Positive purpose and strong values
Our central focus is on our core values and principles. These have been shaped and fostered over time. They underpin the way we run our business, create value and carry out our mission: to use our technological solutions to drive the digital transformation of physical commerce.
Cultural diversity: Our employees (of which 41% are located in France) represent 46 different nationalities and speak 26 different languages, the most prevalent being English, French, German, Spanish and Italian
Age diversity: The average age of our staff members, which was 36 at year-end 2022, has been dropping due to company expansion and to the on-boarding of new and younger managers and employees. Nevertheless, all age cohorts are represented in our workforce.
Stability and long-term tenure of our workforce: We have built an international group that retains its employees for the long term, with 51% of staff members on board at year-end 2012 still with us at year-end 2022. Our staff includes workers who were involved in the world’s very first generation of electronic labelling and who are able to hand down the legacy of being a pioneer company in our field.
Gender Diversity: The Company strives to promote equal opportunity and gender equality at all stages of career development. The company has made strides in improving the gender balance with women as a percentage of the workforce increasing from 23% in 2016 to 34% in 2022. Women accounted for 41% of new hires in 2022, a result of the company’s proactive recruitment strategy to improve the gender ratio.
Commitment to the social and professional integration of people with disabilities: SES-imagotag is committed to the social and professional integration of adults with disabilities. Parts of the second life ESL repair process are sub-contracted to organizations specialized in the social and professional integration of adults with disabilities. The ESAT of Eragny (an organization that places people with disabilities in appropriate work environments, in the Val-d’Oise department of France) has supported our ESL refurbishment efforts since the 2000s.
The Group also directly employs one person in France with a
declared disability.
Women Fast-Track program
The Group initiated an internal program aimed at expanding the representation of women in managerial roles by:
Identifying women who have the potential, in the short to medium-term, to access roles that are in the Company’s top 10% most senior positions; and
Implementing a mentorship program for women with Executive Committee members and via individual development plans, whereby women are encouraged to make connections with senior management members as mentors who can help to guide them toward the skils that they will require to be able to assume leadership positions in the future
The representation of female managers (i.e. managing at least 1 direct report) increased from 24% in 2021 to 27% in 2022. As regards women in leadership roles, female representation in the Company’s top tenth of senior managers currently stands at 26% compared to 20% in 2021.
For more information please visit our ESG Report
Women (23% in 2016)
of new hires are women
Managers
of managers under 35 are women
Talent management, training and career development
We are committed to offering our employees equal opportunities for recognition and career development, irrespective of national origin, race, gender or beliefs, and we follow all applicable regulations and agreements. Employees are hired solely on the basis of their education, professional experience and potential to add value.
- Talent Management: We believe that motivation is the main driver of performance, and that our employees can achieve strong results if they are motivated, trained, rewarded, filled with a sense of long-term belonging and convinced that their work is important, meaningful and positive. The breadth of the positions we offer, our rapid growth in a global context and a very strong culture of innovation enables us to offer our employees a number of career paths as well as swift and fulfilling personal development.
- Training: We are committed to providing our employees with ongoing training. We aim to ensure that all of our employees have the necessary skill sets to grow within the Company and the industry, and to fully develop their abilities and expertise within our sector, where innovation is key. In 2022, number of training hour per employee amounted to 22.22 compared to 19.75 hours in 2021.
We are encouraging a more flexible learning culture where our associates can access upskilling classes via our e-learning platform, anywhere and at anytime. We have also increased our investment to offer a wider selection of content. Our goal is to move from a mindset of obligation to one of personal choice in which employees can select e-learning training courses that are relevant for them.
Following are some examples of the types of training provided to our employees:
- Climate change training: a training session on carbon emissions and on reducing our environmental impact was provided to all employees in the second half of 2021 by the consulting firm Carbon 4 performing the independent group-wide carbon audit.
- Training in Ethical conduct of business: Our Code of Ethics is designed to ensure that each staff member understands and acts with the highest ethical standards in every aspect of our work. Everyone at SES-imagotag must apply the Code along with the procedures and related policies when interacting with all stakeholders.We trained employees and managers on our e-learning module regarding ethical conduct of business, including diverse issues such as Money Laundering, Fair Competition, Conflict-of-interest, Passive and Active corruption, Bribery & Facilitation payments, Gifts and Hospitality, Charity and Patronage as well as the whistle blowing process.
- Employee satisfaction survey: in may and october 2022, we launched an employee satisfaction survey, and we plan to organize two surveys a year going forward. The results of our Employee Net Promoter Score (E-NPS) survey were very encouraging, with a participation level of 77%. Uniformly positive feedback was provided by employees as regarding company leadership, intention to remain in the company, identification with the company’s values, workspace satisfaction, sense of belonging, and equal access to development opportunities. Based on responses to the question, “ Would recommend your company as a good place to work?”, 51% of employees are considered to be “ambassadors” in a rating scale that considers that 20% and more is a very good level.
- Remuneration policy and long-term incentives: The Company’s overall compensation policy is highly performance driven, entrepreneurial and based on individual accountability: variable remuneration is conditional on the achievement of specific and measurable objectives. Individual bonuses are implemented based on a scorecard – evaluated twice a year — dedicated to specific personal targets that are adapted to each job description.
In 2022 30% of employees have a long term compensation plan compared to 20% in 2021. - Global stock incentives: Following several performance share plans which allocated free shares to employees, the scheme in place since 2020, based on the VUSION strategic plan, covers a significant portion of our personnel (about 30%) likely to receive free shares of the Company’s stock if specific performance criteria are met. These plans make motivation the primary driver of the Company’s performance and have become key leverage tools for attracting and retaining the most talented employees, and for involving them in our entrepreneurial culture.
- Regular management appraisals: the Group conducts biannual individual appraisals. The appraisal interviews assess employee performance and set individual objectives, consistent with the Company’s strategy. In order to standardize practices across the Group and ensure a consistent and fair application of the appraisal policy, we use “Foederis”, a digital platform that creates a paperless biannual individual interview process. 100% of the Groups emplyees are subject to a performance review and managerial discussion.
For additional information, please visit our ESG Report
Work / life balance
In 2021, a teleworking agreement has been implemented so that employees are entitled to work 2 days a week from home. This will help to limit travel time and the environmental impact of home-office travel. We ensure that this new way of working takes place in a secure environment. Remote connection is provided by VPN platforms and is authorized for employees who have sread the IT Charter and signed our Code of Business Conduct. This approach is supplemented by employee support systems in order to preserve balance and quality of life, particularly in terms of connection time and health monitoring. We recognize the importance and benefits of being an agile organization, both in relation to productivity and caring for our employees. For us, flexible schedules that meet the needs of the organization while catering to each individual’s personal circumstances provide the best model. In order to foster productive teamwork, we have invested in the development of a new coworking area intended to offer all of our employees a ground to foster social interactions, knowledge sharing, reflection and creativity. The new connected space is friendly, airy, bright, flexible and agile enough to allow the organization of internal and external events in the future, and the installation of a new showroom to showcase our products and innovations. We are also making similar investments at our R&D facility in Austria, which has the second highest number of employees in the Group. Both locations already met state-of-the-art standards for office design and well-being at work. The Group’s headquarters moved to a “High Environmental Quality” (HQE) building in 2014 with best-in-class standards regarding comfort, lighting, ergonomics, social spaces. In 2019, the R&D center and office in Austria were moved to a brand-new building in Fernitz providing space, catering, a training room for sports, a climbing wall, and recreational areas. The Group continues to promote social events held monthly for employees grouped according to seniority with the aim of fostering an interactive and collegial environment. Ensuring team cohesion is essential in supporting and maintaining strong growth. We organize a monthly CEO update and internal webinars for the sales and technical teams to continue to share and learn more about the Group’s projects and strategy. For additional information, please visit our ESG Report
Health and safety
The Group has continued its efforts to enable employees to work remotely by creating a supportive safety policy with mandatory digital tools and digital processes:
· prevention plans,
· specific safety and health-protection plans,
· pre-work equipment checks, and
· individual protective equipment checks for our installation teams as well as for our logistic teams.
The Group ensures the best social protection and welfare coverage according to domestic regulations regarding retirement and social security.
For example, in France, the following collective agreements have been negotiated and agreed with the Works Council representatives:
· Metallurgy collective agreement, which is one of the most comprehensive agreements
· Agreement regarding the weekly working hour scheme (35 hours)
· Participation Agreement (in addition to the profit sharing agreement below)
· Profit-sharing agreement
· Corporate Savings Plan
· Remote work agreement
· Agreement on the installations
· Gender Equity
· IT Disconnection Charter
· Ethical Charter
· IT Charter
· Facility Safety Manual
· Logistics Security Manual
· Whistle blowing procedure
Please refer to our Health and Safety statement for additional information and our ESG Report