Financial Review - Bouygues

People:our greater resourceThe culture of the Bouygues group puts people first. It isbuilt around the essential values of team spirit, individualresponsibility, ethical conduct and respect.The spirit of enterprise that motivatesthe Group's employees promotes economicdevelopment and long-term jobcreation.A group that createslong-term jobsConstruction, historically the Group'score business, has been the principalsource of employment, creating andsecuring a very large number of jobs.Between 1987 and 2004, for example,the workforce grew from just under27,000 to almost 93,000.Since the late 1980s, an ambitiousstrategy of diversification into themedia and telecommunications sectorshas also paid off in employmentterms with the creation of almost10,000 jobs. The number of employeesworking in these two sectors hasincreased eightfold in 17 years, whilethe number of managers hasincreased twelve fold.Workforce: construction,property, roadsOf which managers26,8784,82376,79710,43092,76214,0261987 1997 2004Workforce: telecoms, mediaOf which managers1,4645225,5762,93111,4626,1371987 1997 2004Values have a key placeBouygues unequivocally asserts itsvalues.The mindset has evolved over timeand with diversification but the corevalues remain the same. The Group'sculture continues to be based on puttingpeople first, respect for customers,a taste for challenge and aconstant quest for innovation.The Minorange Guild, created in 1963by Francis Bouygues to promoteconstruction trades, is the embodimentof the Bouygues culture. Onworksites, it fosters respect for safety,dedication to a job well done, fraternityand commitment to the company.Other Group businesses have set uporders based on the same principles,like the Road Guild at Colas.Bouygues now has 1,678 guild workersin 21 orders, some of which operateoutside France.Following a seminar on the Group'sethics and values designed to raiseawareness of ethical issues amongover 300 managers, Martin Bouyguesdecided to promote respect as a powerfulcollective force for improvingperformance. The Bouygues ManagementInstitute will organise furtherseminars in 2005 to get managers tothink together about respect in all itsforms. As well as helping them tocommunicate better on the subjectwith their colleagues, the seminars willtrain managers to lead sessions themselves.More than ever expected to setan example, managers are encouragedto mobilise on the issue andshow their co-workers the way.Recruiting the bestAlmost 7,000 new employees wererecruited in France in 2004, an increaseof 7%. With the picture for thefuture looking clear in all businessareas, 77% of them were hired onpermanent contracts, compared with68% in 2003.Other 1%BouyguesTelecomTF1Recruitment by businessarea in 200414%6%Colas47%BouyguesConstruction31%BouyguesImmobilier 1%78% of new hires were in constructionbusinesses. Bouygues Constructionand Colas are constantly looking foryoung engineers and are more generallyseeking to increase numbers ofsupervisors and site workers in anticipationof a wave of retirements.Bouygues Telecom continues torecruit substantially even though theannual recruitment rate is beginning tofall as the market matures.The Bouygues ConstructionChallengeThe annual Bouygues ConstructionChallenge, a business competitionopen to students from some ofEurope's most highly reputed businessand engineering schools, hasseveral aims:• to attract talent: several dozen studentswho stood out during the competitionhave already been recruited;• to assert the company's positionas a key employer;• to involve staff in relations withinstitutes of higher education: byplaying a central role during theChallenge, managers can hone theirskills in detecting, assessing andtracking young graduates. Their presencealongside the students enablesthem to establish friendly relationshipswith potential futurecolleagues.In 2004, the Bouygues ConstructionChallenge once again proved its valueas a place where candidates andmanagers can meet each other andexchange ideas in a relaxed atmosphere.The prize, won by a team from EcoleCentrale Paris and Paris IX DauphineUniversity, is a week-long trip toMorocco in 2005 to discover thecountry and some of BouyguesConstruction's major projects in theregion.42