Activity by BBVA Banco Francés

Among the actions undertaken by BBVA Banco Francés to implement this model has been the creation of the Gender Equality Committee. The members of the committee are Ana Molinos, Head of Personnel Selection, who is also its coordinator, Daniel Agudo, Labor Relations Manager and Gustavo Barranus, Zone Manager of the Metro Sur division.

Among the committee’s duties and responsibilities is the development of gender equality policies derived from the self-analysis and action plan duly submitted to the INADI and covering the areas mentioned by MEGA 2009. The committee must also ensure compliance with the requirements of the management model at all levels of the organization, monitor the model’s implementation and promote gender equality measures.

Among the actions already carried out are training talks and workshops given by specialists in the subject in the last week of August in the BBVA Development Center. More than 100 employees of the Group took part. Among the subjects dealt with were following: Gender equality in development and companies; characteristics of the current labor market; implementation of work/life balance programs; the importance of communication in an equality program; the principle of non-discrimination in the working environment; and verbal and non-verbal language as a transmitter of ideas of equality. The aim was also to show how these problems surfaced in everyday life by sharing successful strategies and examples of frequent conflict situations in internal and external communication.

Those attending these training activities also had the opportunity of adopting the BBVA Banco Francés Gender Equality Policy by adding their symbolic signature. The policy states that as a socially responsible company, the Bank is committed to:

- Promote equal opportunity between men and women and non-discrimination in access to employment, training and professional development

- Prevent sexual harassment and foster the implementation of actions that guarantee gender equality, as well as avoiding any type of gender-based discrimination or segregation

- Ensure equality between men and women in policies on the work/life balance

- Promote a diversified image in external communications 
 
Areas of action

Companies, governments and international bodies increasingly insist on achieving greater gender fairness, given that, apart from being a human right, it is a key to achieving many other objectives linked to human development. BBVA Banco Francés proclaims its support for this philosophy, and has enshrined the commitment of senior management to address these problems fully through its gender equality policy.

Within this framework we have initiated a process of internal review with the aim of detecting any inequality that may exist and establishing strategic measures to correct them under the following areas of action included in MEGA 2009:   

- Human Resources Policy Its aim is that personnel selection and recruitment systems, as well as promotion and training of human resources, are based on the job profile and not gender

- Professional Development The aim is to identify and eliminate any possible obstacles to the development of women's careers within the company

- Equality in work/life balance policies The aim is that policies on the balance between work and family life implemented in the company should promote gender equality between men and women, taking into account family responsibilities without limiting opportunities for career development within the company

- Prevention of sexual harassment and improvement of the working climate The aim is to promote a working climate in which respect for others is the norm and that includes the non-use of sexist and aggressive language. It also seeks to establish mechanisms for preventing sexual harassment and resolving these kinds of conflicts

- Products / services and the image of equality We propose to establish criteria to ensure that the company’s products, public image and communication systems do not transmit sexual stereotypes