Social, societal and environmental responsibility
5.2 Information concerning Danone's social, societal and environmental performance in compliance with the Grenelle II law
DANONE
REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2015
177
Absenteeism
The absenteeismrate (see
Methodology Note
) was estimated at 2.3% in
2015. Given the limited availability of information in certain countries,
Danone made estimates for this indicator as of December 31, 2015.
The absenteeism rate was used in 2015 to assess the benefit of a
systematic program to promote health and quality of life at the work-
place, which would result in a lower illness-related absenteeismrate.
Social relations
Organization of social dialogue
The attention given to its employees and the desire to ensure their
best possible growth in a fast-changing economic environment are
at the heart of Danone's culture and its dual economic and social
project. Social dialogue is therefore one of the key elements to
Danone's long-term success as well as a means of supporting its
transformation to benefit the company's performance.
Social dialogue at Danone is organized around:
•
aworldwide social dialogue body: the Information and Consultation
Committee (ICC) and its Steering Committee (
Comité de Pilotage
– COPIL
);
•
the negotiation andmonitoring of international framework agree-
ments with the IUF (International Union of Food Workers), see
section 5.1
Danone social, societal and environmental approach
;
•
active social dialogue at Danone's subsidiaries with union and
employee representatives.
Danone also promotes the application by its subsidiaries of best
practices related to social dialogue, particularly through the
Danone Way initiative based on the “Social Dialogue and Employee
Involvement” key practice (see section 5.1
Danone social, societal
and environmental approach
), which includes:
•
evaluating the policies implemented by the subsidiaries, par-
ticularly with regard to the application of the IUF agreement
on social dialogue, the creation of a favorable framework for
social dialogue, the organization of elections for independent
employee representatives, and the organization of discussions
with employee representatives and negotiation of agreements;
•
monitoring indicators such as the number of economic and em-
ployment information sessions for all employees, the proportion
of employees represented by employee representatives and
the number of annual meetings between site management and
employee representatives.
Review of collective agreements
Nine global agreements between Danone and the IUF were in effect
as of December 31, 2015 (see section 5.1
Danone social, societal and
environmental approach
). They mainly concern diversity, social dia-
logue and steps to be taken when changes in business activity affect
employment or working conditions. The most recent agreement
was signed on September 29, 2011 and addresses health, safety,
working conditions and stress.
The nine global agreements are deployed at each Danone subsidiary
and their application is jointly assessed each year at several subsid-
iaries by a representative from Danone and a representative from
the IUF. Between 2009 and 2015, more than 50 visits were made to
fully consolidated subsidiaries.
Three European agreements were also signed over the last three
years to support the implementation of the organizations' savings
and adaptation plan in Europe and, in particular, the industrial
facilities of the Fresh Dairy Products Division.
In addition, collective agreementsmay also be signed at the subsidiary
and country level, such as the amendment to the agreement on the
donation of leave time for a seriously ill child or spouse signed in
April 2015 for Danone Produits Frais France (Fresh Dairy Products,
France) or the extension of the agreement on work-at-home for
Danone SA (Danone's parent company).
Health and safety
Workplace safety
Since 2004, Danone has been committed to a worldwide program
known as WISE (see section 5.1
Danone social, societal and environ-
mental approach
), with the goal of developing a safety culture at all
its sites in order to significantly reduce the number of workplace
accidents. This program is implemented worldwide in each Division,
in the plants and logistics warehouses, and within the distribution
channel. It also applies to subcontractors working at Danone sites.
Danone decided to enhance the WISE program, renamed Wise²,
with more far-reaching goals by 2020: zero fatal accidents and a
reduction by half of the number of workplace accidents withmedical
absence compared to the reference year 2014. To this end, Wise²
aims to ensure Danone's compliance with its higher safety at work
standards and promote amore comprehensive prevention approach
that includes, in particular, health risks, ergonomics and well-being
in the workplace.
The WISE program and health and safety management are coor-
dinated by the Human Resources Department with the support of
designated managers at each level of Danone's organization.
Workplace accidents
The annual frequency rate of workplace accidents with medical
absence (FR1 rate, see
Methodology Note
) rose slightly from 1.9 to
2.0 between 2014 and 2015. Danone's 2015 severity rate (SR rate,
see
Methodology Note
) for workplace accidents withmedical absence
was 0.1 for the Safety Scope (see
Methodology Note
).
For the past three years, Danone has expanded its workplace ac-
cident management to include accidents with and without medical
absence through systematic monitoring of the FR2 rate (accident
frequency rate without medical absence). Danone now manages
safety improvements at each of its sites and subsidiaries by mea-
suring the decline in both types of accidents.
In 2015, the continued improvement in the results of the Waters
division (-20%) and of the Early Life Nutrition division (-14%) helped
limit the increase in Danone's FR1 rate (+5%) despite the integration
of Centrale Danone (Fresh Dairy Products, Morocco), whose FR1 rate
was 5.9. At constant scope, Danone's FR1 rate decreased by 10%.
Danone's 2015 frequency rate (FR2 rate, see
Methodology Note
) for
workplace accidents without medical absence was 3.5 for the Safety
Scope (see
Methodology Note
).




