APC 2009 Annual Report Download - page 61

2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC 59
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2
SOCIAL PERFORMANCE
>DIVERSITY KEY FIGURES
•34% of the global workforce are women
•95 different nationalities
•4 nationalities at the executive committee
•42% of the workforce in emerging economies
Disabled persons
France: Schneider Electric stepped up its commitment by signing an
initial Group agreement on July12, 2007. This three-year agreement
covers all Group units in France for the fi rst time and complies with
new regulations stemming from the French law of February11, 2005
mandating equal rights, opportunities, participation and citizenship
for the disabled.
With this agreement, Schneider Electric undertakes to:
•renew an infl ow of disabled workers and take action to keep them
employed;
•promote direct employment while pursuing an assertive policy of
subcontracting to the protected employment sector;
•take a comprehensive approach to bringing disabled persons into
the job market and keeping them employed, keeping in mind the
diversity of handicaps, their origins and severity.
The agreement sets the following targets:
•ensure that the percentage of disabled employees in the workforce
corresponds to at least 6% of payroll—the minimum required by
law ;
•integrate 45 disabled work-study interns and hire 45 disabled
employees over the term of the agreement.
Examples in 2009
The Group took action and made a number of commitments in 2009:
•On November13, 2009, Schneider Electric and 31 other CAC40
companies signed a charter to promote job opportunities for
disabled persons with France’s Secretary of State for Family;
•On November16, 2009, Schneider Electric signed a partnership
with Université Pierre et Marie Curie alongside BNP Paribas,
Thales and Total.
–The goal of the partnership is to put a priority on supporting
disabled students by including them in work-study programmes .
–The partnership also aims to make training more accessible so
that disabled persons can pursue their studies and fi nd long-
term employment.
Employee share ownership
Convinced that employee share ownership is instrumental in
strengthening a company’s human and fi nancial capital, and that
employee shareholders are long-term partners, Schneider Electric
has been building an international employee shareholder base
since 1995 that is representative of the Group’s diversity. Ultimately,
employees should hold roughly 5% of the capital thanks to this
programme .
In a visibly complex stock market environment, the 2009 Plan was
a resounding success, with 16,000 employees in 14 countries
subscribing shares representing a total of euro 113million. This
result attests to employee confi dence in Schneider Electric’s future.
The 2010 Plan will cover 77,000 employees in 17 countries, as
follows: Germany, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Spain,
the United States, Finland, France, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand,
the Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland.
Reward 2009
In light of its efforts to promote good practices in relations with
employee shareholders, Schneider Electric was recognised
among France’s CAC40 companies with the 2009 Grand Prix de
l’Actionnariat Salarié by the French Federation of Employee Share
Owners (FAS). This award has provided further motivation to pursue
and enhance initiatives that align employee and shareholder interests
with those of the Company.
The employee savings system at December 31, 2009 was as follows:
•4.26% of Schneider Electric SA’s capital and 6.33% of the voting
rights;
•nearly 30,000 employee shareholders, representing more than
28 % of employees worldwide.
>TOWARDS A RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYEE
SAVINGSPLAN
The employee savings scheme has evolved December 15,
2009. Schneider Electric is committed around the world
through its programme called Energy BipBop (seepage66).
The French employees can thus engage in investing in
the Fund Schneider Energy FCPE as a first step before
enlargement of this initiative.