Fnac seeks to value its employees and its professions, and is one of the French companies that have invested the most in the VPE process. The results obtained have lived up to this commitment.

The Validation of Professional Experience is an individual voluntary project. It’s an official certificate that recognises skills acquired through experience. Since 2004, Fnac has encouraged its employees to have their professional experience recognised, thus preparing and supporting them in achieving qualifications: Bac professionnel, Brevet de technicien supérieur (standard or advanced vocational diplomas) or, since 2007, a bachelor’s or master’s degree. More than 350 employees have benefited from this process with almost a 100% success rate.
 
Fnac is also the only French company to accompany candidates on the path to higher education qualifications. For Isabelle Saviane, Vice President Human Resources of the Fnac Group, this is a key element of the Social Responsibility of the company:”Fnac is a company that combines high-performance, corporate citizenship and solidarity. By investing above and beyond the mere obligation to provide information about VPE, Fnac makes concrete commitments to its employees throughout this process. In so doing, it boosts their employability, and is committed to forging indispensable links between the world of business and education”.
 

Since 1999, PPR has been committed to promoting the internal redeployment of employees and to expanding the Group’s contribution to solidarity at work.
 
Across the PPR Group in France, Subsidiaries may be called upon, to redeploy some of their employees as a result of restructuring measures, site relocations, site closures or cases of physical unfitness for a particular position. To limit the individual impact of these situations to the extent possible and to ensure the successful internal redeployment of all those who wish to continue to work for the Group, PPR has adopted a redeployment policy in France and has set up a Steering Committee under the name of Job Coordination.
 
All of the redeployment and mobility-assistance measures taken by the Subsidiaries and the Group to limit the impact of restructuring on employment testify to PPR’s social responsibility.
 

Since 2004, PPR’s Mission Handicap has been developing an employment policy for people with disabilities. The areas of activity are vast, ranging from integration to training, via job retention, using the protected work sector and raising the awareness of employees.
 
In keeping with the Group commitments for the employment of disabled people and the success of the two previous partnerships, PPR signed a new convention with Agefiph* in December 2010. It aims not only to continue building on the actions already undertaken by PPR’s Mission Handicap, but also to give a new lease of life to some of them.
“This new partnership will, among other things, allow us to give greater emphasis to training workers with disabilities. Our aim is to help them gain improved qualifications”, explains Leslie Chaffot, Manager of HR Development Projects and head of PPR's Mission Handicap. This will be brought about by introducing training schemes, occupation open days, internships and so on, but also by more closely monitoring the training needs of disabled employees of the Group.
“Another of our priorities embodied in this new convention is to establish stronger links with the protected work sector**, by involving the Group’s Purchasing department”, continues Leslie Chaffot. “We ultimately hope to develop social dialogue with regards to the professional integration of people with disabilities".
 
This is the third convention signed between PPR-Agefiph in France, and its measures concern Fnac, Redcats Group, Gucci Group and the PPR head office. Conforama will continue its activities in favour of employees with disabilities as set out in a specific company agreement signed in 2007 with its trade unions. The convention was signed for a 15-month period from the 31st October 2009 to the 31st December 2010, and ratifies the continuation of existing efforts, in particular in terms of raising the awareness of the Group’s employees.
 
*Agefiph: Fund for the professional integration of people with disabilities. It provides advice and support for people with disabilities, employers and vocational integration professionals, and is supported by a network of partners. The organisation is registered as part of a State-signed convention.

** The protected work sector consists of organisations employing people with disabilities who are not able to work in conventional companies.
 

Gucci Group recognises the value of its suppliers’ know-how and is keen to ensure social compliance throughout its supply chain operations. To this end, the company has embarked upon a demanding social accountability certification process.
 
SA 8000 is an international social accountability certification standard used to assess company’s facilities and its relationships with its stakeholders throughout the supply chain. The standard is based essentially on the principles of the International Labour Organization and measures the performance of companies in nine areas: child labour, forced labour, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours, remuneration and management systems. The standard also provides for a social accountability management system to demonstrate commitment to the continuous improvement of working conditions. The accreditation body for the certification process is the non-governmental organisation Social Accountability International (SAI). The Gucci brand has been a member of SAI’s Consultative Committee since 2009.
 
Gucci obtained SA 8000 certification for its leather goods activities and jewellery supply chains in 2007. SA 8000 certification was subsequently obtained for the brand’s shoe production facilities in March 2009 and for the ready-to-wear and silk businesses in November 2009. Gucci Group’s main logistics platform, LGI (Luxury Goods International), also successfully completed the certification process, in December 2009. Gucci Group is now working towards SA 8000 certification for its Italian boutiques. The Bottega Veneta brand, too, is seeking certification for its operations and was awarded SA 8000 certification for its footwear production and leather goods activities.
 

The Group emphasises long-term partnerships that guarantee continuity and reliability. These long-term partnerships are founded on a set of strict rules, which are cited in the PPR Code of Business Practices.
 
In keeping with the Group’s decentralised approach, each Subsidiary commits to the approach best suited to its businesses, its markets and operational methods. In keeping with the Group’s policy of decentralisation and to ensure that each branch can address its specific needs with maximum effectiveness, they are free to define and implement social compliance criteria for their supply chains, subject to strict adherence to the ethical principles contained in the PPR Code of Business Practices. 
Puma, for example, works with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and was accredited by that organisation in 2007. Redcats Group, Conforama and PPR Purchasing (PPR-P, the direct purchasing hub for household appliances, ownbrand audiovisual and computer equipment) follow the methodology prescribed by the Social Clause Initiative (SCI). Note that in 2008, Redcats Group agreed a more specific methodology for measuring working hours with the SCI. Gucci Group is pursuing SA 8000 (Social Accountability 8000) certification for its brands.
 
In 2009, PPR carried out 3,493 audits, all approaches combined (in-house evaluations, SCI methodology for external evaluations and SA 8000 certification). Whatever the method, system and tools deployed, the objective is always that of helping the Group’s suppliers meet minimum corporate social responsibility standards and develop their own CSR approach, with a view to establishing stable, lasting relationships.
 

Since 2001, Conforama has used mainly inland waterways in France for the post-shipping transport of its mass-import containers.
 
On July 1, 2008 Conforama signed a "Large Retailer" protocol in favour of the development of river transport along the Rhône-Saône waterways. This protocol signed by the government, the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, Voies Navigables de France and seven major retailers, aims to increase the portion of goods transported by river between Fos-sur-Mer and Lyon.
 
Since 2005, goods leaving the port of Le Havre (France) for the logistics platforms of the Île de France (around Paris) or from Antwerp to the logistics hubs of Onnaing (northern France) and Niederbipp (Switzerland) have also gone by barge.
On July 1, 2008 Conforama signed a "Large Retailer" protocol in favour of the development of river transport along the Rhône-Saône waterways. This protocol signed by the government, the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, Voies Navigables de France and seven major retailers, aims to increase the portion of goods transported by river between Fos-sur-Mer and Lyon. Conforama has committed to send virtually all of the goods destined for its Lyon warehouses via the Fos-Lyon waterway, saving 1,100 truck journeys in 2009.
 
This means of transport has also been used since 2005 between the port of Le Havre and the port of Antwerp to take goods to the Conforama logistics warehouses in the Paris area and the north of France.Taking all rivers together, 80% of Conforama’s post-shipping transport went by river in 2009, compared with 9% by rail and 11% by road.

Due to the considerable volume of sales catalogues and/or documents distributed each year, paper consumption was identified as a major environmental issue for the PPR Group.

In 2009, PPR consumed more than 200,000 tonnes of paper. The PPR paper policy is founded on 2 axis: the reduction of the paper quantity used and the improvement of the paper quality consumed.

The Group’s paper consumption fell significantly between 2008 and 2009, by 17%. The brands have been reviewing their sales communications, reducing the amount of paper documents and stepping up the use of electronic media in 2009. Over the past few years, growing momentum in Internet sales has brought about a change in the marketing policies of PPR’s brands.

The drop in paper consumed in 2009 reflects an ongoing and intensified focus on the initiatives implemented over the last few years to reduce paper consumption for commercial and internal purposes. Group employees were asked to use the double-sided print option, to favour paperless communication (e-mails, press reviews, scanned documents, etc.) and to print on the back of scrap paper. Individual printers are increasingly being withdrawn and replaced with centralised print management systems resulting in a significant reduction in paper used.

By setting up a centralised paper purchasing system the Group can opt for supply chains that deal in paper from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC). These certifications guarantee that the wood used to make the paper comes from sustainably managed forests. With regard to direct paper purchases, which represent the majority of the volume (72.5%), over 72% is made from fibres that are recognized for their environmental quality. In 2009, 65% of the Group’s directly purchased paper came from certified forests and 7% from recycled fibres. 

Since 2008, the PPR Group has been committed to a root-and-branch project to integrate environmental criteria into equipping, operating and maintaining its buildings.
 
As the PPR group is not involved in much construction but is mainly a tenant of the 2,300 stores it occupies all over the world, the Group decided to focus its efforts on existing buildings and particularly on operations and maintenance issues. Indeed, they form the major levers for reducing the environmental impact of existing stores. As a result, 2009 was an opportunity to develop a best practices guide, entitled “The Green Toolbox”, enabling the environmental impact of stores to be reduced. This document takes the form of a collection of 16 priority and 32 complementary best practices. These have all been selected for their environmental benefit but also because, more often than not, they have a positive economic impact.
The green toolbox is intended to be easy to use and pragmatic which was designed on the basis of experience feedback from the Group’s brands
The aim of the guide is to highlight good practices already in place in certain stores which, due to their proven effectiveness, can be shared and introduced Group-wide. Designed to be practical and easy to use, the guide explains the expected benefits of each good practice, the key success factors and the methods that have enabled them to be successfully deployed. It is intended for use by all individuals working in and for the stores.
 
