EDF: nuclear is recruiting and women have their place!

Young, experienced graduates, from bac pro to bac plus 5… Their integration into the Group will make them key players in the energetic transition. Joining EDF or one of its subsidiaries also guarantees the benefit of an exciting job, good career prospects and regular training. Not to mention that, for many years, the Group has been instilling in the nuclear sector the need to feminize functions and establish professional equality between women and men.

Nuclear, a sector at the heart of the job market in France

Arguing that nuclear power is attractive is obvious! It is the third industrial sector in France in terms of recruitment behind aeronautics andautomotive. It is a dynamic field which represents 6.7% of French industrial employment through its 220,000 employees and its 3,200 companies.

According to Sylvie Richard, director of the Grand carénage program, “ working at EDF is a human and technical adventure! Within a nuclear plant of electricity production, technique and professionalism are at the rendezvous. We learn about it every day precisely because it is complex, interesting and evolving”.

In fact, the sector nuclear must respond to current energy concerns, in particular by contributing to the energetic transition and fighting against global warming. By 2050, energy needs will be multiplied. Nevertheless, the emissions of CO₂ must be considerably reduced to curb global warming, and the use of nuclear energy contributes to this.

Recruitment within the EDF group

As a key player in the nuclear sector, the EDF group is part of this recruitment dynamic. The fields to be filled are those of maintenance — faucets, sheet metal work, rotating machinery, automation, electricity –, operation (control of a power plant), civil engineering, command control and testing. But the objective of this operation around career opportunities in the nuclear industry does not stop there… The EDF group is committed to highlighting the essential role of women in jobs that have until now been usually occupied by men. .

Stéphanie Eng supports the management of a team of business managers who carry out the maintenance of power plants in the fields of mechanics and electricity, she testifies to her experience in this male environment.

” Since 2019, I have been deputy manager of the Rotating Machines and Electricity Project Managers section at the Dampierre power plant. The section, very masculine, gathering more than 50 men and 1 woman could have had “a priori” about the fact that I am a woman, but I never perceived it. From the moment I commit and invest myself fully in my work and with the team, I think that the fact that I am a woman is not a subject “.

The sector’s efforts are daily to attract women to the energy professions, a point that Virginie Baujard, Diversity and Inclusion project manager within the Group, completes by advancing, ” We (editor’s note: the EDF group) is able to offer real motivation and fulfillment on subjects that impact us today and will impact the entire population tomorrow. “. Virginie Baujard continues: “ Working in a nuclear power plant takes on a form of responsibility, of pride, perhaps even more so as a woman since they are still too rare… but I hope that one day, we won’t say that anymore! This will mean that we have succeeded in changing the situation! “.

The involvement of the EDF group for the feminization of industrial professions

The EDF group’s commitment to a balance between women and men within its organization dates back to the early 2000s. Four agreements on professional equality have been signed with the aim of defending the “ policy of diversity and equal opportunities and to correct existing imbalances » within the Group, in all business lines and at all levels of its organization. A fifth was created recently for the period 2021-2025.

This commitment has borne fruit and Virginie Baujard confirms it: “ The group strives to preserve equal treatment between women and men, it has a strong proactive attitude. We can see it through the ambition for diversity with the desire to increase the share of women in all strata of the company, including managerial and managerial functions”.

To date, a quarter of EDF group employees are women, with a workforce of around 30% within EDF SA, a figure commented on by Sylvie Richard: “ Women are recognized and valued at EDF and I think that we have succeeded in verbalizing over time that diversity is an asset, as well as diversity and that, as it is precisely an asset, we had to try to become a little more “rich” ! »

The work of the EDF group around equal opportunities has been valued since 2014 with the obtaining of the GEEIS label (Gender Equality European & International Standard), renewed in 2019. The latter promotes companies that have adopted a “ proactive approach to gender equality “.