DNFP_2018_English

2018 DECLARATION OF NON-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE DESCOURS & CABAUD GROUP 19 In addition to guaranteeing a standard level of educational attainment for DESCOURS & CABAUD staff, every year tech’up takes in new people through professional training contracts, which ensures effective transfer of practical knowledge of the distribution sectors. These new people follow this curriculum which alternates theoretical lessons provided by tech’up and practical experience in the field within the group. tech’up also offers managerial courses that develop the essential cross-disciplinary skills needed to keep pace with the transformation. For that purpose, as part of its UNITEAM project, DESCOURS & CABAUD has set up a programme of exchanges of experts (the “professionals”) by creating “communities” that work on specific projects relating to their knowledge. These business communities meet on a regular basis, benefiting form the sponsorship of a company manager, and capitalising on and formalising the essential knowledge of the business. B. High employee turnover The performance of a distribution company depends on the skills of its teams but also on their level of motivation. Limiting our staff turnover should be a permanent objective, to both sustain their knowledge and their skills. High turnover equals high recruitment and training costs in order to replace staff leaving the company. Any unfilled sales position may generate loss of turnover, which can have harmful repercussions on DESCOURS & CABAUD. If there are several unfilled positions in a department, it can disorganise a team and limit the company's ability to meet its customers' requirements. Too frequent changes in staff can frustrate customers, who like having contacts they know. > The means of control: The first way of managing this risk is to have an attractive wage policy and solid employee benefits. The compensation of the sales force, which accounts for the majority of employees, is made up of a fixed component and a significant variable component, based on individual performance. Besides, there is no overall wage adjustment policy. A framework document summarising these principles is sent to the subsidiaries in readiness for the annual round of pay talks. TheGroup is committed to fair treatment, in particular to equality between men and women, for instance by making sure that female staff on maternity leave are not penalised in any way. Lastly, all the staff have benefited from a customised employee benefits scheme and private health insurance for several decades. Beyond pay, another aspect that DESCOURS & CABAUD is currently focused on is guaranteed career advancement opportunities. In order to favour internal promotion, vacancies are published initially exclusively within the company. The right balance needs to be struck between external recruiting and internal promotion so that external skills can be integrated without straining staff internally.