Innovation

In a way, EGAE has no innovation. EGAE is the innovation. Its position as a forerunner in the French market is a perfect illustration. Faced with the continuing problems of gender inequality in the workplace and the lack of implementation of parity, EGAE has developed an action plan. The firm works hand in hand with its clients and offers them various working tools such as team training, advice, and support on sexist and sexual violence including, for example, internal investigations, and the opening and management of a reporting mailbox, or the use of the experts' website, which is a directory of women experts.

Moreover, three axes represent the nerves of the firm's work: identify, understand, and act.

The identification of sexist and sexual violence takes place through contextual situations or games. The game is a fun way to approach such a heavy theme and is intended for all people young and old. Awareness-raising is key and can solve problems before they appear. Understanding is the second step of the process. Some words or comportments are consciously or unconsciously problematic. To understand why is a huge progress. Maybe you are the victim. Maybe you are the person who committed the act. It doesn’t matter. The only thing which matters is if you are ready to eradicate this sexist and sexual violence and applicate equality. After that, EGAE can give advice and teach people how to react in this kind of situation. It’s the training phase.

EGAE's main clientele is the public sector. In fact, they work with public institutions including state and territorial services. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of its customers. Moreover, the firm is active in the associative sector and acts in universities and schools. So, they have a heterogeneous and powerful clientele. They can really make a difference and step-by-step applicate parity.

The EGAE’s week is a marketing concept created a few years ago. An online formation of twenty workshops is proposed for everyone who wants to be informed about equality at work. “Even us? – Yes, even you”. It is an opportunity for the firm to highlight its program and actions, and communicate with the general public.

Inspiration

A strong and confident voice is what strikes us when we speak to Pauline Chabbert, one of EGAE's two partners. It's normal, she believes in what she says and in the benefits of her work. “Yes, I’m a feminist” she affirmed. It is her course in human sciences at Sciences Po that gives her the keys to understanding better gender inequalities. Involved in an association at the age of 18, nothing predestined her to choose the path of entrepreneurship. But once she had passed her diplomatic exam, she had to make a choice. The public or the private sector? The scales tipped for the private sector because, with one of her friends, she had an idea: an audit firm specializing in the issue of gender equality at work. Innovative. Ambitious. They took the challenge and jumped into the deep end. In a way, entrepreneurship has imposed itself on her. EGAE is the reflection of her commitment. The name is a pun that goes hand in hand with the slogan: "EGAE for a world of equals". She wanted to change the world and create a true business model in adequation with her commitment and values. A business for good. When asked about her vision of the ideal professional world she answers; "a world that provides workers with good working conditions and that respects each person". A professional world is composed of the same opportunities for men and women. And her advice for people who would like to take the plunge? “Trust yourself”.

Overall impact

“We change the world”. A powerful sentence affirmed with conviction and a chuckle. Complicated question. Simple answer.

Over the years, EGAE has been an actor in the progress of the professional world. Mentalities are gradually evolving and their actions are bearing fruit. They give an important place to customer relations and build a benevolent climate of trust. Because, yes, even if the firm underlines problems in the functioning of public institutions and companies, it is also aware of the volunteering and efforts they demonstrate. "People are more engaged today and want to be in adequation with their values at work”. EGAE gives them the keys with its various awareness trainings. On the balance sheet of 2022, 1758 were programmed by EGAE. Knowing that the average of people formed is 12 people per session, which represents more than 21 000 people formed by the group of EGAE in 2022.

Currently, there is no impact study on its activity. "We want to. We have to" confessed Pauline Chabbert. However, the overall impact can be definite. In fact, ministries are important to state institutions and predominantly dominated by men. Their wish to eradicate gender discrimination with the help of EGAE is a powerful act and sets an example for others. Moreover, the education system is more conscious of the necessity to educate the youth about sexist and sexual violence. EGAE by its action is giving the same opportunities to men and women, either students or workers.

Business benefit

What seemed utopia ten years ago is turning into a real business with exponential growth. Today, EGAE in numbers is thirty-five employees including twenty-seven consultants; two million euros in annual turnover; the first consulting firm of its kind on the market; and a mantra: commitment. For "a world of equals", even at work.

EGAE's place in the audit and equality French market is undeniable thanks to its network and implication in the last years. "Our action is well-known and new customers contact us regularly," said the associate. Its headquarters are in Paris, near the major public institutions in which it operates. Step by step and mission after mission, it has become the reference to public institutions. Ministries, universities, schools, companies… Its field of action is vast. EGAE has launched a movement that fights for parity. “The more customers you count, the more influencing you can be". In other words, it allows you to expand your capacity for action. Moreover, the #MeToo movement, which gained momentum in 2017, and the new legal obligations of parity at work, introduced by the French government, benefit EGAE's activity.

"We want to expand our branches and ultimately deal with all forms of discrimination like racism, discrimination against disabled people, or the theme of secularism at work ". Because professional equality is not only a question of gender but also a question of humanity.

Social and environmental benefit

"From the reality of texts to the reality of facts". Or rather "from the equality of texts to the equality of facts". Today, discrimination, gender-based and sexual violence at work are still an actual matter. Maternity and paternity leave; Sexist remarks; Gender prejudice; Wage inequality... Yet laws exist. So, how can these texts become, within companies, more than black ink on paper? Of course, the directors of EGAE were not the first to be aware of these problems. However, they were the first to act through their company to solve them. Combining business and social issues. Using the economic system for society. EGAE paves the way for a new generation of entrepreneurs.

“Yes, I see a change. Society is changing”. Since the beginning of the famous movement #MeToo in 2017, people are more able to speak about gender inequalities, sexism, and sexual violence. The word is getting out. Aggression of all kinds is denounced on social media. People act. Business act. EGAE acts. It is by expanding its field of action and its client network that EGAE is able to influence behaviors and mentalities on a larger scale. Its work in the public sector has an impact because it is the foundation of society. The school system represents the youth, the primary actor in societal change. The state institutions represent the elites and therefore the influential people. In addition, EGAE allows them to be more inclusive and opens the question to other debates that remain thorny today. In fact, more and more dissertations and research topics in the humanities and social sciences revolve around gender equality. There is therefore a real intellectual reflection around these questions. “I recommend reading Les Grandes oubliées by Titouan LeCoq to really understand the place that women have been given in society”.

So, the firm participates actively in the reconstruction process of this gangrenous working world. Nowadays, there is a real commitment to gender issues. What seemed like a plus is now mandatory and voluntary. This proves that people are getting informed at their own level. The increase in EGAE's customer base is a perfect example. Individual values can be combined with the professional world. A personal engagement can make a difference. It’s what Pauline Chabbert proved to us.

Interview

Pauline Chabbert, Associate Director of Groupe Egae