

Didier Demange, head of human resources, Temenos

It is a balance that is also seen among young employees. Faced with recruitment difficulties, Temenos has created graduate courses aimed at directly training the company’s future employees. “Over the last four years, we have been very careful to have a balance between men and women in our training courses. The aim is to grow our young people within the company while keeping this balance. If we already have a balanced base, this will also be the case thereafter,” Demange says.

Harmonisation of family leave

Another initiative is a rather modern and even progressive family leave policy. “First of all, we encourage all our employees to take parental leave and paternity leave. Temenos also attaches great importance to the family,” says Demange.

Most importantly, the company decided to harmonise its own family leave policy within the group. “We have developed a leave policy around the family. Across the world, regardless of the country where our 7,500 employees are located, maternity leave must be the same,” says Demange. “For example, maternity leave allowance in the United States is not at all the same as in Luxembourg. The group has decided to cover 20 weeks of maternity leave, regardless of the country. If a country has 10 weeks of maternity leave, Temenos will pay for an additional 10 weeks. For managers and team leaders, this becomes the rule within the group instead of being an exception because the person works in Luxembourg.”

The head of human resources is also more than satisfied with the extremely low salary gap between men and women. “We are quite proud to have a salary gap of 0.4% between men and women at Temenos Luxembourg in a country like Luxembourg where the general overall gap is 1.5%,” Demange points out. “To achieve this, we propose an identical budget during recruitment. It is up to the candidate to accept, or not, this budget, which does not take into account the candidate’s gender or previous salary. Because, already at this level, we can see that a female candidate generally has a lower previous salary than a male candidate for the same position and the same experience.” Demange stresses that “it is the responsibility of companies to reduce these inequalities which are unacceptable”.

This policy is also bearing fruit with future employees, but also with clients who are increasingly keen to work with companies that have a high level of inclusion and CSR policy, he says.