Overview:

As part of its long-term and comprehensive commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), L’Oréal embraces its role as a pioneer and leader in disability inclusion within the beauty industry, implementing a wide range of disability inclusion initiatives targeted internally at its employees and workplace, and externally at its consumers and external partners.

L’Oréal has notably developed (1) the #BreaktheSilence campaign to dismantle stigma and raise awareness surrounding disability by encouraging L’Oréal employees to disclose if they have disabilities, (2) Beauty Tech, particularly under Lancôme with HAPTA, to leverage technology for good and make beauty accessible for all, and (3) groups and events that are intended to incentivise focus on disability inclusion, such as the Beauty of Inclusion Awards—a competition that recognises and celebrates the most inspiring initiatives led by L’Oréal’s teams worldwide in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, including projects focusing on the inclusion of people with disabilities, whether for employees, consumers or communities.

Problem Definition:

The importance that L’Oréal assigns to authentic disability representation stems primarily from the Group’s Sense of Purpose to Create the Beauty that Moves the World, and also from an aim of the industry more generally: to make people feel beautiful.

Given the current social stigma and lack of understanding and awareness surrounding disability in society overall, people with disabilities can feel excluded from existing beauty standards. As the global leader in Beauty, L’Oréal wants to lead by example and call to action on the topic for the public good.

L’Oréal is committed to creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace and society, where people with disabilities are fully empowered and valued. L’Oréal understands that disability inclusion is not only a matter of social responsibility, but also a source of innovation and creativity.

The Group has therefore identified three main areas of action to advance disability inclusion: increasing disability representation within their workforce, enhancing the accessibility of their beauty products for customers with disabilities, and raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities faced by people with disabilities.

Approach:

Recognising the need to address disability inclusion internally to also successfully meet the needs of customers externally, L’Oréal has engaged in several workplace inclusion and awareness initiatives in the past decade and more. The #BreaktheSilence campaign, rolled out annually, encourages L’Oréal employees to disclose disabilities by raising awareness on the topic.

This initiative has created opportunities for events, peer-to-peer learning and support, and many other iterations, always adapted to local specificities and workstreams in which disability inclusion and accessibility are at earlier or more advanced stages of understanding and adoption. #BreakTheSilence has been rolled out globally and has acted as the main awareness-raising communication campaign for employees, in addition to numerous ongoing training and disability-specific hiring programmes.

From a product development and branding standpoint, L’Oréal encourages its various workstreams to boost creative thinking and innovation on developing accessible and inclusive products through internal awards and incentives. The L’Oréal Beauty of Inclusion Awards is a global internal competition that values and celebrates concrete actions fostering Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. One of the winning projects in the 2022 edition consisted in placing QR codes on product packaging, identified by embossing or a relief varnish, enabling audio reading of L’Oréal websites using the Voiceover application on iPhones, commonly used today by people with visual impairments.

This is a significant initiative which demonstrates how packaging can drive accessibility and inclusion.  L’Oréal actively pursues cross-brand and cross-region knowledge sharing to accelerate learnings

Impact:

The impact of L’Oréal’s consistent investment has been felt across the company: the number of L’Oréal employees that identify as persons with disabilities increased. In 2022, there were 1,625 employees at L’Oréal who disclosed their disabilities, and the proportion of L’Oréal employees with disabilities in France has increased from 4.33% in 2010 to 5.6% in 2022.

An extensive DE&I learning programme is available to all employees, including 14 specific e-learning courses on a selection of DE&I topics as well as a selection of podcasts. Specific DE&I modules are embedded in several L’Oréal University programmes and other targeted learning programmes (Management, Marketing, Human Relations, Corporate Affairs & Engagement…).

An Inclusive Leadership programme was launched in 2022 and is currently being rolled out across all Divisions, with the aim for all members of management committees to be trained by the end of 2024.

Hundreds of teams throughout L’Oréal participate in the Beauty of Inclusion Awards, promoting the most inspiring initiatives that advance DE&I at the Group level.

One of the greatest success stories has been in the development of the HAPTA technology under the Lancôme brand.

Inclusive beauty revolution: Lancôme’s HAPTA and the path to accessible makeup for all:

Overview:

Many people with limited mobility struggle applying makeup, preventing individuals from experiencing independence in self-care and hindering self-confidence. Aligning to their ethos of inventing a powerful beauty experience with a positive impact on women, Lancôme created HAPTA – the world’s first handheld computerised makeup applicator designed for users with limited hand and arm mobility.

Applying makeup often requires a range of mobility, strength and dexterity that many individuals – with and without disabilities – do not have. This is especially true for individuals with limited mobility due to disability, ageing, chronic illness, or short or long-term injury rehabilitation. HAPTA provides a solution which facilitates makeup application and promotes independence and dignity for users. Today, HAPTA helps stabilise lipstick application, counteracting movements via self-levelling technology.  Lancôme prototyped it extensively, putting users at the centre and consistently testing and refining the technology in collaboration with the disability community.

In early 2023, Lancôme revealed a brand campaign for HAPTA, featuring women from the disabled community, further representing the vast diversity of the beauty consumer. The message is simple: Beauty (if defined as “makeup”) should be universally attainable, and thus there should be no barriers to applying makeup. The campaign was a smashing success, generating 7 billion impressions and spotlighting how HAPTA empowers people to independently enjoy beauty rituals.

HAPTA was named one of TIME Best Inventions 2023 based on consumer enthusiasm for both the product and Lancôme advancing inclusion. It cements Lancôme as an innovation leader making beauty more welcoming through smart design. There is clear demand for more tools creatively tackling accessibility barriers. Further research can uncover more needs, seeding the next generation of inclusive beauty inventions. Lancôme is committed to pushing boundaries on not only who engages with beauty, but how.

Looking Ahead:

L’Oréal continues prioritizing product accessibility innovation and championing their internal workplace inclusion initiatives. Their continued efforts have positioned L’Oréal among disability inclusion leaders both globally and within the beauty industry.

With robust infrastructure in place empowering brands, L’Oréal aims to lead the way in developing beauty products that embrace diversity and inclusivity.