Disability: a strong disability policy

EDF was one of the very first groups in France to foster the workplace integration of people with disabilities. EDF is determined to open its doors to all skills and all abilities, without exception. 

  • 12 million

    of French citizens have a disability

    Only 2.7 million of them are officially registered as disabled.

  • 2023-2025

    The new disability agreement has been signed*

    The disability policy is a Group priority.

  • Nearly 6,000

    Group employees in France have a disability

    Around 7,000 employees worldwide have a disability

EDF recruitment of disabled employees

Internationally, 7,000 disabled employees work on a daily basis to address the Group's challenges. 6,000 of these employees are based in France.

For over 30 years, EDF has been committed to promoting the recruitment of disabled people, and was one of the very first French companies to co-sign an agreement with the trade unions on the professional integration of disabled people. The social responsibility agreement (SRA) signed by the Group also covers this aspect.

On 23rd October 2017, EDF signed the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Global Business and Disability Network Charter, which promotes the principles and actions underpinning the integration of disabled persons in the workplace. This signature and accession reinforces EDF's determination to promote the principles of the Charter and to continue working on their implementation in all the Group's companies.

EDF also supports the professional activities of people with disabilities through its subcontracting of workers from the "sheltered and adapted sector": in 2023, this amounted to over €27M of procurement from sheltered workshops (EA) and assisted employment centres (ESAT).

 

A network of stakeholders

In order to support its disabled employees and ensure the implementation of its commitments, EDF has set up a network of leads, from corporate level to shop floor level.

  • Corporate disability leads for the Group's largest companies in France
  • There are disability leads in corporate specialist divisions or at a regional level, depending on the organization of each company
  • There are local disability leads, who mobilize relevant stakeholders (medical-social workers, HR, purchasers, specialists)

R&D actions fostering the integration of disabled persons

The know-how of EDF's researchers contributes to pro-disability projects carried out through partnerships.

They have thus developed, for example, the AccesSim application, which models the environment to facilitate accessibility diagnostics and navigation. The user experiences the perspective of someone with reduced mobility in a wheelchair, in a virtual environment that replicates the main difficulties faced daily by wheelchair users.

As a result, the stakeholders involved in urban planning have an experience-based awareness of these difficulties, and the constraints faced by people with reduced mobility are better taken into account.

EDF's R&D researchers are also developing equipment for disabled athletes, for both competition and training.

As one of the companies that has been working the longest to drive the workplace integration of disabled persons, EDF is now, more than ever before, continuing its work to welcome disabled persons who have the specialist skills that it needs and integrate them in the Group.