Sustainable Excellence
in Luxury Hospitality Business Education

Promoting the well-being of our students, alumni and employees

Glion embraces our family spirit as a core principle of our culture of care. We are committed to ensuring the well-being of our community, from our students on campus to our alumni and employees worldwide.

At Glion, We pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. As an integral part of our Social Responsibility efforts, we undertake tangible and measurable initiatives to safeguard the health, safety and overall welfare of our entire community.

How we build a culture of care:

• Our students have access to a robust health support system of nursing and counselling services on campus. Every semester we organize campaigns and events to promote the physical and mental well-being of our students, including workshops on the risks of alcohol and drugs, mental health awareness, sexuality and harassment prevention, and diversity and inclusion.

• We support employee well-being with various initiatives throughout the year: for example, providing turbo-massages, inviting guest experts to discuss mental and physical health topics, holding meditation workshops, and celebrating global events such as mental health day and happiness week.

• Glion recently commissioned an independent auditor to conduct a formal verification of its salary equality analysis. The findings confirm that all calculations adhered to the Swiss Confederation’s standard analysis model. The results show that, on average, women earn 1% more than men; however, when considering differences in qualifications and job-related characteristics, women earn 2.3% less. Importantly, the report concludes that there is no gender-related effect in the salary calculations, reaffirming Glion’s commitment to fair and transparent compensation practices.

• Each year our Glion community comes together to sponsor charity associations through actions such as fundraising, food drives and clothing donations.

• Our actions to enhance the health and well-being of our community continue to evolve and grow. In 2024, we will launch an Ethics Committee to further support our progress in areas such as Health and Safety and Diversity Equity Inclusion.

Acting to protect the environment

At Glion, we practice what we teach in sustainability by undertaking tangible actions to diminish our environmental footprint across all campuses. We target areas where we can make the most impact, such as reducing energy consumption and waste, optimizing water usage, and sourcing food and beverages from local and sustainably managed outlets.

From promoting sustainable transportation to combatting food waste, we make conscientious choices throughout our daily operations to prioritize environmental protection. These actions are supported by impact assessments and data analysis, ensuring accurate measurement of our progress.

 

What we do to protect our environment:

Reducing energy consumption – water, heating and electricity

• Water savers have been installed on all campus taps and showerheads in student accommodation, and push shower buttons continue to be installed as part of our initiative to reduce yearly water consumption by 10% per year until 2026.

• By carefully controlling indoor temperatures, we are committed to reducing our use of heating by 5% per year until 2026.

• Our Living Plus renovation project is set to enhance the isolation properties of buildings on our Swiss campuses. In Bulle, our low-energy-consumption buildings have qualified for Minergie and Green Label certification.

• When not in use, all electrical equipment is turned off, rather than left in standby mode.

• Energy-efficient devices have been chosen wherever possible, including transitioning to LED lighting.

Reducing non-hazardous waste and food waste

• Through targeted actions, we are committed to achieving a 10% reduction in our generation of non-hazardous waste by 2026. In addition, we aim to reduce our food waste annually by 10%.

• We work with our suppliers to curb the use of cardboard and plastic packaging.

• Our service team encourages clients to bring their own re-usable porcelain cups as a more sustainable alternative to single-use coffee cups.

• We offer a 10% discount on food items near their consume-by date to combat food waste.

Sustainability awareness, traceability and accountability

• From cleaning products to food, in our supply chain we privilege the purchasing of environmentally sustainable and local goods. We source our meat from Switzerland and Europe, and 80% of our food products were locally sourced in 2023.

• Our operations with suppliers have been optimized to reduce the frequency of deliveries and cut down on transport emissions.

• Our staff and students have implemented an action plan to raise sustainability awareness among our entire community. Through the Glion Green Committee, our students spearhead ongoing projects to lessen our environmental impact and bring attention to sustainability issues.

• Sustainability is built into our governance structure, with annual Social Responsibility reporting to measure our carbon footprint and track our progress, and Social Responsibility Champions to initiate and promote sustainable practices among our employees.