BIC_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY Our social responsibility to our employees

its creation, BIC University has developed numerous training programs that serve as vehicles for developing the core competencies that must be shared by everyone in the Group. The management curriculum is now complete and available everywhere in various forms: in-person training, webinars, e-learning modules, simulation exercises, etc. It allows trainees to assimilate the BIC managerial culture and learn how to use the Group’s specific tools for building a team and developing its individual members (Talent Frameworks). The curriculum comprises four key modules, created for BIC in collaboration with its own employees and an outside service provider: recruiter@BIC: how to recruit the right person for today and ● tomorrow; manager@BIC: how to create the conditions that will allow each ● employee to succeed; leader@BIC: how to build an effective team based on BIC’s values ● and vision; learner@BIC: how to learn purposefully and effectively to improve ● current performance and future development. In 2017, the learner@BIC program was completely overhauled to integrate feedback since its implementation two years ago. In addition, a new program called “ProChange” was launched to bolster the culture of project management and change management throughout the BIC Group, including all teams, functions and continents. Increasing BIC University’s impact BIC continues to invest in its organizational capacities to make BIC University’s training available to everyone everywhere. The four-phase deployment strategy defined for BIC University in late 2015 was pursued in 2017. A few examples of progress made: “BIC U everywhere for everyone”: in 2017, the implementation of BIC University in Latin America continued with the identification of a BIC U contact in each country in the region, the development of internal and external resources (training for trainers and selection of external service providers) and greater visibility of BIC U through BICUonline. “BIC U aligned with business priorities”: 2017 marked the launch of several new programs: the “English Learner@BIC” workshop, in which participants define goals and concrete action plans for achieving them; the “ProChange” program for bolstering the BIC culture of change management; and the “Managing Safely” program conceived to help reduce the number of workers’ accidents in the Stationery category. “Quality first”: In 2017, 68% of the programs were evaluated by employees (using the ForMetris tool) as offering “better quality” or “much better than average quality,” confirming the ForMetris level of the past several years. “BIC U remains a melting pot for BIC”: the ProChange program, for example, uses a BIC toolkit developed by internal experts from all categories and all continents. Technical/functional training The technical training for BIC’s specific industrial operations is developed locally: each entity invests in a program to build the technical and functional skills it needs. The financial curriculum, which provides fundamental training in the concepts and tools specific to BIC Group, was revised in 2016 and made available worldwide, with a particular focus on South America.

RATE OF INTERNAL PROMOTION AMONG MANAGERS (LEVELS 3, 4, 5 AND 6) – BIC GROUP

69%

65%

66%

35%

34%

31%

2017

2015

2016

External recruitment Internal recruitment

In 2017, the internal promotion rate was 69% for the four top manager levels. This rate has been between 64% and 66% from 2013. For all managers’ categories, the internal promotion rate was 51% in 2017, while it had remained stable for several years at 45%. Learning from others (“20”) At BIC, the cultivation of a feedback culture is a cornerstone of personal development, performance development and therefore career development. This feedback culture is reinforced in all management training modules and is a key topic in the programs “manager@BIC,” “recruiter@BIC” and “learner@BIC.” As part of the effort to integrate it into the Group’s culture, feedback is gradually being included in the manager performance evaluation criteria. Greater use of 360° feedback, in which employees receive feedback not only from their managers but also from a selection of co-workers or internal clients representative of their professional relations, is being made. In 2017, the BIC Group rolled out a mentoring program conceived to promote employees’ development, increase knowledge sharing, drive performance, expand networks and build talent retention. Launched for the benefit of the top 50 high-potential managers in line for key positions within the Group, the program matched them with Leadership Team members and other managers for a one-year mentoring assignment. An extensive toolkit was designed and provided to all participants to optimize the mentoring relationship. In 2017, the “Executive Coaching” program was also made available to managers to help them recognize ways to improve the effectiveness of their performance and their impact in the business. Managers learn to identify business and/or relationship goals, and then develop strategies and action plans to achieve those goals.

Learning from training (“10”) The programs developed by BIC University

With plants and sales teams in 53 countries, it is critical for BIC to make training accessible to everyone, everywhere in the world. This is the main mission of BIC University. Created in 1998, BIC University is a network of company training centers focused on developing team members’ potential and promoting BIC Group’s culture. Since

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BIC GROUP - 2017 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT