Safran and European Trade Union IndustriAll signed 3-year, Europe-wide agreement to develop employee skills and careers

PARIS, 6-5-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — Safran and the European Trade Union IndustriAll* signed a three-year, Europe-wide agreement in late March concerning the development of employee skills and careers. The agreement applies to all employees at Safran companies within the scope of the European work’s council**, along with Switzerland, totaling approximately 48,000 employees out of Safran’s consolidated workforce of 69,000.

According to this agreement, Safran will offer all employees the possibility of expanding skills in their current position, as well as providing development opportunities throughout their careers. The agreement has three main objectives:

– Planning ahead for changes in job requirements, and ensuring the professional development of employees. In a high-tech enterprise such as Safran, research and innovation are both strategic priorities. Safran is expected to post strong growth in the coming years in highly competitive markets, which means that it has to plan ahead to enhance the skills of its employees. To meet this goal, Safran has agreed to submit to the European work’s council on an annual basis the foreseeable changes in markets and technologies, as well as its corporate strategic objectives, in order to define the resulting impact on jobs and skills, plus the human resources actions that will be needed.

– Develop and secure the career paths of Safran employees. Safran is taking a hands-on approach to managing employee skills, to ensure that today’s workforce will shape tomorrow’s enterprise. Two of the main areas of focus are a career development interview and access to training programs for all employees. A “training passport” has therefore been created to formally express each person’s acquired knowledge and skills. Safran also focuses on the sharing and transmission of skills, knowledge and best practices between employees, creating moments for both formal and informal discussions to further support this process. Safran also plans to promote the role of mentors, especially in relations with interns, apprentices and new hires, and is emphasizing the need to continue the development of its community of experts.

– Foster professional mobility as an opportunity to develop employee skills, and an efficient way of addressing Safran’s growing needs. Safran will increase employees’ awareness of the different professions and career opportunities available in the Group, using a variety of channels (intranet, posters, local HR departments, etc.), along with the career development interview.

The agreement with IndustriAll, a follow-on to the European agreement on the professional integration of young people, signed in 2013, will be applied via local action plans in each country concerned. Within the scope of the agreement, best practices at a national level have been identified as benchmarks, and quantitative and qualitative indicators will be deployed to track progress in these areas. A monitoring committee will oversee the application of the agreement.

* On May 16, 2012, three industry trade unions, the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF), the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) and the European Trade Union Federation – Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF-TCL), merged to form the IndustriALL European Trade Union, an organization that represents seven million workers in Europe.

** Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom.