Publicis Groupe’s non-financial performance has improved year on year, illustrating the progress accomplished in the different registers. The reporting structure, processes and results are audited by the external auditors, Bureau Veritas.
The entire approach is also monitored by financial analysts, management companies and investors within the context of their ESG analysis, as well as by current and prospective Group clients (CSR questionnaires, site audits, etc.) and by various sustainable development players whose assessments may be published (public organizations, ratings agencies, students and teachers, etc.).
Publicis Groupe is in several indices, including: FTSE4Good, Euronext Vigeo Eiris, Ethibel Sustainability Index Excellence Europe, ECPI Index and is assessed annually in specific areas by RobecoSAM (DJSI), MSCI, Sustainalytics, Standard Ethics, ISS-Oekom, CDP, Trucost, Ecovadis, Ethics & Boards, amongst others (details on CSR Smart Data).
CSR reporting is based on social, societal and environmental indicators collected within the Group’s 815 entities and, since 2009, with a rate of coverage of the Group’s workforce of 98% (the exclusions being entities acquired within the last six months). Since Epsilon was only consolidated from July 1, 2019, the entities were not yet prepared for CSR reporting. Environmental data were therefore estimated on the basis of 10% of headcount, an approach that was validated by the external auditors. This scope is aligned with that of the financial reporting including all subsidiaries held by the Group at more than 50%. Four indicators are subject to lower coverage rates, and exclusions are due to the lack of data on these topics from our subsidiaries.
Absenteeism: Coverage rate of 96% of headcount
Training: Coverage rate of 96% of headcount Water:
Coverage rate of 97% of headcount
Waste: Coverage rate of 94% of headcount
2019 CSR reporting focuses on the period from January 1 to December 31, 2019 and is based on one year.
Quantitative, social, societal and environmental data is collected in accordance with financial reporting rules and processes via a dedicated module (HFMCSRGRI) incorporated into the financial information system and specific verification, control and validation processes. This data is under the responsibility of the agency and country Financial Directors.
Qualitative, social, societal and environmental information is collected via a dedicated internal platform (NAXOS) which is accessible to all agencies. Qualitative information is placed under the responsibility of the agency and country Chief Talent Officers (CTOs or HRD), who sign off on the content shared. Both of these tools are linked in order to ensure consistency and run materiality tests. The definitions and calculation methods are aligned with the GRI and are presented in the CSR Smart Data section.
The scope of impacts includes the Company and all its subsidiaries (98%), as well as some third-parties associated with digital activities for clients (e.g. servers), and those relating to employee personal travel and integrates a part of the supply chain and some suppliers (those assessed by EcoVadis).
Work on the project to develop a model designed to accurately assess the impact of the work done by the agencies (campaigns, websites or applications, digital strategies, etc.) continued in 2019 with Bureau Veritas Exploitation. Testing validated this approach and the calculation methods used; the tool will be tested on a larger scale by the agencies in 2020.
CSR is under the responsibility of the Secretary General, who sits on the Management Board. CSR issues are reviewed by the Management Board and monitored by the Strategy and Risk Committee, so that members of the Supervisory Board can be updated with changes in progress. Certain matters pertaining to talent and diversity are regularly discussed at Supervisory Board Meetings.
A summary of key indicators is presented to the General Shareholders’ Meeting annually.
The CSR Department coordinates an internal CSR Steering Committee that brings together the Group’s main corporate functions (finances, HR, audit, legal, procurement, risk management, etc.). The CSR Steering Committee plays a role in the detailed work done on integrated reporting. The CSR Department works in project mode with various teams worldwide. Using a dual approach: “push” to help internal initiatives take hold and to push forward certain issues, and “pull”, with the comprehensive steering of non-financial reporting.
The Internal Control and Internal Audit teams verify, during the course of their work carried out throughout the year, that the agencies correctly implement the CSR reporting processes and have access to historical tracking of data and information. CSR reporting is done within each Group entity (815 in 2019) with the assistance of the CSR Champions in the agency and the support of the teams in the shared services centers (Re:Sources) who are closely involved from the earliest stages of the reporting.
The internal guide entitled 2019 CSR Guidelines defines the collection and validation processes at the different levels required, as well as the content and definitions of the various indicators (over 90 quantitative and qualitative indicators). This manual was distributed to a cross-functional working group of roughly 100 people and 1,000 contributors during preparatory webinars held from October 2019 to January 2020. In the course of its data checking and verification process (of each indicator per agency), the CSR Department at HQ was in direct contact with all the teams during the final consolidation phase.
