102 / 204
100
Rothschild & Co | Annual Report 2017
Corporate Social Responsibility
3.3 Work organisation
Working hours vary from country to country depending on national legislation
and are therefore managed and monitored by local management and Human
Resources teams.
Absenteeism is actively monitored and managed by local offices. A
Group-wide HR system is now operational providing global consistency to
many HR processes. This system will cover lateral recruitment and employee
lifecycle management for all the Group employees.
Absence management functionality is being addressed on a location by
location basis. In 2018, this will be rolled out across offices in Guernsey,
the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Further countries
will be considered in due course.
In France, more specifically, all kinds of absenteeism are already
recorded in the system: maternity and paternity leaves, additional leaves,
breastfeeding leave, absences for working accident, sick leave and
therapeutic part-time. During the 2017 financial year, in France, which
represents 34% of the total headcount, the absenteeism rate amounted
to 1.6%
(1)
.
3.4 Labour relations
Communication with and feedback from employees form a key aspect of
Rothschild & Co’s working practices. Attracting, developing and rewarding
people are at the heart of what we do. Therefore, providing regular and
thorough feedback is critical to this. This is done formally through the
performance review, under which employees receive an end of year review.
Managers are encouraged to meet with their direct reports on a regular
basis to ensure dialogue on progress and two-way feedback is promoted.
More generally, Group and division-wide communication is regularly
promoted through email updates, the internal Intranet R-connect, and the
various businesses have their own form of face-to-face divisional gatherings.
Moreover, in France, the social dialogue is organised through the staff
representatives (
délégués du personnel
) at the level of Rothschild & Co,
and for other companies the social dialogue is organised through the work
council (
comité d’entreprise
), the staff delegates (
délégués du personnel
)
and the health and safety committee (
comité d’hygiène, de sécurité et des
conditions de travail
). Thereby, social dialogue takes place at least once
a month with a member of management and integrates information,
consultation and negotiation procedures with employees.
Regarding Rothschild & Co’s largest office locations, France is the only
country having collective agreements based on applicable French legal
provisions. During the 2017 financial year, nine collective agreements
were executed. Some of these agreements are action plans to promote
professional gender equality, particularly regarding recruitment, training,
working conditions, effective remuneration and work-life balance. Other
agreements deal with employee savings plans for the Group’s employees
(PEE/PEG/PERCO), profit-sharing and participation.
Moreover, in France, a Health & Safety Committee pays great attention to
health, hygiene, safety and the working conditions of employees. Rothschild
& Co evaluates and anticipates risks, offers information and implements
training on these subjects and we regularly review our procedures and
systems at least once a year through the “
Document d’évaluation des
risques
” (report identifying the risk on health, safety and working conditions)
and the “
Document de prévention des risques
” (report identifying the action
plan implemented to control risk). These two documents are regularly
reviewed with the social representatives.
In Germany, specific measures are also conducted with the same objective
(through, for instance, the “Gefährdungsbeurteilung” report which is similar
to “
Document d’évaluation des risques
”).
3.5 Health & Safety
In 2015 and 2016, Rothschild & Co undertook a global legal compliance
and conformance assessment to understand the legal Health & Safety
responsibilities in each jurisdiction where Rothschild & Co has an office.
This assessment led to the approval and internal publication of the
Group Health & Safety Policy which defines the Group Health & Safety
conformance standard for offices worldwide, in order to further strengthen
and improve Health & Safety conformance requirements across all of the
Group’s offices.
3.5.1 Group Health & Safety Policy
The Group Health & Safety Policy, which is published on Rothschild & Co’s
Intranet, guides the Group’s direction and approach to responsible health
& safety management.
To ensure a consistent approach to maintaining the health, safety and
well-being of all persons who might be affected by the activities within an
office, all locations commit to implementing the conformance standard by
setting procedures listed within the Group Health & Safety Requirements
(HSRs) prescribed in the Policy.
3.5.2 Health & Safety Requirements
Operational guidance is provided to individual locations prepared by the
Group Health & Safety Manager, to ensure that procedures created are
suitable for the needs of the location’s size and activity.
Health & Safety management includes, but is not limited to:
• risk assessments – including general office safety;
• fire management – including fire risk assessment and fire evacuation
procedures;
• contractor management and access procedures;
• accident reporting and first aid provision;
• training and information tools;
• health & well-being services; and
• inspection and audit of the Health & Safety procedures at work.
Each location has one or more Health & Safety Advocates to ensure
day-to-day management of the HSRs in line with the Policy.
All supporting documentation is drafted by the Group Health & Safety
Manager and further approved by the Group Environment, Health & Safety
Committee before it is introduced to offices.
(1) Based on a number of business days of 251. This rate takes into account the absences for working and commuting accident, the therapeutic part-time, the sick leave, the pathological pregnancies and the
absences relating to births.