As of 2018, Publicis Groupe has set itself a gender diversity target of 40% women in key management positions by 2020, a target that was achieved this year (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and inclusion”).
In accordance with the recommendations of the Afep-Medef Code, the Management Board, after consulting the Supervisory Board, has adopted a policy of gender diversity within the governing bodies.
In addition to the statutory governance bodies, Publicis has defined a group of “key management positions” made up of all members of the Management Board, the Management Committee and the Executive Committees of the main countries and regions. Apart from the Supervisory Board, whose gender balance is governed by Article L. 225-69-1 of the French Commercial Code, these are the bodies with the most responsibility within the Groupe.
The gender balance of the governing bodies is included as a performance criterion in the annual and long-term variable compensation of the members of the Management Board, with the target of having 45% women among key management positions by 2025.
Percentage of women | Objective by 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
Global workforce | Global workforce Percentage of women 50.5% | Global workforce Objective by 2025
|
Management Board | Management Board Percentage of women 25% | Management Board Objective by 2025
|
Management Committee | Management Committee Percentage of women 33.3% | Management Committee Objective by 2025
|
Key management positions | Key management positions Percentage of women 40.4% | Key management positions Objective by 2025 45% |
In order to achieve this objective, Publicis is continuing its gender diversity policy, which has been conducted for several years (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and Inclusion”). Special attention has been paid in recent years to the promotion and career development of women within the Groupe. An action plan is implemented by Chief Talent Officers to ensure that there is an equal number of female and male candidates in both recruitments and promotions, including in the final short-list phase. A more specific plan has been drawn up for countries or jobs where there are fewer women in order to act in favor of gender equality from the recruitment of junior profiles. Finally, arrangements are made to promote the retention of female talent in order to allow them flexibility in the organization in their professional and personal lives, which is also granted to men. The 2020 data can be found in Section 4.1.2, and the history is publicly available on the Publicis Groupe website, Section CSR Smart data.
The results show a steady progression, with the target of 40% having been achieved in 2020 for women among the key management positions, which made it possible to raise the target to 45% for 2025.
This is a very ambitious target. The Groupe’s development in technological professions where women are often less well represented is a new challenge in terms of improving gender balance, particularly among managers.
For the past 10 years, Publicis Groupe has voluntarily chosen to publish interim indicators specific to the Company and its occupations, such as the percentage of women on the Executive Committees of agencies or the percentage of women CEOs of an agency, data supplemented in recent years by the percentage of women leading the Creative, Media, data and Tech teams, corresponding to the Company’s major business lines (see Section 4.1.2 “Diversity and inclusion”).
Since November 27, 1987, Publicis Groupe SA has adopted a two-tier management system which comprises a Management Board and a Supervisory Board. This method separates the powers of management and oversight to establish a real balance of power.
The Management Board is the Company’s decision-making body for the Company’s business operations.
The Supervisory Board has the responsibility of exercising ongoing supervisory authority over the Management Board. In application of the last paragraph of article 16 II of the Company’s bylaws, the Supervisory Board wanted to establish four committees, including a Nominating Committee separate from the Compensation Committee, and a Strategy and Risk Committee separate from the Audit Committee, thereby going beyond the recommendations of the Afep-Medef Code.
The Supervisory Board determines, at the meeting for which the agenda includes approval of the annual financial statements for the previous financial year, the transactions referred to in article 12 of the bylaws that require prior approval. At its meeting of February 2, 2021, renewing its resolution of February 5, 2020, the Supervisory Board decided that the purchase or disposal of any real estate, the purchase or disposal of any company whose value exceeded 5% of the Company’s equity, and any loan, bond or share issuance exceeding 5% of the Company’s equity would be subject to the prior approval of the Supervisory Board. In addition, any significant transaction outside the strategy announced by the Company must be approved in advance by the Supervisory Board.
These provisions are also specified in the internal rules of the Supervisory Board, as well as basic rules such as those concerning the independence of the Supervisory Board’s members, conflicts of interest and confidentiality or inside information. The internal rules also establish the terms on which the Supervisory Board and its Specialized Committees operate and the Board’s relationship with the Management Board. At its meeting of September 9, 2020, the Supervisory Board updated its internal regulations to bring them into line with the changes in the legislative texts and recommendations of the Afep-Medef Code revised in January 2020 and to ensure they comply with the practices of the Supervisory Board and the Groupe. These adjustments mainly relate to the decisions of the Supervisory Board taken by written consultation, gender balance within the governing bodies, the compensation of the corporate officers and the terminology of the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board. The internal rules of the Supervisory Board are available on the Groupe website:
www.publicisgroupe.com
