After the pandemic, Iberia redesigned and relaunched its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan with a new approach that covers gender, generational, cultural (nationalities), LGTBIQ+ and disability groups.
The objective of this new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan is to achieve adequate management of the diverse talent that exists within the company, which enhances the commitment and feeling of belonging of the employees and promotes internal creativity and innovation to face organisational challenges.
Regarding gender equality, the airline is developing internal and external initiatives to give visibility to its female talent and promote the presence of women at all levels and roles within the company.
María Bello, Director of People Development and Diversity at Iberia, explained: “Companies must be a reflection of our society and be as diverse as possible. Through the new plan, we want to refocus DE&I initiatives and understand how diverse our company is, identify opportunities for improvement and break down barriers. To do this, we want to involve the entire organisation, rely on training and awareness programmes, set objectives, plan actions and review all our processes”.
2025: 40% of women in positions of high responsibility
38% of Iberia’s workforce is female; the majority of them are in the administrative team and among cabin crew and are still a minority in professions such as pilots, aeronautical engineers, and aircraft maintenance technicians.
In line with IAG, its parent company, Iberia is committed to increasing the percentage of women in management positions to 40% in the next two years. Between 2018 and 2022, the airline has gone from having 18% to 34% of women in the most senior positions.
Raise awareness, develop and showcase female talent
Iberia’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan promotes the presence of women in management positions and brings them closer to those professions in the aeronautical sector where they are still a minority, through a range of initiatives that revolve around three main pillars:
1/ Internal awareness and training in a committed culture to diversity and through different actions:
Carrying out “YoSInEtiquetas” workshops with employees from all areas to identify the framework for action.
A community of Diversity Ambassadors for each of the diversity groups: gender, generational, cultural, LGTBIQ+ and people with disabilities.
The incorporation of diversity into the internal brand values: “We are one and diverse”.
Monitoring the use of inclusive language in all internal and external communications.
2/ Processes related, above all, to professional development, inclusive HR policies and the Equality Plan:
Equality Plan: Iberia has materialised the agreements with the airline´s social representation of the three employee groups (ground staff, pilots and cabin crew) and, currently, is working to update it according to the law.
Inclusive HR policies:
Implementation of the 50% requirement of CVs in its selection processes of external candidates, for profiles where there is enough representation of both genders in the labour market.
Review from the gender perspective of various human resources processes such as attracting talent, leadership profile, evaluation, succession plan, climate survey, Training Plan and talent programmes.
External competitiveness study to ensure that salaries in Iberia are in line with the market and that there is no gender pay gap.
Female talent development and mentoring programme: Take the lead, to promote the professional career of women towards positions of greater responsibility.
3/ External communication actions to make female talent visible and attract women to professions like pilot, engineer, and maintenance technician, where female presence is still very minor.
Attracting and promoting technical careers among young women is the objective of Iberia’s “I want to be” programme, which allows girls between the ages of 16 and 18 to enjoy an “immersion” in the airline’s facilities and learn more about traditionally male professions in the aviation industry.
In addition, Iberia supports different associations and events aimed at lending visibility to women:
It is part of the “Ella vuelan alto” association, a project that seeks to promote female talent in the aviation industry, giving women a voice and making them more visible.
It supports the 50&50 Gender Leadership consultancy project, whose objective is to advance equal rights and opportunities
And it also participates in WoMen Now, a platform that gives a voice to extraordinary women.
