Diversity & Inclusion Policy
The Cronos Group employs over 4,000 enthusiastic coworkers, who breathe technology and IT-related services, and are committed to customers and colleagues on a daily basis.
We strive to be a more diverse and inclusive company, with a workforce that reflects our society and our customers. De Cronos Groep considers a diversity and inclusion policy as something fundamental to help set the course and determine the success of the company and will continue to focus on concrete actions to achieve this.
Diversity and inclusion cannot be described in one key word or definition. In diversity we find a wide range of characteristics and concepts, feelings and perceptions of identity. Diversity translates into culture, ethnicity, gender, age, physical characteristics, religion, sexual orientation and so much more.
By also actively working on an inclusion policy, we accept, implement, and include all individuals and in our company, regardless of how different or similar we are to each other. We believe that diversity enriches and strengthens all stakeholders, individuals and groups involved.
With this policy we want to set out a strategy that defines our vision and commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I), and at the same time clarify our ambitions and focus. In doing so, we lay the foundation for an effective diversity and inclusion policy throughout De Cronos Groep. This policy applies to both management and employees, permanent or freelance, employed by our sub-companies.
Equal Opportunities
We strive to give everyone equal opportunities, regardless of social, cultural or ethnic identity, during the recruitment process and in the workplace. In order to pursue a sustainable growth policy and to remain relevant in the realm of IT and technology, it is essential to focus on an equal opportunities policy throughout the organization.
The most successful teams, where the best and most creative projects are delivered, consist of a heterogeneous, diverse group of people with all kinds of different backgrounds, expertise, visions, and so much more. By bringing them all together, we can learn from each other, look beyond our own context, and implement this in internal processes or in projects for our customers.
De Cronos Groep strives to pay all employees equally, based on expertise, performance and on the external market; and not on irrelevant matters such as gender or origin. We are also developing a policy to actively support our sub-companies in this regard.
In order to create equal opportunities for professional development in the workplace, we will develop initiatives in job crafting, job rotation and training. We will also focus on facilitating job flexibility and mobility, taking into account the personal choices that our employees make, such as (temporarily) working part-time, taking a gap year, combining study and work, etc.
Inclusive Leadership
While an inclusive and equal opportunity policy is a powerful tool for innovation and sustainable growth, we are committed to inclusive leadership. This way, we want to ensure that all our employees feel good about themselves, both professionally and personally.
The Cronos Group aims to organise structural, qualitative initiatives for our partners and coordinators so that they embrace an inclusive leadership style to help their teams function optimally. These initiatives include, for example, long-term individual and group training programmes, focus groups and workshops, organised both by De Cronos Groep and in partnership with other relevant private and public stakeholders.
The results of these initiatives will be gathered in a framework that will be made available to all employees.
In our recruitment policy we take into account an inclusive leadership style and we will highlight our own inclusive partners and coordinators.
Diverse Talent
We want to attract people with different backgrounds, visions, beliefs, and experiences and help them to grow sustainably with us. We develop a diversity culture that is reflected throughout the group.
A D&I policy must become inherent in our recruitment process, both at group and sub-company level. To this end, we offer practical support in the form of concrete actions in the recruitment process such as writing inclusive job postings, conducting inclusive selection interviews, etc.
De Cronos Groep will focus on internal and external communication about our D&I policy.
Our D&I approach must be visible in every job posting, both for temporary and permanent jobs, at group level and within our sub-companies. It must also be clearly visible in our employer branding activities.
We will review and improve our existing recruitment and HR processes and train our HR staff to automatically act upon our D&I policy.
Our Ambition
To ensure a successful D&I approach, we choose to work in four-year policy frameworks. For each framework, there will be a number of specific elements on which we will expand. The purpose of this exercise is to evaluate and adjust our framework where necessary on a yearly basis. By means of a baseline measurement we will map out where we stand now, so that we can clearly define our direction.
To take a structural approach, we joined Voka’s “Charter for Sustainable Business” in 2021, where, among other matters, we will focus on D&I. Together we will define specific elements and translate them into concrete actions in the workplace.
De Cronos Groep wants to promote an inclusive work environment in general, where diversity is an added value to the day-to-day operations and can contribute to the strategic ambitions.
We are setting up a D&I Advisory Board, which will be jointly responsible for developing and promoting the action plan and related initiatives. This Board will consist of employees from a wide range of functions, backgrounds and areas of expertise.
Our D&I policy helps build SDG’s
The Team
The D&I policy for De Cronos Groep is elaborated and facilitated by Cronos Care.
Cronos Care is responsible for the development of the CSR policy, of which D&I is a part. For more information, please contact: diversiteit@cronos.be
Veerle Rovers
Team coördinator Cronos Care
veerle.rovers@cronos.be
Askim Kintziger
Coördinator D&I-beleid
askim.kintziger@cronos.be