Safran promotes employment for people with disabilities

24.01.2012

Special workstations, a poster campaign, coaching and assisted work-study programs: for several years, Safran has been making an active contribution to the integration of people with disabilities within the Group. Jean-Luc Bérard, Corporate Senior Vice President for Human Resources, reviewed progress and examined the outlook.

Jean-Luc Bérard, Safran Vice-President for Human Resources © R. Guillaumot / Safran

What is your assessment of Safran’s participation in the 15th edition of the French Disabled Employment Week?
Very positive, and fully in line with our commitment in the area of disability over the past few years. Most of the Group’s entities took part, with input from production sites, administration and R&D teams, to name but a few. In all, 39 sites participated, and there were around one hundred very varied initiatives, including theater, quizzes, workshops and forums. We also organized a number of recruitment events, particularly as part of the “Adapt” forum in Paris, which was the week’s key disabled recruitment event, but also in synergy with Agefiph’s* “Job Studio” operation, which involved providing special coaching for jobseekers with disabilities. In addition, we organized an in-house poster campaign in partnership with Agefiph, with Group employees agreeing to have their photos featured under the slogan “At Safran, 1,579 of us are disabled workers. That’s normal.” In all, over 1,000 posters were displayed at our various sites.

Could you tell us about Safran’s other plans and achievements in this area?
I should begin by reminding you that, in 2010, we signed a two-year Group agreement with Agefiph for the integration and continued employment of people with disabilities, which has led us to make a special effort in this area. Disabled people now account for 4.4% of the Group’s workforce in France, which is higher than the French average. This has been achieved thanks to our companies’ longstanding policy of hiring disabled workers in their plants even where this requires changes to workstations. The “Elan” project, launched by Safran in 2006 through its Foundation for Inclusion, has already enabled 131 disabled people to take up positions with Group companies as part of work-study programs. In recent months, ten mentally disabled people have completed training at Messier-Bugatti-Dowty in Molsheim, as part of year-long program leading to a qualification, with nine of them obtaining degrees as industrial manufacturing operatives. There have also been other initiatives throughout the year, in partnership with entities such as the ESATs**, which specialize in social integration for people with disabilities. In order to set an even greater example in this field, we are currently involved in negotiations with the trade unions on a Group disability draft agreement that will, among other things, set out commitments for hiring and retaining people with disabilities. We are confident that this will be finalized in 2012.

How does this disability policy fit in with Safran’s corporate culture?
Our active policy in favor of integration and employment for disabled people is fully in line with the importance that our Group has always attached to people and to its role as a corporate citizen. Our commitment to this culture was underscored once again in November 2010, when our Chairman & CEO Jean-Paul Herteman signed the French Diversity Charter on behalf of Safran, committing the Group in every area of cultural, ethnic and social diversity.

* Agefiph: Association de Gestion du Fonds pour l’Insertion Professionnelle des Personnes Handicapées (the organization that manages funds allocated to employment of the disabled in France).
** ESAT: Etablissement et Service d’Aide par le Travail (an entity fostering development through work for disabled people)

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