Sopra Steria, a European leader in consulting, digital services and software publishing, has signed the “Business & Disability” charter of the International Labour Organisation’s Global Network. Through this commitment, the Group reaffirms its determination to support professional integration and ongoing employment of people with disabilities, on a daily basis.
Leveraging digital technology to support inclusion of people with disabilities
Launched in October 2015, the ILO's Business and Disability Charter is a global tool for companies that want to take action for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the working environment. By joining the Global Business and Disability Network, Sopra Steria continues to work in favour of equal opportunities and is committed, in all of its geographies, to promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in the working environment.
Vincent Paris, CEO of Sopra Steria, declares: “Joining the Global Network "Business and Disability" is as much a conviction as it is an objective – to do even better and even more in terms of inclusion. At Sopra Steria, we believe that diversity is a strength, and our teams play an essential role in supporting an inclusive and cohesive society. As a digital player, we have a role to play in promoting the independence and autonomy of people with disabilities. By signing the International Labour Organisation's charter, we are consolidating this commitment and continuing our efforts to actively support people with disabilities”.
Educating and raising awareness to build an inclusive society
Sopra Steria has already initiated various internal and external programmes to encourage inclusion.
Consuelo Bénicourt, Director of Social Corporate Responsibility at Sopra Steria, says: "We are carrying out numerous initiatives with our employees and partners to deconstruct stereotypes, remove obstacles to employment, promote integration of people with disabilities, and change the way people look at disability. We are working towards a digital society that is accessible to all, thanks to concrete actions in recruitment, job adaptation, training, and awareness-raising to promote professional integration”.
Some commitments to inclusion of people with disabilities in France
- The HandiTurorat programme: individualised educational support Launched in 2013, this programme is based on a simple principle: "young people helping young people". Based on this principle, Mission Handicap rallies and trains engineering students to provide individualised academic support to high school students with disabilities who attend secondary schools. In 2020, 106 high school students benefited from the HandiTutor programme, in partnership with 9 engineering schools.
- The HandiBourse programme: supporting and preparing students' careers
Each year, in partnership with the Fédéeh1, Sopra Steria helps around thirty high school graduates and students with disabilities to continue their studies in higher education (financial and material aid, mentoring). Through financial or material assistance, or mentoring, Sopra Steria helps to compensate for the needs related to the disability, thus facilitating student life.
Innovating to better support and include people with disabilities
In 2020, as part of the Innovation Awards, an internal and international innovation challenge, three projects proposing concrete solutions to facilitate the daily life and autonomy of people with disabilities were rewarded:
- MoveMe (Norway and Poland) – The award-winning project aims to use motion sensors connected to a mobile app to allow better mobility for people with cerebral palsy.
- Pepperbotify4autism (France) – The disability award winning project builds on the abilities of social robot PEPPER to better communicate with young adults with autism.
- Illumie (Norway) – The Microsoft Prize-winning Illumie project combines two technologies, augmented reality, and computer vision, to help visually impaired people navigate unfamiliar environments.
The 10 commitments of the ILO Business and Disability Charter:
- Promote and respect the rights of persons with disabilities by raising awareness and combatting stigma and stereotypes faced by persons with disabilities.
- Develop policies and practices that protect persons with disabilities from all types of discrimination.
- Promote equal treatment and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodation in the recruitment process, on-the-job, apprenticeships, training, job retention, career development and other relevant terms and conditions of employment.
- Progressively make the company premises and communication to staff accessible for all employees with disabilities.
- Undertake appropriate measures to enable current employees who acquire a disability to retain or return to their employment.
- Respect confidentiality of personal information regarding disability.
- Consider the needs of those persons with disabilities who face particular challenges accessing the labour market, including persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.
- Promote employment of persons with disabilities among business partners and other companies and collaborate with national employer and business networks on disability as well as with organizations working to advance the rights of persons with disabilities.
- Review regularly the company disability inclusion policies and practices for their effectiveness.
- Report on company efforts to promote the employment of persons with disabilities to all relevant stakeholders and share information and experiences with the members of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network. The ILO will utilize the company reports and practices in its own communication, wherever relevant.
Click here to find out more about our commitments to inclusion.