BIC_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

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

2.4.8.

SOCIAL DIALOG

The professional integration of minorities In France, BIC became a member of the association Nos Quartiers ont des Talents (“Our Neighborhoods Have Talent”) and its mentorship program in April 2012. Founded in 2005, this non-profit organization helps young graduates from disadvantaged neighborhoods to find work. Its mentorship program mobilizes managers of member companies to coach young graduates during their job search. At the Clichy headquarters site, 14 managers participate in the program. 151 young graduates have been mentored since the beginning of the partnership and five are currently in the program. Through the program, 78 young graduates were hired between 2012 and the end of 2017. Perspectives ♦ In 2017, to cultivate even greater diversity, BIC formed a working group comprising employees from the various categories and geographic zones. The group also reflects the Company’s diversity, uniting different nationalities, age groups, responsibility levels, genders, etc. Charged with the mission of promoting and encouraging diversity and inclusion, this working group will set goals and define an action plan for the entire Group during 2018.

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 76. 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 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 2017 ♦ 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. The following table gives a few examples of such agreements.

Perimeter

Topic

Spain – BIC Iberia

Negotiation of the entire contract concerning working conditions.

Spain – BIC Graphic

Signing of an agreement on the redundancy plan.

United States

Signing of a three-year agreement with the United Steelworkers union that will improve employees’ financial conditions while giving the company greater flexibility.

Performance ♦ The audit conducted in 2014 showed that at the end of the year, 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. In addition to regular meetings between management and employees to identify possible improvements or employees’ expectations, there are specific and original ways for employees to raise any concerns that they might have, such as suggestion boxes placed on sites, or, once a month, inviting 10 employees, selected at random, to have lunch with the site’s Director or HR manager. In Brazil and Mexico, dialog is also encouraged through the “Canal Abuerto” suggestion boxes: employees can submit anonymous, sealed requests to which the management teams respond every week.

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 union and employee representatives. Highly diversified initiatives will be carried out at the local level to offer the best responses to local situations and needs. The 2014 study on employee representation and coverage will be updated in the near future.

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BIC GROUP - 2017 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT