In France the notion of collective agreement (which does not exist in this form in the communication industry in other countries) is a cornerstone of labor law. Agreements negotiated and signed previously are still in force, including the agreement relating to healthcare costs including the responsible contract and to which an optional supplementary scheme has been added; the agreement relating to the welfare plan, or the renewal of the remote working charter applicable to all the Groupe’s French agencies. As part of the consultations with the representative trade unions at Groupe level, discussions are continuing on all topics falling within the scope of Quality of Life at Work, including aspects relating to mobility, working from home, the right to disconnect and the implementation of a mobility package (negotiations are under way for a sustainable mobility package). All of these decisions are carried out with the Social and Economic Committees (CSEs).
The Groupe continued its commitment to “Zero Tolerance” of any form of harassment or discrimination within the Groupe, through training and awareness-raising programs for managers and HR/Talent teams. In this context, sexual harassment officers have been appointed by the CSEs, and training will continue in 2021.
Some agencies have set up more specific systems dedicated to listening to employees, such as the “Bonnes Oreilles” at Publicis Conseil in France, where volunteer employees who are trained in listening ensure this relationship, or in the United Kingdom and the United States, where the “Safe Conversations” are organized by the agencies’ Diversity & Inclusion teams, in particular following serious events such as racist or homophobic attacks, and in support of the “Black Lives Matter”movement. Employees are regularly reminded through messages from the Secretary General and country or regional managers that the Groupe’s ethics hotline ethicsconcerns@publicisgroupe.com is available for them to use.
Payroll and personnel expenses stood at euro 6,242 million in 2020. Trends are shown in Section 6.6, note 4 of this document.
The Groupe does not have a consolidated indicator for the compensation of all employees: due to the significant disparities between countries, an overall approach is of little relevance. The analysis remains local and takes into account the trends observed in our sectors. Compensation must respect the following three principles: 1) remain competitive and attractive locally and avoid disparities within the same market; 2) be in line with the Groupe’s practices, particularly in terms of gender equality and fairness based on individual and collective performance in order to ensure fair and balanced compensation; 3) where appropriate, strengthen social protection systems. With the finalized global rollout of the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) and the work over recent years on job grading, the Groupe pays close attention to equal pay, with the HR and Talent teams.
All of the information pertaining to the compensation of Publicis Groupe senior executives is detailed in Section 3.2 of this document. The precise criteria are indicated for the different components of this compensation, including CSR.
The ratios between the level of compensation of the Executive corporate officers and the average employee compensation (pay ratio) are set out in Section 3.2.2.7.
Publicis Groupe’s different stock option plans and free share plans are detailed in this document in Section 6.6, note 31.
The different pensions schemes and other long-term benefits are presented in this document, Section 6.6, note 22.
The participation of employees in share capital through a range of profit-sharing and incentive plans is explained in Sections 6.6 and 8.3.6 of this document.
Gender pay equality: country by country “Job Grading” is now applied in the new Human Resources Information System (HRIS) Groupe tool, allowing for a more uniform understanding of positions and functions. This project is headed up by the Secretary General, with support from the teams in charge of compensation (Compensation & Benefits) and the CTOs of countries. The Groupe is vigilant about gender equality issues. The local management of the agencies is responsible for resolving pay gaps:
Employee profit-sharing: Despite the optional nature of this system, in France, via the employee profit-sharing agreement (in force for three years), the Groupe has continued its economic performance-related employee profit-sharing policy, which is dependent on the Groupe’s annual organic growth in France and worldwide. This is one of the Groupe’s long-standing commitments to its French employees.
