GEODIS reports on Mentor Program as part of its Diversity Drive

Having set the goal of 25% female fulfilment of its leadership roles by 2023, leading global logistics provider, GEODIS has established an employee Mentor Program in the APAC region as part of it drive towards diversity. To mark International Women’s Day on 8th March, GEODIS reports on the Program’s progress.

The Mentor Program was launched by the GEODIS Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) team in September, with a schedule of activity set through to July this year. With the benefit of lessons learned as the program develops, it will be rolled out across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region over the balance of the year.

Stuart Asplet, Managing Director, Pacific Region, the main sponsor of the Mentor Program comments, “We are seeking to understand the goals of our mentees and support their potential development within the company.  Although the first twenty-five are all women and drawn from the ANZ region, the Program, is open to male employees. A key goal of the program is to engender a feeling of empowerment, of being noticed, valued and develop confidence.”

Each mentee has a mentor from within the company assigned to them for the duration of the Program (a ten-month period).  They engage over a series of informal and more formalized sessions during which inter-action is consistent in being constructive, confidential, respectful, open-minded and frank.

Anne Tan, head of Human Resources, Asia Pacific added, “GEODIS is committed to create equal opportunities to all employees across diverse demographics to be recruited, to develop, and to grow in their careers. This includes also the building of an inclusive environment that will sustain that diversity. By taking conscious efforts at every step to level the playing field for all, we are able to create an environment that is meritocratic and centred around competencies of individuals, beyond an individual’s demographic. This mentorship has been started as part of a wider initiative to provide the kind of support mentioned, to develop employees who will benefit from this at important stages of their careers. We also engage diverse mentors on the journey to facilitate higher levels of cross-learnings.  The Australian team has done very well in this pilot, with successful Chemistry Coffee and Mentee Networking Events and extremely high engagement feedback from mentees.”

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