Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne - CSR Program of the Year

Company: Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Company Description: EHL delivers world-leading hospitality management education, consulting and innovation to students from 120+ nationalities and educational and corporate institutions in 60+ countries. Founded 125 years ago, the EHL Group business portfolio includes EHL Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, EHL Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality, and EHL Advisory Services.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year - in Europe

Nomination Title: EHL: Contributing Beyond Education - showcasing CSR excellence at EHL.

Our Mission and Performance

As an ambassador of the Swiss hospitality tradition, EHL’s mission is to bring together academia and hospitality to create higher education for action-driven individuals and to develop insightful thinking, together with innovative practices, across the international service industry and beyond.

We pride ourselves on building a community of responsible, innovative global citizens with expert knowledge, and solid values that can be combined and applied in the workplace. EHL graduates start strong and succeed, as demonstrated by our exceptional results: 96% employability, 69% in management positions, 55% work abroad and 50% in executive roles.

More than a family, EHL alumni form an active professional network with over 30,000 members pursuing careers in more than 150 countries.

Leading by example, CSR is fundamental to what we do at EHL with Contributing Beyond Education one of our overarching goals. Led by a dedicated working group and its Associate Director, our high-impact four-pillar CSR programme for 2020 reflects the priorities of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where we can have the most impact. These are:

Integrate Sustainability in Education (SDG 4)
Care for People (SDGs 3, 8, 10)
Contribute to Communities (SDGs 8,10)
Respect the Environment (SDGs 13)

The following results demonstrate our outstanding positive impact:

Education
235 participants attended our annual EHL Sustainability Week
20% of academic research linked to CSR topics
7 CSR field trips
2 complete sustainability courses
Topic of sustainable businesses /processes found in most classes

People
1m CHF Covid solidarity fund launched to support students
1,700+ students and staff trained in Sexual Harassment Prevention - a program developed by Women in Leadership (WIL) and Non-Violence Project Foundation - achieving top satisfaction scores (95%)
1300+ participants at WIL and Speak Up workshops
Ranked ‘Best Employer in Western Switzerland’ in Education by leading business bi-monthly magazine BILAN, for the fourth year running
Achieved coveted Place to Work® certification.
EHL was voted Best Workplaces™ 2021 in Switzerland

Community
586 EHL Community members registered on Alaya to volunteer and support our solidarity effort
1091 hours donated to provide on-the-ground support for local communities:
Helping Fondation Mère Sofia in Lausanne, preparing 200 meals for the Hotel de l’Union, all beneficiaries of state welfare.
Executive MBA Students in China sent 100,000 masks to the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois
17,580CHF raised for our #AEHL Family - 15,000CHF matched from the EHL Group - by crowd-funding across our communities, after the disastrous port explosion in Beirut.
Courage Your Way program supported 5 migrants to integrate into professional careers through training and apprenticeships.

Environment
21% reduction in carbon footprint since 2019
67% of waste produced on campus is recycled
17,925 sheets of paper saved via DocuSign.

Despite the pandemic bringing travel and tourism to a standstill, we have proudly shown resilience, adapted and acted. By relying on our sustainability framework to set our priorities, inform our thinking and guide decision-making, not only did we pass the test, but we grew even stronger to deliver exceptional outcomes.

Spotlight on ground-breaking initiatives

Sexual Harassment Prevention (SHP): As a front runner in responsible leadership, in 2019, WIL addressed a sensitive issue that pervades hospitality and created a blueprint solution for others to follow. SHP promotes our Value of Respect and directly contributes to our Care for our People goals. SHP has empowered 1700+ students and staff through bespoke training to think and act differently, supporting safety, wellbeing, diversity and inclusion whilst spreading our message across our EHL community and beyond in a pioneering move.

‘Integration into Gastronomy and Hotel Industry’: Created in partnership with Courage Your Way, our standout employability initiative is building bright futures in hospitality for motivated migrants. This fully-funded 9-month profession-specific and social welfare programme directly supports Contribute to our Communities, by giving back to local and global communities via jobs and economic growth. Since 2018, 9 students have benefitted: 6 securing apprenticeships, 1 hired into permanent position, 1 in the application process and 1 completing the programme.

Free Resources for Hospitality Business Recovery: To support the hospitality industry, EHL has set up an online portal bringing together faculty research, web shows, access to pro bono advice, and free online courses.

Our supporting document contains images, stats, videos and feedback to showcase our achievements.

About EHL: Vision, values and goals

Contribution Beyond Education. We embed environmentally and socially sustainable ethos in all that we do, so all our actions positively impact the greater community. See how our CSR strategy aligns with UN SDGS, and watch a vibrant video from our CEO - bringing it all to life.

2019/20 Standout Achievements: See our results against each of our 4 CSR pillars in numbers and infographics.

EHL Sustainability Week 2021: EHL’s conferences, webinars and other events on topics such as “Women in Leadership” during Sustainability Week have inspired organisational change and sparked important conversations on topics that are difficult to tackle, but must be considered by the new generation of business leaders. Listen to our CEO talking about aims and objectives.

Women in Leadership: Meet our team, learn about their vision, their standout activities and results over the past two years, which have focused on topics such as:

Leadership diversity and inclusion
Women in hospitality, women and entrepreneurship
Networking, mentoring, coaching, championing women
Flexible work arrangements, managing work and family, parenthood
Talent management, pay equity, sexual harassment
Women’s careers, dual-career couples, expatriation

Sexual Harassment Prevention. Learn about how WIL developed this landmark initiative and the exceptional results that it has achieved.

Courage Your Way employability initiative. We have successfully supported 8 students in difficult life situations to overcome challenges, such as education and integration, to open doors to a better life in Switzerland.