EDF / 2018 Reference document
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIETAL INFORMATION – HUMAN RESOURCES Further human resources considerations
Other Group employees’ social welfare The Group’s other employees in France are covered by several collective bargaining agreements and can have fringe benefits provided by their own employer. Each employer must therefore ensure that the benefits provided are consistent with the Group policy presented above. This matter is regularly discussed with the Group’s Human Resources Department. The same applies to Group companies based outside France, for which the regulatory context specific to each country should also be taken into account. In particular, all entities must ensure that pension contracts cover at least one year’s salary. Some of the Group’s subsidiaries have set up a “flexible benefits” policy, enabling each employee to adjust the level of social security coverage to their current requirements. This policy has been rolled out in Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom. At EDF Energy, for example, employees have a range of choices: they may choose between receiving cash bonuses or allocating them to special insurance schemes (in the event of serious illness, the family receives a cash amount); or they may take out supplementary dental cover, or take advantage of discount cards for sports clubs, or purchase vouchers for children. In all three countries, employees can use a web application to make their choices, and change them throughout their time at the company. ALONGSIDE ITS STAKEHOLDERS The EDF group acts responsibly to promote diversity and respect for human rights alongside its stakeholders: employees, sub-contractors and employee representatives. Its work also affects the general population as a contributor to the development of the regions in which it operates. Responsible sub-contracting: a reality 3.4.4.1 EDF’s sub-contracting policy focuses on three major themes: providing service providers with visibility and having long-term supply partners; ■ helping the Group improve its sub-contracting practices by defining criteria to ■ support decision-making in terms of strategy, economics, skills and social impact; developing socially-responsible sub-contracting practices, particularly via the new ■ EDF group CSR agreement signed on 19 June 2018, as well as the agreement signed on 19 October 2006 on “Socially-Responsible Sub-Contracting” at EDF. Group CSR agreement commitments: Article 4: Ensure socially responsible relations with suppliers and subcontractors “The EDF group is committed to sending and promoting this agreement amongst its suppliers and subcontractors. The Group’s requirements specifically relate to: compliance with the domestic laws of the country where the contract is being ■ performed; compliance with international labour standards; ■ employee heath and safety, including any applicable international standards; ■ respect for the environment; ■ compliance with the EDF group's Ethics and Compliance policy. ■ Group companies set up appropriate selection and evaluation procedures for their subcontractors and suppliers, to ensure that they meet these requirements. These requirements are in addition to the Sustainable Development Charter, first prepared in 2006 and updated in 2014, between EDF and its suppliers. Group companies must promote these principles to any bidders. AN EMPLOYER ENGAGED 3.4.4
Social welfare policy 3.4.3.2 The Group fringe benefits policy is guided by three principles: a principle of responsibility, which covers three requirements: ■ guaranteed social cover, in terms of health, welfare and pensions, ■ non-discrimination (access to health coverage must not be dependent on ■ the employee’s state of health), regulatory compliance; ■ a principle of balance between competitiveness and sustainability: ■ the combined level of compensation and fringe benefits meets the need for ■ the Group’s companies to be attractive on their local markets, fringe benefits must be able to be maintained over time and accordingly be ■ financially sustainable in the long-term both for employees and the employer; a principle of appropriation by beneficiaries: ■ employees are informed of the content of the fringe benefits in order to ■ make it easier for them to understand and actually receive them. Status of employees in the Electricity & Gas Industries (EGI): a specific social welfare plan In France, the vast majority of the Group’s workforce are employed by companies descended from “historic operators” (EDF, Enedis, PEI) which have electricity and gas industry or “EGI” status. Fringe benefits at these “historic operators” were mainly introduced via the Law of 8 April 1946 organising the monopoly on electrical generation and distribution electricity and via the maintaining of a special social security plan linked to the professional status of employees in the EGI branch (Decree of 22 June 1946). Today still, the main fringe benefits that set EDF apart from other major groups are based on these legislative or regulatory texts: special pension plan, special health plan for, firstly, incapacity for work and, secondly, healthcare costs, including an additional mandatory part also covering retired employees, centralised social activities in the professional branch, financed by companies in the Sector and managed independently by the unions. In addition to these schemes, which have remained very stable over the last few decades, is a benefit in kind historically based on a company decision which covers gas and electricity supplied by historic operators to employees and is maintained for retired employees. Significant changes have been made over the last decade: EDF’s IPO and the application of international accounting standards required the ■ valuation and provisioning of commitments to retired employees. The maintaining of the industry’s special pension and healthcare cost plans faced with this requirement was made possible by the overhaul of their financing: affiliation with standard mandatory plans for pensions and strengthening of affiliation between current and retired employee plans for complementary health insurance cover; the special pension plan has also, like other public sector special pension plans, ■ been increasingly affected by efforts to reform mandatory pension plans launched by successive governments. Except for the pension calculation method (specific rate, applied to a salary at the end of career, with a reduced base), the main parameters (retirement age, required contribution period, etc.) are currently being brought into line with the standard compulsory plan; a number of other less wide-ranging rules remain specific. The definition of active service, enabling earlier retirements, has also been revised and how it is taken into account significantly overhauled for newly-hired employees, via the creation of a Retirement Days Savings Account. Finally, unlike other historic benefits, the level of employee health, disability and life cover appeared significantly less generous than that offered by other major groups, which led from 2008 to the introduction, in agreement with the professional branch, of complementary cover in these three areas.
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EDF I Reference Document 2018
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