After a full year’s worth of planning and effort, and after passing two audits with flying colors, today Tecpetrol is celebrating winning the Equipares Silver Seal. We spoke to our colleagues from Human Resources about what this recognition means in terms of diversity.

Tecpetrol Colombia has been awarded the Equipares Silver Seal, an initiative developed by the Colombian Ministry of Labor in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It aims to bring about organizational changes to help close the gender gap. The award confirms that the company is on the right path toward achieving equity and sets a benchmark for continued growth and improvement.

“The Equipares Seal is one of the best-known and most prestigious awards in Colombia, andwe consider the award to be a great boost to our corporate +d program,” explains KarinaValero, HRBP Manager. “The Equipares Gender Equality Management System reviews acompany’s main processes to identify any possible inequalities in the organization so thatthey can be eliminated, ensuring that everybody is on equal terms,” she points out.

“One of the main objectives is to bring about a cultural transformation, extending beyond the workplace to people’s homes and society at large. This award not only prompts us to see how we can enhance people management practices at work, but also encourages us to reflect on our personal lives and examine the dynamics within our households, such as family co-responsibility, co-parenting and sharing childcare," Karina comments. “This is also how we are contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goal 5, which is gender equality,” she adds.

The corporate processes and strategies managed by HR and included in the +d program were singled out for praise by the Equipares committee adjudicating the seal. But there’s more: Tecpetrol has also carried out other actions in Colombia within the framework of the Equipares Gender Equality Management System. These include drafting role description documents for all positions, drawing up an interview guide and bias-free technical evaluations, implementing a referrals program, and rolling out campaigns to prevent gender-associated diseases, for instance.

Tania Espíndola, HRBP Regional Sr. Manager, highlights that, “the results recorded by the two audits of our efforts far exceeded the standards required. The first one was carried out internally by UNDP, and they gave us a compliance score of 94%, while in the second, performed by the auditing firm EXAC, we notched up a score of 96%.”

However, Tania elaborates on the deeper significance of receiving the Equipares Silver Seal: “It’s not merely about modifying a series of processes, documenting them or implementing them correctly. We believe that, beyond influencing the organization, these practices can be a blueprint for societal change. This is vital for Tecpetrol.”

The Equipares Silver Seal award is just a first step, as next year, the team is aiming to achieve the Gold Seal, an accolade awarded when it can be verified that the practices implemented have properly been incorporated into a company’s organizational culture. “It’s crucial for our people to have a genuine interest and for our practices to be consistent in pursuing the path of gender equality, always guided by our +d program,” concludes Tania.