Bombardier Endorses The Women’s Empowerment Principles

July 10, 2013 /3BL Media/ - Bombardier announced today its endorsement of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a set of considerations to help the private sector focus on key elements integral to promoting gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community. They are the result of a collaboration between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Global Compact, to which Bombardier is also a signatory.

“Bombardier firmly believes that gender diversity is essential to our long-term success, and that equal opportunity is a fundamental driver of prosperity,” said Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. “The Women’s Empowerment Principles are aligned with this value and are reflected in the decisive steps we take to increase the number of women in various roles across our organization, from leadership positions, to engineering positions and more.”

“By fostering greater inclusion and awareness of opportunities within Bombardier, we’re not only supporting their professional development, we’re ensuring the profitability and sustainability of our organization, and are helping create the kind of world we want to do business in, live in and thrive in: shaping the evolution of mobility,” concluded Mr. Beaudoin.

A global company with a broad range of culturally diverse employees working in 48 countries, speaking 70 languages, and representing more than 100 nationalities, Bombardier’s commitment to employee diversity and equal opportunity is captured in its Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, its Human Rights Statement, its endorsement of the United Nations Global Compact Principles, as well as its Human Resources.

One of Bombardier’s key ongoing objectives is to recruit and retain diverse talent across the company. This objective is supported through several diversity programs focused on fostering inclusiveness at Bombardier.

At Aerospace, to align the business group’s diversity efforts, a multi-year diversity and inclusion strategy has been developed, which includes a gender diversity aspect. Learning activities and initiatives are provided to help develop women. This includes networking, mentoring and coaching opportunities, discussion forums and conferences, community involvement and training. In addition and through our Talent Management processes, we are currently developing a pool of potential leaders in which 30% are women. We are providing stretch assignments, special projects, feedback and coaching. The overall target for Bombardier Aerospace is to achieve 25% of women in management by December 2014.       

At Transportation, a Female Engineering Network was created in April 2008, a cross-functional network connecting more than 200 women engineers across 22 different Transportation sites, offering opportunities for them to receive specialized training and participate in conferences and campus fairs. The Network also offers participants the opportunity to become ambassadors to other women interested in pursuing careers in engineering. FEN members participate in conferences, engage in industry networks, and help advance education in technical fields.

The percentage of women in senior leadership positions, the percentage of women in management positions, the percentage of women new hires and the turnover rate for women are all tracked on the Corporate Human Resources dashboard, and reported annually in Bombardier’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report. As part of its diversity strategy, Bombardier measures and reports gender disaggregated data.

For more information about Bombardier’s initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion, including performance data, visit www.csr.bombardier.com.

For more information about the Women’s Empowerment Principles, visit: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/human_rights/equality_means_business.html

About Bombardier
Bombardier is the world’s only manufacturer of both planes and trains. Looking far ahead while delivering today, Bombardier is evolving mobility worldwide by answering the call for more efficient, sustainable and enjoyable transportation everywhere. Our vehicles, services and, most of all, our employees are what make us a global leader in transportation.

Bombardier is headquartered in Montréal, Canada. Our shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD) and we are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, we posted revenues of $16.8 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.

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