41 / 60
39
34
%
66
%
116
4
13
77
%
23
%
9,5
%
19-29 years
5
%
Non EU
36
%
30-39 years
5
%
EU
38
%
40-49 years
16,5
%
50-65 years
90
%
Belgium
Seniority
Staff members by age group
Nationalities of employees
34
%
0-5 years
21
%
11-15 years
34
%
6-10 years
11
%
> 15 years
75
%
25
%
In 2010, Cofinimmo was among the first companies
to obtain the Diversity Label in the Brussels-Capital
Region. You obtained this label again in 2014. How was
it different from the first one?
C.C.
It is the result of a wish from the Brussels
Minister of Economic Affairs at that time, Benoît
Cerexhe, who asked businesses to put together
a budget to ensure training in equity. However, we were
already doing that. We only lacked a charter. We were
eager to write it. Just like that, we earned this label.
Then, we realised that diversity opened up enormous
opportunities for us, to such a point that if we had to limit
ourselves to typical images related to age or origin, we
wouldn’t have half of our potential recruitments. Being
open to diversity is a “win-win”, nourishing from all points
of view. Compared with 2010, we are doing things more
consciously, with figures, annual statistics that we are
trying to improve. We have also received a lot of support
on this front from Actiris, the regional employment office
of the Brussels-Capital Region.
We heard you say that “ageism is the new sexism”. What
do you mean exactly?
C.C.
There is always a risk of falling into prejudices.
It’s true that older people sometimes come to
interviews with preconceptions. They think they
know everything, not letting the interviewer get a word in.
In addition, there is this well-known cliché that we’ve
managed to counter at Cofinimmo: the older you are, the
more you cost. There’s a balance to be struck. We
shouldn’t take advantage of the fact that a person has
been looking for a job for a long time to cut his salary. If
this person is of high quality, he will continue to look
elsewhere. It is the added value of the person that
counts and, in addition, fairness in the internal pay scale
must be kept.
What is your view of gender parity in your company and
in general?
C.C.
We haven’t reached parity at our company since
overall we’re not far from 65% women to 35%
men! This said, at the managerial level, we are
five women to six men. That could reverse, but I find that
“WITH EQUAL SKILLS, IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO
DO ANY POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION. WHAT’S MOST
IMPORTANT IS THE VALUE OF THE PERSON.”
* The full interview with Chantal Cabuy is available at
www.cofinimmo.com/news-and-media/video-library.Performance indicators
the current situation is not bad at all. I believe that if
women are prepared to give to their job as much as men
have given at certain stages of their professional lives,
they will not be hampered. What continues to be difficult
today is the family balance, the sharing of tasks outside
the office. A valuable woman at a valuable employer has
all the possibilities. It’s a personal conviction.
What are the concrete actions that you’re putting in
place to ensure diversity?
C.C.
I believe that if the contents of a CV match what
we’re looking for, but the age, origin, or other
external factors don’t match, we should still
meet with these people. Thanks to this approach, we
have doubled our number of young people and
foreign-born recruits. A person is first what he is and
what he does. He is recruited for his personality,
potential, and commitment. Once you rely on these three
areas, diversity is automatic. You enter a virtuous circle,
and, as we’ve seen, this can be very rewarding.
Excerpt from the interview with
Chantal Cabuy
,
Head of HR & Internal Communication at
Cofinimmo*
Employees
Executive Committee
Board of Directors