"Managing SLB’s DE&I Worldwide: a Global Mission and a Passion"
Team 50inTech
Today, 50inTech meets Olivia Djibo, woman of the world. She has a very special role: she’s SLB’s Global Technology Diversity and Inclusion Manager. And if you’re wondering if this position is as challenging as its title: it is! But, above all, it’s the (very) full-time job of an incredibly dedicated woman who travels around the clock to bring SLB’s DE&I policy to its +70 facilities across the world.
From Ivory Coast to Houston, Texas: Olivia Djibo, Woman of the World
I have three passports: Ivorian, French and American. But I was born and raised in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. I grew up in a land of contrasts.
An Upbringing in a Contrasting Country
I knew very soon that I wanted to pursue higher education and my parents have always supported my ambitions. However, I vividly remember that, when I decided to undertake a master in aerospace engineering, it raised concerns among a few uncles: ‘why did I need another degree?’ How would I find a husband as an ‘overqualified’ woman? Let’s just say that my choice led to some discussions… Yet, more than the little pushback, the very early realization that, depending on your family’s socio-economic status, the contrast in fate was stark, stuck with me.
To succeed, you’ll have to be part of the lucky few who run the country and the economy, those with the right last name…. Fairness in treatment, your entire future, based on your circumstances… This lesson from my childhood made me thirst for justice and equality. I value everyone’s opinion, no matter where they come from!
A Land of Opportunity … and a Home
I joined SLB immediately after my Master Degree. For two years, I worked in the field in Indonesia, as part of our Tech and Field program. It’s a special program for people destined to work in R&D: you’re sent to the reality of the field. It gives us the chance to acquire some concrete expertise, it makes us better engineers, better designers, before being dispatched to SLB’s R&D centers. For me, that meant Houston.
I chose the US because I wanted to improve my English and – as cliche as it sounds – because it’s truly the land of opportunity: no one knows who you are, you’re allowed to succeed in your own name and for who you are, founded on your merit alone. I’ve been Houston-based for the last fourteen years. I love this city, its incredible diversity, its 10,000 restaurants! And Texas… Texans are lovely people: welcoming and warm, friendly with foreigners, not at all the image you get from the movies. This is by far one of my biggest surprises moving to the USA: Texas has become home!
SLB’s DE&I: So Much More Than Policies
Over the years I’ve grown from being a technical contributor to managing tech teams. Last year, I was asked to drive the overall DE&I strategy for the 20,000 employees across 70 centers in SLB’s technology organization.
A DE&I Culture Anchored in the History of SLB
In the ’70s, SLB recognized that they needed a workforce that reflected the countries they operated in: they started with what we call ‘National Diversity’ and it has been going on for 50 years, so much so that it’s now part of our DNA.
You can be an Ivorian, like me, or an Angolan engineer, and sit at the same table and at the same level as British scientists. There’s no ‘she’s from this place’. Who we’re and where we come from is completely integrated into what we do. Sometimes people take it for granted, but in this world, it’s really something to appreciate and protect.
Then, in the ’90s, SLB opened their workforce to women, starting in the field and aiming for 4% of women in the company. 20 years later, we’re at 24% of women. It’s not an easy ride. On average, we increase the percentage of women by one point every year, and that small 1% alone demands a lot of effort. It doesn’t magically happen overnight.
Our journey towards gender diversity is taking a little longer than I’d like, but we mustn’t ever give up. Change and progress rarely occur naturally. If we let it go, well, things may very well revert to what they were. Just as we pushed for national diversity, we need to push this agenda deliberately, with the right intention and proactively.
Paving the Way for DE&I Across the Industry
SLB is a group of men and women with very different backgrounds and 170 nationalities: this makes us quite unique. And we’re pioneers, in everything we do: last year we released the first-ever Global Pay Gap Report.
Incidentally, we were really proud to discover that the salary gap between male and female in the company was less than 3%! This report gives us the framework to address potential disparities country by country, facilities by facilities. And I think it opens the door for other businesses in our field to join us in this, and become more transparent about pay equity themselves. This is a huge step forward!
SLB’s culture is based on three pillars: People, Tech and Performance. We need the right people and the right technology if we want to deliver performance that goes way beyond profit!
This set of values reflects who we’re as a company, worldwide. Regardless of the country in which we operate, employees feel part of the SLB family and are passionate about being pioneers. This is true in all our sites, this unity for our common good. And considering all the different cultures among us, the uniqueness of SLB never ceases to amaze me.
