Care Together by TotalEnergies: feedback on the measures to build a more inclusive working environment

Julien BENITO
Gas chromatography chemist Solaize, France

Julien: My name is Julien Benito, I'm 38 years old. I’ve been deaf since birth. I work at the Solaize Research Center.

Vincent LIVADARIS
Analytical Platform Manager Solaize, France

Vincent: Vincent Livadaris, I'm the manager of the analytical platform at the Solaize Research Center.

[Visual: Logo Care together by TotalEnergies]

Why did you choose TotalEnergies?

Julien: For as long as I can remember, I was told that being disabled was not compatible with technical positions. And since I didn't want to work in an office, I took a chance and applied for a job at TotalEnergies to break the barriers and work with a foreman, on refining and water treatment unit.

What adaptations were necessary?

Vincent: In terms of organization with Julien, what is fundamental, is actually to discuss the difficulties and constraints he may have. To enable him to work efficiently at his post we had to adapt this position to his deafness.

Julien: So there were adjustments both in the lab and in the office. So in the lab, we had to set up visual alarms and in the office, we had to limit the number of people to work in good conditions. My colleagues and I put several solutions in place. The proposed solutions were: Deaf awareness training.

My team was invited along with two hearing aid acousticians. They explained what the disability is, how to understand deaf people and how to work with them.

Secondly, I’ve set up an application that transcribes all, external telephone calls with customer, supplier, etc. And thirdly, there are video meetings via Teams with subtitles.

How has this impacted on the rest of the team?

Vincent: In concrete terms, at team level, having someone like Julien has a big impact, because Julien forces us to review our ways of working, to question our ways of working together, and in the end this team is a bit of an ecosystem. In terms of team spirit, it's also very strong because there's a culture of benevolence which has been developed within this team and which has developed very strongly thanks to Julien, which is remarkable.

What is your feedback on welcoming different profiles into the team?

Vincent: Welcoming different profiles to our teams, is something we do every day, whether it’s on the theme of disability, cultural, gender , etc.

Diversity enriches us, and what brings us together is what we have in common, but it's really our differences that make us special and allow us to think out of the box and go beyond collectively.