Our commitments to our people

Our Group aims to expand responsible practices and a culture rooted in gender equality. These principles foster employee well-being and diversity and boost our attractiveness for future hires.

Download the 2024-2025 CSR report

Promoting gender equality

In France, Hachette Livre earned a 95/100 on the Gender Equality Index in 2025.

The Gender Equality Index recognizes initiatives that promote gender equality in the areas of hiring, training, promotion and wages.
The proportion of women is 45% within the Executive Committee and 54% within senior management.

In the UK, Hachette UK figured among the “Top 50 Employers for Women” for the fifth consecutive year in 2024.

The Group regularly organizes awareness-raising campaigns about sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Fighting sexism

Since 2021 more than 1,200 employees in France benefited from sexism and sexual harassment training.

The company rolled out a self-test campaign in partnership with #meandyoutoo, to help employees evaluate their sexist biases and stereotypes within the context of the publishing industry. The goal was to help them better recognize their patterns and improve employee-manager relationships to provide a welcoming, high-performance workplace.

A hybrid workplace that boosts team spirit, creativity and efficiency

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a slew of initiatives helped to preserve team spirit: onboarding, international virtual coffee hours, and remote events for employees’ children, for example. We rolled out digital tools, trainings, and best practices to maintain efficiency and creativity.

In 2022, implementing ideas developed by a panel of employees who participated in co-design workshops to address shifting work practices, Hachette Livre set up some of its meeting rooms and outdoor spaces to promote coworking, particularly hybrid coworking (some employees on site, others remote), foster creativity, and improve workplace well-being for all.

Fostering inclusion

All of the Hachette Livre Group entities are members of the French non-profit Mission Handicap Hachette Livre, which was founded in 2014. In 2021 the Group rolled out a network of seven disability contacts at the local level. Employees can contact them with any questions or comments related to the issue.

We have made four concrete commitments:

To change the way we view disabilities by raising awareness among our teams and training our managers.
To help employees obtain recognized status as workers with disabilities and to adapt their workstations accordingly.
To hire more people with disabilities by developing partnerships with non-profits, specialist organizations and schools.
To guarantee our content is accessible for the widest possible audience by adapting our practices and tools.

Hachette Livre partners with Agefiph and Cap Emploi. Our Group is also a member of Tremplin and Arpejeh and actively participates in DuoDay.

Inclusion training and awareness-raising campaigns

Hachette Livre’s “Mission Handicap” disability office regularly offers awareness-raising webinars and organizes parasport events open to all employees. The Group encourages managers to attend trainings about the ins and outs of disability stereotypes to develop a better understanding of the challenges at the recruitment level and better welcome and support employees with disabilities.

The Group plans to train all of its managers in inclusive management by 2025.

Equal opportunity and diversity

Hachette Livre has stepped up its diversity and inclusion initiatives. Recruiting employees from more diverse backgrounds addresses two issues. First, it ensures our company looks like the wider world we live in. Second, it promotes publication of diverse content to meet the expectations of all readers. In France, Hachette Livre has made an awareness-raising web app on diversity and inclusion available to all employees: a questionnaire which explores diversity issues such as background, religion, disabilities, LGBTQI+, and more.

Supporting students and recent graduates

in their first job search

In France

Since 2017, a sponsorship agreement with Sciences Po has provided students admitted to the prestigious institution via the Priority Education Convention (CEP) with book allowances. The Group offers further support to the CEP cohort by welcoming interns, providing mentors, and serving on the admissions jury. In 2019 Hachette Livre began a partnership with Nos Quartiers ont du Talent (Our Neighbourhoods Have Got Talent), which pairs recent graduates with a “big brother” or “big sister” from among volunteer employees. To ensure it receives diverse applications, the Group participates in job fairs like “Révèle ton talent”, which focuses on sandwich courses, and publishes vacancies on platforms like Diversifiezvostalents.com by the recruitment agency Mozaïk RH.

In the UK

Hachette UK’s diversity and inclusion programme, Changing the Story, has rolled out key initiatives, including active employee networks which have more than 800 members, and an awareness-raising programme in schools and universities to inspire the next generation of publishers.

In 2021 11.5% of Hachette UK employees identified as Black, Asian or ethnic minorities. The goal is to reach 15% by 2024.

In the United States

Hachette Book Group promotes inclusiveness in the workplace thanks to its Diversity Advisory Board, which comprises employees from all its sites and at all career stages. A number of initiatives have helped to increase employee diversity. In 2022 HBG focused on senior employees of colour.