2020 Annual Financial Report

Reductions in compensation 

In April 2020, individual and voluntary decisions were taken to tempo-rarily reduce remuneration. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Maurice Lévy, the Chairman of the Management Board, Arthur Sadoun, as well as Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner and Steve King, members of the Management Board, agreed to remuneration reductions. They were followed by 6,000 managers who also committed themselves; in view of the efforts made by all employees during this period, and the results obtained, which were better than expected, it was announced in February 2021 that the salary sacrifices were going to be reimbursed (with the exception of Executive corporate officers). 

Shareholders 

Shareholders were asked to show solidarity with the Company and its employees by reducing the dividend by 50% (from €2.30 to €1.15) and deferring its payment to the end of September 2020. This proposal was voted and approved at the Combined Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of May 27, 2020. Following the resilience of the Group’s results, the General Shareholders’ Meeting of May 26, 2021 will be asked to approve a return to a
pre-pandemic payout level of 46.8%, i.e. a dividend of €2 per share.

4. Accelerated worldwide rollout of the Marcel internal platform

At the beginning of April 2020, the Marcel artificial intelligence platform was gradually rolled out in all of the Group’s countries, several months ahead of schedule, thanks in particular to the full rollout at the height of the lockdown of the HR information system (HRIS). About 80,000 employees are now connected to the platform. 

Individual training accessible to everyone 

The 30,000 Marcel Classes modules are accessible to all employees in seven languages (24/7): this has enabled them to improve their knowledge, learn new trades, discover technical innovations, or take the time to learn more about certain managerial subjects. The physical and mental health component has been greatly enriched with new sessions.

5. Innovation in response to the crisis: The Pact

On April 30, the Group announced a new solution developed by Epsilon for mid-sized companies in the United States. The Pact guarantees the results of their advertising investments, to optimize the impact of their marketing spend during the crisis and help them prepare for the recovery. Each dollar invested in The Pact is guaranteed by concrete and quantifiable results, such as sales, the acquisition of new customers, the return on advertising investment, the number of subscriptions to a loyalty program, or any other relevant performance indicator. If the results are not achieved, 100% of the investment in The Pact is reimbursed.

6. Internal & external communication

From March 2020, the Chairman of the Management Board personally addressed all employees by video every Sunday evening, in order to take stock of the situation and share information on the Group’s progress during this period of upheaval. This communication was then supplemented by the managers of the countries or regions, and adapted according to local specificities, thus giving employees an overview and access to practical information. In addition, in the countries and regions, open question-and-answer sessions (Town Halls) were held every month, giving all employees the opportunity to ask questions (by video or written) to their local and Group management. During this period of remote working, which continued widely throughout 2020 in many countries, all employees were asked to reflect together on “The Future of Work”: working groups have been set up in each country to reflect on the various issues and to outline solutions.

The virtual internal seminar of December 2020 

Mid-December 2020, the Group’s 80,000 employees were invited to take part in three days of internal seminar sessions, organized in “duplex” format from Paris, London and New York. More than 60,000 employees took part, asking questions before and during the live sessions. The program was an opportunity to look back on the past year, to thank the teams for the work accomplished during these difficult months, to share projects such as avenues being explored in “The Future of Work”, and then to look to the future, by welcoming exceptional guests such as Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, Bob Iger, Executive Chairman of the Walt Disney Company and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.