A player in sustainable development - Dalkia

OUR EMPLOYEES
Apprentices at the Jouy-le-Moutier
Campus.
30 2007 ANNUAL REPORT VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT
Building and maintaining
trust-based relationships
The company builds its external growth
on several kinds of transactions,
including mergers and acquisitions, joint
ventures with industrial partners, and
contracts for the management of public
services signed with local public
authorities.
No matter what the characteristics of
such transactions, in a service business
such as the one Veolia Environnement
operates in, the work force is a key factor
of success. The challenge is to take over
and integrate staff in an existing
business unit in an approach based on
achieving progress at all levels of the
unit and all the stages of corporate life.
Several criteria need to be taken into
account: employees’ status, training,
optimization of know-how,
compensation and welfare benefi ts.
Our business is, by defi nition, strongly
anchored in local reality and labor
relations are built in business units to be
as close as possible to staff and the
situation on the ground. It is within this
framework that employer and employee
representatives can best provide
appropriate solutions with respect
to the organization of work and working
conditions, developing skills and
performance-based compensation.
Employee-employer dialogue takes place
in all the countries in which the company
operates. After the creation of the
French Works Council and, subsequently,
the European Works Council, which
brings together representatives of the
personnel of 21 European countries,
labor relations are organized on three
levels: inside each subsidiary, the
traditional bargaining forum; in each
country for joint employer and employee
bodies to debate national issues; and
within the European Works Council,
a transnational body for consultation
and information on issues concerning
all employees.
Guaranteeing fair
and equitable compensation
In all the countries where it operates,
Veolia Environnement implements a
remuneration policy aimed at attracting
and keeping talented employees. We
off er attractive compensation relative to
local standards, making due allowance
for individual eff ort as well. Staff
benefi ts include sickness and disability
cover, as well as additional guarantees
regarding the payment of pensions,
depending on the country. We also
encourage employee stock purchase
plans. This remuneration policy has led
to the signature of 1,020 collective
agreements in the various countries
where we operate.
In 2007, our company broadened its
policy on employee stock purchase plans.
Another capital increase was proposed
to 195,500 employees in 27 countries,
which was 33,000 employees and eight
countries more than in 2006. After this
shareholding transaction, the share of
Veolia Environnement’s equity held by
employees (more than 56,900 at the end
of 2007) stands at 1.63%.
Priority to safety
Because of the nature of their work,
Veolia Environnement employees face
many hazards. The company is working
on how to ensure their physical safety,
regardless of the country and business
unit in which they work. Despite the
progress achieved in the last few years
and the improvement in safety material
and personal protective equipment,
work accident frequency and severity
indicators need to be further improved.
The Executive Committee has decreed
2008 to be World Safety Year for Veolia
Environnement. This mobilization gives
priority to the prevention of
occupational health and safety risks.
The campaign is to be conducted at an
international level while drawing on
existing best practices.