Listening to our employees

In 2020, the health crisis had a strong impact on all Inetum Group employees. Numerous initiatives were put in place to protect all employees, support the worldwide efforts to stop the spread of the virus, and keep in touch with each other, especially during the periods of lockdown. In addition, the Inetum Group has shown total solidarity with its employees affected by the health crisis, limiting the use of part-time work to a strict minimum and assuming the full maintenance of compensation for the employees concerned.

Its highly centralized organizational model allowed Inetum to react very quickly to protect the health of its employees, and to guarantee, more than ever, safe working conditions for functions requiring on-site presence. The Inetum Group immediately adopted all health and safety guidelines as published by the World Health Organization, including quarantine recommendations if necessary.

A dedicated crisis management team was put in place to lead operations to protect the health of employees, including the rapid activation of an alert infrastructure mobilizing the Inetum Group's human resources network, to provide individual support to people with symptoms or diagnosis of Covid-19.

In France, from the beginning of the lockdown in March and April, regular communications raised employee awareness of what to do, with a dedicated campaign, “Let’s be VIP – vigilant, innovative, relevant”.

Specific actions were also deployed to help employees adapt their working methods, prevent feelings of isolation, and provide them with individualized support when needed. During the first period of lockdown in France, more than 85% of our employees found themselves working remotely, thus radically changing the organization of work as well as collaboration and management methods.

In France, the use of part-time work was relatively limited in relation to the scale of the health crisis, and rapidly diminished once the initial lockdown period was over. The employees concerned benefited from full salary maintenance. In addition, more than 753 people were trained during this period in France.

Group news was regularly shared through the hashtag #Stayconnected, and federating events traditionally organized on site were adapted remotely. For national music day (“Fête de la musique”), a collaborative playlist was offered to all employees.

Though a telecommuting agreement existed since 2011 for Inetum France, remote working arrangements remained limited to exceptional circumstances. In 2020, the health crisis, which resulted in long periods of lockdown, firmly established working from home as an organizational method. In order to provide a permanent framework for telework, a new agreement was put in place, subject to a referendum among employees, allowing for a more flexible organization of work, including up to 175 days per year of telework.

The exceptional massive deployment of telework was accompanied by the distribution of an “extended telework guide”, associated with awareness modules in e-learning format on the right to disconnect, and an interview guide for monitoring and supporting extended telework staff for managers.

A 6-week programme called #takecare was deployed to raise awareness of gestures and postures to adopt at the workstation, and offer an introduction to yoga and muscular awakening, techniques to strengthen one's immune system, management of one's emotions, sophrology, and self-massage. Guided meditation sessions were made available to employees on the e-learning space accessible to all. A psychological support unit was set up, allowing anyone who felt the need to seek outside help.

Many activities have been implemented to strengthen team cohesion and improve the work environment. Actions undertaken in this respect include:

• active breaks,
• nutrition,
• laughter therapy,
• healthy practices to rest,
• conferences on life projects,
• conferences on emotional management,
• Rumba classes,
• Zumba classes,
• etc.

We also celebrate events such as birthdays, the birth of a child or graduation.

During the year, many actions were taken to improve the quality of life at work. A specific programme was set up on the theme of ecology; we do not use plastic, we separate waste, and we clean up the Earth!

We also organized a health week with workshops including a personal trainer and a nutritionist, psychological workshops, medical examinations, and advice on healthy eating. Healthy breakfasts were organized at work and fruit was made available to employees.

Several actions have been carried out regarding employee loyalty: pleasant work environment (welcome sessions, Santa Claus, Christmas party...), breakfast with the CEO, a “growing together in people management” programme, career development, training programmes, work/life balance and health initiatives, gifts, etc.