"“Mujeres en Red” (MER) is a project that we promote from Movistar Telefónica Hispam in alliance with our collaborating companies and its objective is to promote the employability and training of women in technical telecommunications tasks to close the gender gap in in traditionally male roles.

The project started in Peru in 2020 and in 2021 it was replicated to our operation in Colombia. To date, in both countries, MER has promoted decent employment and the empowerment of more than 900 women technicians and has trained more than 7,000 people (men and women technicians and administrative team) on topics such as new masculinities, unconscious biases, and female empowerment. This achievement has been possible thanks to alliances with collaborating companies, social and educational organizations, and the government.

Through MER we are committed to the creation of shared value, by having an impact on the business (which is reflected in the productivity and customer satisfaction indicators of the women technicians), in alliance with women who are transforming their lives and those of the people around them."

https://www.movistar.com.pe/mujeres-en-red

• Colombia
• Peru

• Women

"To ensure the scalability and sustainability of the project, we have established productivity KPIs for women technicians and measured the Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the services provided. Thus, we demonstrate to the collaborating companies the profitability of being inclusive and the importance of having diversity in their workforce: we identified that women and men have similar productivity, demonstrating that talent has no gender and, in many cases, women technicians have better NPS than men technicians. In Peru, this year the women technicians have obtained a 10% higher score in NPS, compared to their peers.

To achieve a successful workforce integration in a traditionally male environment, we have promoted the development of protocols that eliminate biases in recruitment and selection of personnel, training, retention plans, zero tolerance for harassment, among others.

The program has organically expanded within the company, starting in Peru’s Technical Customer Service (TCS) area and later extending to Maintenance of Telecommunications Infrastructure, Logistics and B2B. In 2021 it was replicated in our Colombian operation in the TCS area. This was possible due to the systematized methodology used by the project, which has 5 fronts: recruitment and selection, training, security, indicators, and communication and positioning.

This methodology serves as a guide to continue replicating the project in other operations where we are present in Latin America and we also make it available so that it can be used by the telecommunications industry. We are aware that only through this approach can a solid systemic change regarding gender equity in the sector be achieved. Other operators within the Telefonica Group (Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela) and other companies in the sector (in Argentina and potentially soon in Chile and Bolivia) have made adaptations of MER to suit their specific realities while preserving the concept of inclusion and equity."

In Peru, we identified a wide gender gap in the area of technical customer service , with women technicians representing 0.5%. After 1 year of implementation of the project, and given its good results, it was extended to new areas that also had little female participation, such as Telecommunications Infrastructure Maintenance (0.0%), B2B (7%), and Logistics (30%). In addition, the project crossed borders to our Colombian operation in the TCS area. The program has the following lines of action: 1.Recruitment and selection: We support our collaborating companies in the communication of calls for positions. Aware of the underrepresentation of women in STEM careers, due to unconscious biases, we have forged alliances with leading educational institutions to attract and recruit female talent. 2.Training: Our collaborating companies lead the technical and practical training for the new women technicians that are being incorporated. In addition, emotional training is provided to men and women technicians and administrative staff on issues of gender equality. 3.Security: We established inclusive contracting guidelines and a comprehensive security protocol to ensure the well-being of the women technicians. We carry out audits under a gender-equity approach on collaborating companies to guarantee compliance with labor regulations and ethical principles. 4.Indicators: Through a quarterly management dashboard, we monitor the evolution of key project indicators (number of technicians and trained personnel) and the performance of women and men technicians through productivity indicators and net promoter score (NPS), to demonstrate female productivity in operational technical sector. 5.Communication and positioning: We communicate the program through traditional and digital media, we focus on sharing testimonials about how MER has impacted women’s lives, improving their living conditions, breaking stereotypes and generating a positive influence in society. We also communicate the project at local and international events.