International: Danone signs international diversity agreement
Danone, the France-based food multinational, has signed a global agreement on diversity with trade unions. The accord seeks to promote diversity and equal opportunity among the company’s 88,000-strong worldwide workforce.
On this page:
Background
Basic principles
Recruitment and jobs
Training
Professional development
Remuneration
Working conditions
Implementation
Comments
Key points
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The “convention on diversity”, concluded in June 2007, was made public in December. On the employee side it was signed by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), representing trade unions organising throughout Danone’s operations. Danone is highly unionised and, according to company figures, there is trade union representation at around 80% of its subsidiaries, while 90% of its workforce is covered by collective agreements.
Danone is a leading food and beverages multinational, with a particular focus on dairy products (through brands such as Danone, Actimel and Activia) and bottled water (through brands such as Evian and Volvic).
At the beginning of 2007, Danone had nearly 88,000 employees, of whom 37% worked in Europe, 39% in Asia and 24% elsewhere. Of 32,000 employees in Europe, some 21,000 were in western Europe and 11,000 in central and eastern Europe. Of the worldwide non-managerial workforce, 73% were men and 27% women, while men made up 61% of managers and women 39%.
Background
Danone has long been viewed by commentators as being particularly innovative and “progressive” in its HR and industrial relations policies, influenced by the views of its former president, Antoine Riboud, and his successor, his son Franck. This approach includes a positive view of trade unions and of partnership with them.
Reflecting this philosophy, Danone and the IUF have a long history of cooperation; the company was the first multinational to sign international agreements on employment matters. Since 1988, Danone and the IUF have agreed a series of joint texts. These have covered: basic principles and plans for joint work (1988); economic and social information for employees and their representatives (1989); promotion of equality for women and men (1989); skills training (1992); trade union rights (1994); and changes in business activities affecting employment or working conditions (1997). A specific European agreement on the “social standards” to apply in the restructuring of Danone’s biscuits division was signed in 2001.
Since 2004, Danone has provided the IUF each year with data on a set of 20 agreed “social indicators”, covering matters such as employment levels and status, training, health and safety, and labour disputes. In 2005, Danone and the IUF agreed to reinforce the “worldwide character” of their earlier agreements and to integrate into them a set of “fundamental social principles” based on International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions. The Danone-IUF dialogue is conducted through a joint steering group, which meets regularly.
In recent years, Danone has been increasingly concerned about ensuring the diversity of its workforce, in a context of increasing internationalisation of its operations. Its stated reasons for promoting diversity include: opening up new markets and countries; being closer to consumers and the local environment; encouraging innovation; responding to society’s expectations; and attracting and retaining talented staff. Danone “believes that welcoming and encouraging diversity is a way of ensuring the group remains dynamic”. For Danone, “the strength of the group and its ability to generate new ideas is directly related to its willingness to welcome a wide variety of profiles”.
In 2004, the group HR department set up a working party on diversity, which reported to the Danone executive committee in 2006. The committee decided to set a number of objectives, focusing initially on women’s access to higher managerial positions and the inclusion of people with disabilities. Management started a dialogue with the IUF on the issue in 2006, leading to the conclusion of the convention on diversity in June 2007.
Basic principles
The agreement states that “diversity must be a permanent objective” and that:
- the implementation of systems to favour diversity is a way of progressing towards equal opportunities for all Danone employees and for all those who apply for jobs in the group; and
- diversity is “beneficial for the company and stimulates creativeness and innovation as well as helping us to meet consumer and employee expectations as well as those of society as a whole”.
Danone is already committed to fighting all forms of discrimination as one of its “fundamental social principles”, while some of the existing Danone-IUF agreements, such as that on equality between women and men, cover diversity-related matters. The new agreement aims to “go further still and set progress objectives to promote actual equality in the field of access to jobs and recruitment, training, career development, remuneration and conditions at work”. The signatories call on management and unions and/or workers’ representatives at local level to:
- be actively involved in fighting all forms of discrimination based on actual or supposed membership or non-membership of an ethnic group, nation or race, or relating to gender, religion, age, family name, place of residence, sexual preference, political or union involvement, state of health, physical appearance or disability, family responsibilities or “any other consideration which has nothing to do with competencies”; and
- implement all actions required to encourage diversity in recruitment, career development, remuneration, conditions at work and maintenance of employment.
The agreement stresses that harassment is considered a form of discrimination, and that pregnancy cannot be a reason for dismissal or discrimination.
The application of the commitments contained in the agreement is to be negotiated by management and unions and/or workers’ representatives in each Danone subsidiary or site, taking into account their specific situations and economic and social contexts.
Recruitment and jobs
The agreement calls on management and unions/workers’ representatives in Danone companies to take initiatives relating to diversity in “recruitment and jobs”. This involves:
- informing “external partners” – such as temporary work agencies, colleges, recruitment agencies, public job agencies and specialist organisations for the integration of workers with disabilities – about Danone’s diversity policy and making sure that these partners take account of the policy;
- extending sources of recruitment;
- eliminating any discriminatory criteria in job offers and descriptions;
- ensuring that recruitment criteria are objective and “only based on the required competencies” (acquired by experience or validated through a recognised qualification);
- introducing selection methods that allow account to be taken “not only of training and acquired qualifications but also the existing and potential capacities of each person”; and
- establishing “relevant progress objectives and measurement indicators” at local level, including a balance between men and women in recruitment at all levels and in all occupations, and recruitment that reflects local society (for example, taking account of groups that are likely to be discriminated against).
The signatories call on management and unions/workers’ representatives in group companies to commit themselves jointly to “real actions in favour of people who encounter particular difficulties in accessing or maintaining jobs”. This means:
- “receiving and training” unqualified young people;
- facilitating the return to employment of lone parents and people who have interrupted their career for family reasons or due to unemployment – this might take the form of specific interviews or refresher training;
- encouraging the reintegration of employees who have become disabled, for example by specially equipping workstations, identifying other positions that are likely to be open within the company, or training them to adapt to a new position;
- providing specific resources intended to maintain “the most vulnerable populations” in employment or to redeploy them should a change of company activity lead to job losses; and
- introducing specific accompanying measures, where appropriate, to encourage integration – such as language courses.
Training
The parties want local management and unions/workers’ representatives to be involved in negotiations or consultations over setting up new systems allowing all Danone employees to have access to training, and also to be involved in monitoring results. These systems should involve:
- informing all staff of the available training possibilities, both internal and external, and paying particular attention to staff who would not “spontaneously take action to ensure their own training”;
- ensuring that all employees have the basic skills defined in Danone’s group-wide “Evolution” employability programme – these are literacy, numeracy and communication skills, and the ability to apply health, safety and quality standards;
- reducing barriers to training access for employees who encounter specific difficulties that are either tangible (eg transport or family constraints) or intangible (eg fear of failure or cultural differences), by taking appropriate measures based on quantitative and qualitative analysis; and
- an annual analysis by management and unions/workers’ representatives in each group company of data on the number and profile of employees who have received training. The target is that employees should benefit from an average of 24 hours’ training per year over three years.
The agreement also contains specific provisions on training to combat stereotypes, arguing that this is necessary for effective implementation of equal opportunities. Awareness-raising and training in this area is seen as “essential to successfully manage diversity in the company”. Each group company will therefore introduce “appropriate awareness actions” for managers and other staff and special training for people responsible for recruitment and HR management.
Professional development
The accord provides for local management and unions/workers’ representatives to be involved in setting up – and monitoring – systems that open up professional development opportunities to all employees, “without discrimination and based on equality of competencies”. These systems should ensure that:
- all employees can discuss their professional development with their organisational superior in appraisal interviews held at least every two years;
- all employees are provided with a “skills passport”, detailing their acquired skills, career path, training and changes of job;
- information on job openings is made accessible within each company and between companies in the same country so as to ensure equal access to vacancies for all staff, based on a transparent approach;
- all employees are offered a change of job at least every five years; and
- local management and unions/workers’ representatives conduct an annual analysis of professional development indicators (movements and promotions) by employee group (in terms of sex, age, disability, etc) and, as appropriate, put in place a corrective action plan intended to improve the involvement of various categories in professional development and at the different levels of the organisational hierarchy. This might involve looking for the causes of differences in treatment, and adapting career management rules and processes.
Remuneration
The signatories want to make “equality of remuneration a reality”, calling on local management and unions/workers’ representatives to ensure that no employee is discriminated against in terms of pay or benefits on any of the discriminatory grounds set out in the agreement (see Basic principles) and without any relation to their competencies.
To achieve this aim, the local parties should conduct an annual study of remuneration, focusing particularly on equal pay for equal work for women and men. Where any discrepancies are identified, resources will be put in place to remedy them. The application of this process should be negotiated locally, adapted to the specific context.
Danone group companies will ensure that taking leave related to childbirth (such as maternity, paternity and adoption leave) does not hinder the development of an employee’s remuneration.
Working conditions
The agreement calls on local management and union/workers’ representatives to work together to adapt working conditions so that they favour diversity. This means:
- organising job content – in terms of its individual and collective organisation, physical requirements, mental workload, etc – to ensure that “it is not a source of exclusion”;
- where national legislation does not deal with these issues, introducing rules and procedures relating to leave and return to work in the event of the birth of a child and temporary career interruptions for reasons such as bringing up children;
- arranging working time to deal with specific situations, notably concerning pregnant employees, lone parents, employees with disabilities and older workers;
- improving the ergonomics of workstations to prevent long-term health problems arising (from carrying loads or repetitive movements, for example) and to make the jobs concerned more accessible; and
- adapting workstations, whenever possible, to retain in employment workers with specific difficulties related to factors such as age and disability.
Implementation
To implement the global diversity agreement, the management of all Danone companies will open a dialogue with unions/workers’ representatives to put in place a timetable and process to: decide on the quantitative and qualitative analyses to be conducted; share the results of the analyses and discuss the measures to be taken; set objectives and the timeframes to achieve them; define indicators; and propose initiatives to develop diversity. The dialogue should also cover the introduction of channels to bring discriminatory situations to management’s attention.
Trade unions in each company will promote diversity when designating union representatives, and by facilitating the involvement of women, young people and people with disabilities. They will also conduct awareness-raising and training of union representatives on combating discrimination and promoting diversity.
At group level, management and the IUF will conduct, at least once a year, an analysis of diversity in Danone. This will involve examining statistical data and surveys of matters such as training and recruitment, as well as looking at relevant consultations and agreements across the group and identifying examples of good practice that might be applied more widely. In future, an appendix will be added to the diversity agreement, setting out such good practices and initiatives taken to encourage diversity.
At least once a year, the group HR department will provide the union members of the Danone-IUF steering group with the agreed “social indicators” (see Background). It will also develop these indicators in order to give a better insight into diversity issues.
The Danone-IUF steering group will act as an “interpretation committee” for the diversity agreement. Management and union organisations throughout Danone may refer to the committee any problems that arise in implementing the agreement. If the steering group reaches a unanimous conclusion on the matter in hand, this must be complied with.
The management of group companies will give a copy of the agreement, in the local language, to unions and/or workers’ representative bodies, and will inform all staff of the agreement’s principles. The IUF will circulate the agreement to all its affiliates represented in Danone companies. Danone will distribute the agreement to its suppliers and subcontractors, identifying its content as “good practice”.
Comments
In the 1980s, Danone was a pioneer in signing transnational agreements on employment and HR issues. Since the late 1990s, a growing number of other multinationals have seen benefits in regulating some such matters through “global agreements”, generally with international trade union organisations, although in some cases with European Works Councils. Some 70 multinationals are now known to have signed such accords. Other examples in 2007 include Brunel (the Netherlands, recruitment and consultancy), Inditex (Spain, clothing retail), Suez (France, utilities), Umicore (Belgium, materials technology) and WAZ (Germany, media).
Most global agreements set out general principles on corporate social responsibility and workers’ rights issues. Single-issue worldwide agreements are less common, as are agreements that deal in a detailed way with everyday HR issues. The Danone diversity accord is therefore innovative and notable. While the agreement may be attributable in part to Danone’s “progressive” tradition in this area, it should be noted that several other France-based multinationals have recently signed international agreements on equality and diversity issues, such as Suez, Areva (nuclear power) and Total (petrochemicals). This may reflect the current increased focus on these themes in French legislation, bargaining and policymaking.
This article was written by Mark Carley, editor of European Employment Review.
European Employment Review 409 (EER 409) contents