Managing SLB’s DE&I Worldwide: a Global Mission and a Passion
When I took this position, I immediately wanted to understand what DE&I means globally: the challenges and preoccupations of our people in different parts of the world and with different cultures, not just from an American perspective.
Global DE&I Can’t Be One Size Fits All
It takes time. So far, I have visited 19 of our 71 centers. I intend to visit them all. Earlier this year I went to India, toured all the SLB entities there. And yes, the conversation there is different from that of the United States or Europe. The emphasis they put on a particular concern and the way their heritage makes them see and respond to situations are radically different.
For example, in the United States, the conversation revolves a lot around racial equity, while in India, it’s about trying to uplift women, in the workplace and in society as well. When you go to Singapore, it’s a whole different conversation: they work hard to embrace the many cultures that make up the fabric of their society. And Mexico is much like India when it comes to women…
In several places, we’re only at the awareness stage, in others we’ve reached the compliance stage and in some, we’re at a point where we can make a concrete difference. Yet, in some entities, even touching on specific topics isn’t allowed. I must take all this into consideration: it makes my role both compelling and tremendously challenging: we must find multiple solutions for multiple situations.
Ultimately, I believe that everyone wants to be listened to and heard, to be valued and to feel respected, regardless of the country in which they live and work.
For The Times, They Are a-Changin’… If We Make Them
Disability has become a huge topic of interest for SLB in recent years. It was kind of a blind spot in our workforce, like in most companies. Nowadays, we strongly push several policies.
Disability Accommodations
New facilities are built with disability accommodations in mind, because if they aren’t ready, how can we attract the right people when they can’t picture themselves in the workplace? Last year, we created our SLB’s Facility Scorecard: a tool that assesses the degree of accessibility in all our entities.
Friendliness in the Recruitment Process
We’ve carried out an audit of our website. The results have enabled us to implement numerous actions to make SLB more welcoming to people with disabilities, both in terms of recruitment and internally.
Employees’ Awareness
Some of our employees themselves live with disabilities, frequently undetected. Often, they won’t come forward on this. Awareness is a key element for them to feel that they don’t have to hide: the more we talk about it, the more we show them that they’re accepted, welcomed, the more they will realize that they belong.
Diversity Beyond Gender and Beyond Nationality
True diversity encompasses things that are sometimes difficult to quantify or understand. Certainly not the easiest part of my mission. As a company, we want to embrace our employees in all their differences and uniqueness. However, in some of the countries where we operate, certain conversations aren’t even allowed, let alone individual rights and choices. Step by step, we’re raising the level of awareness. Sometimes it’s the only thing we can do…
A Mission of Impact
When I accepted this role of Global Technology DE&I Manager, I underestimated how significant it could be. And it is, truly. Many of my initiatives have consequences globally, even at country-level: driving change in the culture of inclusion has become central to what we do at SLB.
We’re known to be leaders in diversity, and I want us to become leaders in inclusion. Yes, it’s a huge undertaking! Nonetheless, this is my dream for SLB. I’m working to make this a reality, and we need to have a 360° view of the multiple layers of DE&I. We’re rolling out our own inclusion index: I can’t say more about that, except that it’s a massive project, given our global footprint. It’s a big challenge, but we’re ready.
Yes, I believe I am having an impact!
The Way Ahead for Tech, Women … and I
Our aspiration is to reach 30% of women worldwide by 2030. As soon as we achieve this number, we’ll aim for parity by…. 2050 would be fantastic, would love to see that!
Working for Women Empowerment Is Working for Everyone’s Empowerment
There are three conditions to achieve this huge objective:
- Attract talented women from different backgrounds.
- Retain them: this is a large part of my mission within SLB. If you keep attracting and they keep leaving, as numbers from tech companies show, that’s water slipping through our fingers. Our Women in Tech events open the door to a better understanding of our female workforce: what would it take to keep you? What would you like us to implement and to improve? We need to get their views, so we can act on them! It can’t be a guessing game if we want to get it right!
- Promote women in the business and ensure that our career path is fair and that our work environment is women-friendly and supportive.
There’s a place for women in the Tech world and in the industry! We need to provide more role models, more mentorship between our people. Although we have already implemented many initiatives, this is simply not enough!
Five Years From Now
I’ve been with the company since I was 17, they’re part of me. Five years from now, I imagine myself in SLB, still, fighting for fairness, always. Maybe in a new role, maybe back to leading technical teams, because I’m a technician at heart, I’m passionate about technology. But I will never forget what I’m learning at the moment in this job, which is really about making sure we create an environment where everyone can thrive: I'll bring it all, one way or another, in any position entrusted to me.
