ABSENTEEISM AND WORKPLACE ACCIDENT RATES
ABSENTEEISM RATE 2.02%
WORKPLACE ACCIDENT RATE 0.33%(1)
These are mainly transportation accidents
FREQUENCY RATE 1.80%(2)
SEVERITY RATE 0.03%(3)
OF EMPLOYEES ARE COVERED BY HEALTH INSURANCE 99%
Health and safety
Most employees have sedentary jobs in offices, sitting in front of screens. Agencies apply current local regulations on personal security in the workplace and are responsible for implementing their prevention and action plans. 100% of the workforce in Group agencies are covered by these prevention plans.
In the United States, federal law (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) may be supplemented by laws in each state, and possibly reinforced at the municipal level. In Europe, this mission is entrusted to dedicated local committees (Health and Safety Committee) and the new CSE (Social and Economic Committee) in France. Elected or volunteer employees receive training on safety and first aid. Evacuation drills (fire, earthquake, etc.) are regularly conducted at the facilities, with support from general services safety teams (Re:Sources) and building managers. There is a similar approach in Europe, where all agencies have safety officers (fire drills or emergency evacuations) who receive training on a yearly basis. Some of them volunteer to be trained in basic first aid. In India, Occupational Health and Safety regulations apply, and, as in many countries, small teams of employees are trained every year in all buildings and on all floors to assist others in the event of an emergency or evacuation. Publicis Sapient entities in India are ISO 45001 certified.
In some cities, as is the case in India or China, new devices monitor air pollution and inform employees so that measures can be taken for those who may be the most vulnerable in terms of health, as well as so that teleworking can be facilitated during peak pollution periods. In many agencies, offices are protected by external security teams which check people entering and leaving. Suppliers of these services are the focus of particular attention to ensure that their staff comply with all current administrative requirements, are properly trained and meet our standards in terms of human rights and labor laws.
LionAlert is an internal tool designed to make it possible to contact employees in an emergency to make sure that they are safe; LionAlert is activated according to events and need. LionAlert is overseen by the Group’s Secretary General. From January 2020, with the coronavirus epidemic in China, the Group activated its international “Monitoring unit”, overseen by the Group’s Senior management and placed under the responsibility of the Secretary General, which draws on information from monitoring units in individual Countries or regions.
This “Monitoring unit” took specific measures with regard to employees based in China, which were then extended to other countries and regions, switching to teleworking and prohibiting travel to at-risk destinations, in accordance with guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and local authorities. The deployment of similar measures is being studied and is envisaged in other countries as the epidemic spreads. By early March, 95% of the Group’s employees had switched to remote working.
4.1.5 Listening to and engaging with employees
4.1.5.1 Employee satisfaction survey
A worldwide employee satisfaction survey took place in late 2016 – the only one of its kind, taking over from the existing local surveys. From 2017, action plans were rolled out in response to the expectations expressed. This highly centralized model also proved its limitations in a decentralized business like Publicis. Before being in a position to access Marcel to use different methods to track employee satisfaction on an ongoing basis, a number of agencies reactivated more traditional annual studies.
(1) Workplace accident rate: (total number of accidents/total number of employees) x 100. 2019 Coverage rate: 96%
(2) Calculation of workplace accident frequency rate according to GRI standard 403-9: (total number of accidents/total number of hours worked) x 1,000,000. 2019 Coverage rate: 96%.
(3) Calculation of severity rate according to GRI standard 403-9: (number of days of work lost x 1,000)/number of hours worked. 2019 coverage rate of 96%.