BIC - 2018 Registration document

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY

Our social responsibility to our employees [NFPS]

3.4.9.

SOCIAL DIALOGUE

strives, insofar as its resources allow, to improve working conditions by offering wages above the legal minimums, through superior employee benefits, or through investments to improve the working environment. These types of social progress are a subject of prior dialog, and the employees and their representatives are kept informed to ensure optimal communication. Progress made in 2018 ❯ The topics discussed in the negotiations are related either to local obligations or to the previously mentioned management points. For example, many mechanisms to promote safety and health in the workplace have been initiated through social dialog.

Challenges ❯ BIC Group strives to use all the means available to engage in dialog with its employees. In this spirit, it sets up the initiatives on listening to employees mentioned on page 97. To maintain its employees’ engagement and remain attentive to their expectations, the Group strives to cultivate a high-quality social dialog, either directly with the management or with the employees themselves, their representatives, or labor union representatives at unionized sites.

Approach ❯

In every country where the Group has operations, it complies with all applicable collective agreements. In addition, each subsidiary The following table gives a few examples of such agreements.

Perimeter

Topic

Spain – BIC Iberia

A contract was signed between unions and the employer guaranteeing the Company’s independence from branch or field agreements, ensuring ongoing discussions and negotiations with internal team members who know the local and internal context. The contract offers team members better conditions than the steel union branch agreement while corresponding more closely to BIC’s needs. It ensures better follow-up and analysis of absenteeism, with the possibility of a corrective action plan, and confirms the update in 2018 and 2019 of job families, jobs descriptions and job mapping. A three-year agreement with the United Steelworkers union has been signed that will improve employees’ financial conditions while giving the Company greater flexibility. Negotiation of a new optional profit sharing agreement based on criteria linked to operations in order to improve individuals’ impact on the Group’s shared profits. An agreement on gender equality that integrates new benefits for employees while ensuring across-the-board equality of women and men in terms of human resources and careers.

United States

Clichy (France)

Performance ❯ An audit conducted in 2014 showed that at the end of that year, nearly 63% of Group employees were covered by a form of employee representation through Works Councils or committees, Health and Safety Committees, trade unions and collective agreements or equivalent. This representation takes place through regular meetings for explaining the monthly or annual financial results, describing the Company’s strategy, answering questions, etc. Employees in Manaus (Brazil) can make their observations and expectations known through the “HR & You” program. This new communication channel allows employees to dialog with human resources staff via a questionnaire focusing on leadership

effectiveness, communication, remuneration and engagement. The Leadership Team is also questioned in order to highlight any convergences or gaps that might arise between the two groups. Action plans are then defined to address the critical points thus identified. This project was launched for the Lighters category in 2017, and in 2018 the participation rate among employees in the Shavers category was 100%. Perspectives ❯ This culture of remaining attentive to its personnel and taking collective requests into consideration is vital for the Group and will be maintained in the years to come through contacts with both labor unions and employee representatives.

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• BIC GROUP - 2018 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT •