L'Oréal Groupe Employer Statement

February 2026

Our commitment and gender equality 

Our purpose is to ‘create the beauty that moves the world’ and as the world’s leading beauty company, we understand that everything that we do can have a meaningful impact.  Gender equality at all levels, and in every function of our business, has been a focus for us over the past decade in Australia, and we’re pleased to see positive changes within our business as a result.  We continue to strive for gender equality to foster a more inclusive environment for everyone.

Our inclusion strategy centres on four pillars – flexibility, equal parental leave, career pathways for women, and pay equity.

Flexibility

We aim to create a work environment where we deliver excellent business outcomes, and where everyone can thrive. We are committed to working together with our employees to provide flexibility based on cooperation, trust, empowerment, fairness, transparency, and respect.

There are two distinct elements of our flexible work culture - - informal and formal flexible working arrangements. 

Informal arrangements allow our employees greater choice around how, when and where their work is done, with the support of a global policy and their manager. Examples of informal working arrangements include:

• The option to work remotely two days per week.
• Starting later in the day due to a personal appointment.
• Leaving early in the day due to a personal commitment.
• Time in lieu for working on a non-workday.

Formal arrangements provide employees who require a more structured work arrangement, the opportunity to change their employment contract to suit their individual circumstance. Examples of formal flexible work arrangements include:

• Working from home on a set day a week
• Part-time
• Job sharing

Equal Parental Leave

In 2018, we removed the classification of primary and secondary carers from our policy and offered 14 weeks of paid parental leave to all permanent full and part time employees from the time they commence with the company, regardless of their gender or relationship to the child, whether by birth or adoption. 

We also understand the devastating impact of stillbirth on families and employees, and we provide employees with the option of how they would like to approach work during this sensitive time.  

We continue to stay focused on supporting our male employees to take up the full allocation time for parental leave, as we understand the benefits for all working pants.  Equal parent leave is a critical aspect of our gender equality commitment, and reflects our dedication to supporting our employees and their families during important life events.

Career Pathways for Women

We know that that gender equality at all levels of our business adds immense value and powers innovation. Ensuring representation of women at senior levels starts within our talent pipeline and recruitment process for all roles. 

Having held the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Employer of Choice accreditation since 2019, we have demonstrated that we have strong systems and processes for performance appraisal and promotion that consider factors that might act adversely upon women. These systems include objective and gender-neutral performance criteria, clear progression pathways, accounting for bias and proactive succession plans. We also have policies that address equality of opportunities that contribute to accelerating career progression.

High female representation within our Executive committee has been an ongoing focus for us for many years and in 2025, six of the thirteen executive roles were held by women. This is well above the average of 26% (WGEA, 2024).

Pay Equity

Pay equity with like-for-like roles, has been a key part of our gender equality strategy for several years. We apply the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) methodology to calculate and measure gender pay equity.  EDGE is the leading global assessment business certification for gender equality to ensure inclusivity in the workplace.  We will continue to identify and address any gaps using this tool and publish this information each year for our employees. 

Drivers of L’Oréal’s gender pay gap

The gender pay gap exists due to a combination of factors. Firstly, women tend to be overrepresented in lower-level, part time and casual positions, where salaries are typically lower. As women progress to mid management roles, some may choose to leave the business, which is often driven by caregiving responsibilities.  This contributes to fewer females being represented in upper management. The disproportion in parental leave uptake and the length of tenure are also drivers we are aware of and focus on in our strategies.

L’Oréal’s gender pay gap action plan

Continuous efforts are underway to address these structural drivers, with initiatives aimed at promoting equal opportunities for career advancement and levelling the playing field across all levels of our workforce. Through ongoing advocacy and proactive measures, L’Oréal is actively working on closing the gender pay gap and fostering greater gender equality across our business. 

We will continue to:

• Conduct yearly gender pay gap assessments which cover base salaries, bonuses and other employment benefits by using a regression analysis.
• Systemically remediate any identified unexplained gender pay equity gaps and communicate openly on the organisation's proactive management of gender pay equity across all levels of responsibility. 
• Ensure that all candidates for management positions (from junior to top management) are interviewed by both male and female managers. 

The business has a no tolerance policy of sexual harassment and all forms of discrimination at the workplace. All employees are required to complete sexual harassment and discrimination prevention training and L’Oréal prohibits non-disclosure agreements and private arbitration arrangements across any sexual harassment and discrimination claims. Most of our employees agree that information on the procedure to report a concern regarding sexual harassment and discrimination is easily accessible to them, that they would not be retaliated against for reporting a concern and that the leadership would take appropriate actions in response to incidents of harassment and discrimination.

We will continue to build and deliver strategies to provide equal access, opportunities and rewards regardless of gender, background or life stage.