3. Non-financial performance

The “2020 Social Dialogue” project launched in May 2018, structured through a method agreement signed on 4 October 2018, focused on a reform of social dialogue at EDF as a whole in 2019 (new employee representative bodies, the role of collective bargaining at the Company, site and professional branch level, informal and contractual social dialogue, professionalisation and management of the skills of those involved in social dialogue and trade union rights). Six company-level collective bargaining agreements have been signed as part of the “2020 Social Dialogue” project in the field of social dialogue:

  • collective bargaining agreement setting up the site-level Social and Economic Committees and the Local Representatives within EDF;
  • collective bargaining agreement setting up the EDF Central Social and Economic Committee and agreeing the arrangements for social dialogue through that Committee;
  • agreement relating to the implementation of trade union representatives and the exercise of trade union rights within EDF;
  • the pre-electoral memorandum for the election of employee representatives to sit on the site-level Social and Economic Committees;
  • collective bargaining agreement authorising the use of electronic voting for the election of members of the site-level Social and Economic Committees;
  • collective bargaining agreement relating to the appointment of employee representatives to sit on the EDF Central Social and Economic Committee dated 11 December 2019.

Furthermore, in 2019, several agreements and supplemental agreements were signed in the following areas of HR:

  • employee savings plans: Supplemental agreement no. 18 to the agreement dated 29 November 2015 setting out the EDF group’s Savings Plan regulations;
  • compensation: Agreement relating to individual salary measures for 2019 at EDF, collective bargaining agreement on EDF contributions to the Collective Retirement Savings Plan (PERCO) and Corporate Savings Plan (PEG) in 2020, supplemental agreement no. 2 relating to the EDF 2017-2019 profit-sharing agreement;
  • jobs and training: Supplemental agreement no. 1 to the collective bargaining agreement on Skills at EDF;
  • mobility: EDF group’s collective bargaining agreement on sustainable mobility.
Company Consultation and Coordination Body (Instance de Concertation et de Coordination de l’Entreprise or “ICCE”)

The ICCE is a forum for social dialogue, exchange and/or consultation with EDF’s representative trade union organisations, led by the Group Social Dialogue Director. Its role is to present and discuss societal and development issues that do not fall within the remit of employee representative bodies or emerging issues, decisions or policy orientations.

In 2019: Five meetings were arranged and three or four topics were presented at each meeting (the social agenda of the Company, Group and professional branch, CSR in purchasing, electric mobility, progress made with the My HR project, Skills policy, new variable component schemes etc.). A “Latest News” sequence has been set up and the topics have been adjusted, mainly to improve the coverage given to “training” and the Company’s industrial projects.

Employee Representative Bodies
France

At the beginning of 2019, there were 56 Works Councils, one Central Works Council, one France Group Committee, 97 Employee Representative Councils and 205 Health, Safety & Working Conditions Committees (CHSCT). Through the collective bargaining agreements signed on the 2020 Social Dialogue in the summer of 2019, the structure of the Employee Representative Bodies has been reformed and now includes 47 site-level Social and Economic Committees, oneCentral Social and Economic Committee and one France Group Committee. They were set up following the employee elections held on 14 November 2019.

Central Works Council, now called Central Social and Economic Committee

2019 saw a continuation of the discussions with elected representatives on the Company’s industrial and transformation projects:

  • information on the progress made with engineering projects (Flamanville, Hinkley Point C, India project, EPR 2 project) and on the winter period by the Upstream/Downstream Optimisation & Trading Department;
  • ad hoc consultations on restructuring projects at the Transformation and Operational Efficiency Department, at EDF Hydro and at the Services, Customers and Regional Action (CSAR) Department, also within the framework of the multi-year energy programme, the closure of unit 4 of the Le Havre power plant scheduled for 1 April 2021;
  • recurring “Rebsamen” consultations were organised in 2019 on Corporate Social Policy in April and June and on the Economic and Financial Position of the Company in May.

Twelve sessions were held in 2019, one of which lasted for two days. The handover to the Central Social and Economic Committee took place on 19 December 2019 and the former members of the Central Works Council spent time with the newly elected members of the Central Social and Economic Committee.

France Group Committee

The France Group Committee is a forum for dialogue at the Group level in France, comprising 28 elected representatives of the Group’s subsidiaries (EDF, Dalkia, EDF Renewables, Framatome, Enedis CHAM and RTE etc.). It met three times in 2019 in accordance with the corresponding collective bargaining agreement to discuss recurring issues and topical Group issues: presentation of the Group’s outlook, the economic and financial position, and the Group’s employment and training policies and reviews. At these meetings, the Enedis and Citelum subsidiaries were presented and the My HR project and the Group’s Ethics and Compliance Policy were discussed. The elected representatives also visited the Dalkia facilities at the Purpan hospital in Toulouse.

Outside France
European Works Council

The EWC, comprising 38 representatives of the French, German, British, Italian, Belgian, Polish and Slovakian subsidiaries, met twice in 2019 in accordance with the corresponding collective bargaining agreement. It discussed the current issues affecting the Group with the Chairman of EDF, the Group’s strategy through the presentation of the solar energy plan, the storage plan and the electric mobility plan, along with current European issues, the presentation of the Group’s 2018 consolidated financial statements and the restructuring proposals and their impact on employees, such as the disposal of Edison’s E&P activities.

Through the five Working Groups set up, the EWC members take action at the European level in relation to the health and safety policy, equal opportunity and diversity and the consolidated financial statements in support of the annual audit. It should be noted that in 2019, the working group on collective safeguards was renamed the working group on safeguards for production site closures.

3.3.3.1.8 Employees’ view: My EDF group engagement survey

Since the first “My EDF group” internal engagement survey conducted in November 2012 involving all Group employees, a plan to report results to employees are systematically implemented. The companies are drawing up action plans to increase or introduce improvement measures based on the results observed within their scope. It is available in all the Group’s languages, including English. The results that can be exploited at the level of each company can be explained using various social and demographic criteria (gender, seniority, professional category, etc.).

The 8th edition of the survey was taken from 24 September 2019 to 22 October 2019. A major internal communication campaign was organised to encourage employees to express their opinion (videos, posters and communication kit). The questionnaire was simplified 2 years ago (streamlined from 97 to 44 questions) and can now be completed from a smartphone:

  • employee engagement remains at 64% at the Group level, 1 point higher compared to 2018. 70% of employees would recommend their company as an employer, 2 points higher compared to 2018. The survey demonstrates that confidence in local management remains a real strong point (69% of respondents are confident about the management’s decisions) as well as employee implication (68%, i.e. 2 points higher compared to 2018);
  • content of work remains at a satisfactory level of 70%, increasing by 5 points. However, the perception of the effectiveness of collective operations fell 2 points to 47%. Specific action plans have been implemented for career paths (47% satisfaction) and are starting to pay off (+4pts);
  • finally, for 85% of employees (+1pt) safety is a concern shared by everyone.

Employee participation (75% and nearly 99,500 respondents), a marked increase from the first year (63%), demonstrates the interest of Group employees in this survey over time and guarantees reliable results, as shown by the concrete and noticeable actions taken on the basis of the results.