Diversity and equality: Covivio, a committed European player

Covivio is committed to supporting people with disabilities

In 2021, Covivio launched its first disability mission, before signing a partnership agreement with the French “Association nationale de gestion du fonds pour l’insertion professionnelle des personnes handicapées” (AGEFIPH) in 2023.
With this agreement, Covivio has committed to concrete objectives for progress by 2026:

– Continue to raise awareness and training for managers,

– Strengthen career support for employees with disabilities within the Group’s teams.

Several concrete actions were deployed in 2024: welcoming a disabled employee in the IT team during “DuoDay” initiative, thematic conferences on mental health and reconciling chronic illness and professional activity, information about the Recognition as a disabled worker, disabled sports activities during the Week for the Employment of Disabled People, organisation of solidarity markets in collaboration with ESATs[1].

As part of its Foundation, Covivio supports several associations in this area:

– In France, “Fratries”, which develops and offers housing in city centres, where young working people with and without disabilities live together and have all the conditions they need to make a success of their journey towards independence and employment.

– In Italy, the “L’Impronta” association works to integrate vulnerable people into the labour market, particularly those with mental and physical disabilities.

– Finally, in Germany, the Foundation supports “Lebenshilfe”, which provides support and care for disabled people of all ages through a wide range of services (speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, administrative support, etc.).

Lastly, Covivio promotes inclusive recruitment and bases its practices on a process that guarantees equal treatment for candidates at every stage, as well as diversity in the profiles recruited. Since 2023, Covivio has also been a member in France of the “Tremplin Handicap” association, which works to ensure the success of the academic career and professional integration of young people with disabilities.

[1] Work-based support institution or service

Inclusion also has its place in the working environment!

In 2024, Covivio examined the link between the work environment and the implementation of inclusive policies in companies. With this in mind, a study entitled “From workplace to living space – Scenarios and recommendations for designing more inclusive workspaces” was carried out with the support of Total Tool, a design company, and Professor Giulo Ceppi of Milan Polytechnic University, an expert in the Design for all and Design for inclusion approaches. The recommendations for inclusive design focus particularly on diversity and individuality in three areas: disability, gender and culture.

Parity: priority to gender equality

Covivio’s HR policy is in line with the objectives of the collective agreements signed since 2011, in addition to the requirements of the Diversity Charter signed in 2010, and the Charter Equality in Real Estate (signed in 2021), in particular through the systematic analysis of pay gaps within the same job population, starting from a positioning of less than 5% of the median. In 2024, Covivio’s score on the French Gender Equality Index is 94/100 (compared with 95/100 in 2023).

In Germany, Covivio is a member of “Charta der vielfalt”, an initiative that promotes inclusion and diversity in the workplace through recruitment, training and skills development. Two people have been appointed to deal with discrimination and can be contacted by employees in the event of a complaint. In France, an e-learning module entitled “Preventing sexist behaviour” was distributed to all employees on the occasion of the national day against sexism in 2024.

In Italy, a partnership has been signed with “Valore D”, the main professional association committed to gender equality in Italy. Employees can access information on this issue and take part in events and initiatives proposed by the association (conferences, mentoring programmes, etc.).

Ex-Aequo, a Europe-wide programme to promote equal opportunities for men and women

To support the progression of women within the Group, Covivio has been rolling out the Ex-Aequo programme since 2017, which has two components:

– Actions to raise awareness of gender equality among all employees

– A mentoring programme designed to support and guide women who so wish in their professional careers, with the help of a mentor who is a member of Covivio’s European management team. For the 2025-2026 cycle, 25 French, Italian and German women are benefiting from this programme. More than 100 women have taken part in the scheme since its inception.