Publicis Groupe will never be a “Zoom company” and the face-to-face work “as before” must evolve; this is how the Chairman of the Management Board, Arthur Sadoun, has framed future changes, in his various internal and external communications during 2020. As a result of the transformations in work organization that took place this year, a vast project on the future of work began in April 2020, inviting all employees to participate. 46% of employees took an active part in the discussions – a high figure reflecting interest in the subject. They responded to a vast internal survey on future work options and their expectations; on the basis of these responses, a workshop bringing together 50 employees from 12 different countries enabled a number of key areas to be identified. Then in June, 10 countries/regions organized focus groups to take into account specific local or cultural issues.
The main conclusions were presented at the Groupe’s internal seminar in December 2020, as follows: 90% of employees want the “after” to be different from the “before”; and five aspects were taken into account:
Marcel offered 5,518 Gigs and Jobs over the course of the year: Gigs are requests made by a team in need of temporary support on a specific subject. Gigs enable people to take advantage of internal skills, thereby helping to move a project forward. The procedure for responding is simple and well-structured. For maybe remove comma after Jobs Marcel publishes advertisements in advance of any external recruitment process in order to promote the internal development of employees.
The 9th edition of the YouXplore program initially led by Publicis Media, scheduled to take place in 2020, was postponed. Each year, this program enables 250 of the Groupe’s young talent to take part in an exchange where they pair up with another employee in person and slip into the role, job and culture of their exchange partner for a few weeks.
920 employees benefited from international mobility in 2020, as international mobility opportunities were limited during the year.
With 95% of employees working at home during this exceptional year, the demand for flexibility is at the heart of future work organization. The Groupe and managements of the countries or regions presented solutions to meet these strong expectations expressed by all employees. Each entity can determine specific conditions (based on workload, role in the team, duration, task to be carried out for the client, performance, etc.) and employee eligibility criteria. The aim is to adapt to many situations so that employees can benefit from them at different stages of their professional and personal life. Many entities also have schemes such as sabbatical leave (eligibility conditions defined locally), thus enabling employees to take a break and return to the Groupe.
3,260 employees benefited from parental leave in 2020 (57% women, 43% men). All employees are eligible for this type of leave, depending on the legal context and, above all, on internal arrangements that are often more advantageous locally. Agencies have reinforced their policies for maternity leave (number of weeks of paid leave in countries with less favorable regulations) as well as from a managerial point of view, in order to enable future mothers to better manage their return to work (with ad hoc meetings before, during and on return to work). Different initiatives are taken to facilitate family life: several large agencies (on all continents) have made breastfeeding rooms available and, on some main campuses, daycare is available too (e.g. Bangalore). Social benefit programs (via Employee Assistance Programs or EAPs) include provisions for childcare.