The publication of the guide, in autumn 2009, was accompanied by an extensive programme of distribution to real estate, maintenance and operations teams as well as store managers. Each Subsidiary organised the distribution of the guide according to its own structural organisation so that it could be put into use as quickly and easily as possible.

In April 2010, Puma displayed “The little clever bag”, designed by Yves Behar, which replaces the cardboard shoebox with a re-usable shoe bag.
 
The Little Clever Bag protects each pair of shoes from damage from the point it leaves the factory until the consumer takes it home — thus generating savings on the production side due to less material used, reducing weight during transport and eliminating the need for extra plastic carrier bags.
 
The roll out of the new packaging and distribution system is planned as of the second half of 2011

Choosing a TV on the basis of its environmental impact might sound like a utopian idea, but that is exactly what Fnac have started allowing its customers to do since November 2009.
 
Fnac is continuing its sustainable development policy and is committed to promoting responsible products and practices with its customers. Apart from the technical performances of its products, Fnac introduced environmental requirements for the first time, in 2009, into the special technical reports published by the Fnac test laboratory. The «TV & Video projectors 2010» report contains information about the carbon footprint generated by each television set during its use. Each product is then classified into one of three categories (with one, two or three leaves) indicating those with the best environmental performance.
The TV environmental labelling is available in the Fnac technical reports, on the website of the company and on store tags
Each leaf represents the CO2 emissions generated by using the television because, depending on the model, the use phase of a unit accounts for between 60% and 95% of the total CO2 emissions over the course of its life cycle. The carbon footprint generated is displayed in equivalent grams of CO2 (g eq. CO2) and is indicated at the end of the file, along with the technical specifications of each television.
 
This footprint is calculated from the energy consumption of televisions, which is measured in an identical manner by each manufacturer according to European regulations*. However, In keeping with its independent and objective position, Fnac's test laboratory retests models randomly to check the accuracy of the data used.
Since April 2010, environmental labelling is available on the website of the company - fnac.com – and on store tags.
 
* standard IEC62087 Ed. 2

In response to 21st Century concerns and the rapidly evolving luxury market, the Gucci Group together with Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design have developed the first ‘Gucci Group Ph.D Scholarship’, aimed at promoting creativity and innovation to define what future luxury may be with sustainability in its core.

Gucci Group believe that cutting edge design, science and material innovation hold the key to developing new methods and processes that will assist in defining the future of craft and manufacturing, and help ensure the future for luxury brands that will take into account environmental concerns and climate change.
The first scholarship is to commence in September 2010
With such idea in mind, Gucci Group developed and sponsored a new Ph.D. scholarship, hosted by Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and supported by Textile Futures Research and Consultancy (TFRC) at the University of the Arts London (UAL). This research facilitates technology, translation and convergence, improving the interface between science and design, the exploration of sustainability, the expansion of the textile product and new applications. 
 
Linked to TFRC, the Ph.D. Scholar will join a community of specialist researchers and practitioners with internationally recognised expertise in wide ranging and related projects that include:
 

•  ‘BioCouture’: a visionary research project to grow clothing. It unites fashion and textile design with bio and nanotechnologies for future sustainable fashion, entailing the growing of clothing from laboratory cultured bacterial-cellulose.
• ‘Rethinking Recycled Textiles’: it employs new finishing and laser surfacing technologies for 'upcycling' synthetic materials. ‘Ugly’ materials are transformed into highly desirable fabrics for fashion and interiors.

• ‘Ever & Again’: a research at Chelsea College of Art & Design about ‘upcycling’, the development of processes and design that improve upon the value of the original textile product in some way.

• ‘Pop Up’: the development of smart textile surfaces that will change shape in reaction to ambient environmental changes. This project is investigating the potential of applying biomimetic principals from nature, in textile design.

 
Gucci Group recognizes the importance of using innovation to create new and dynamic ways of producing and consuming and to develop commercially viable solutions that at the same time respect nature and mankind. The first scholarship is to commence in September 2010.

In the context of the Group’s training programme – the PPR UniverCité - six senior managers worked on a solidarity project, carrying out an audit for the association La Voûte Nubienne, one of the 2008 PPR Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs Awards winners in Burkina Faso. Flashback on this unforgettable experience! (Video available in French only)
 
Launched in 2008, in line with PPR key values – entrepreneurial spirit, boldness, venturesomeness - the Social Entrepreneurs Awards support leaders of projects allying economic efficiency and high social added-value, in France and worldwide. On June, 9, 2010, the PPR Corporate Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights awarded 3 new social entrepreneurs. Each of them received a €15,000 grant and a sponsorship from a manager of the Group, to support their development.

Read a complete presentation of the projects.

The PPR Foundation develops partnerships with national and international NGOs fighting violence against women and promoting women’s empowerment. A Selection Committee examines several times a year the project proposals and decides the grants, up to €70,000. Over this amount, the decision is taken by the Board of Directors. The partnership with Médecins du Monde NGO has been validated on January, 29, 2009.
 
Médecins du Monde Programme aims at refurnishing and refitting shelters for womens victims of domestic violence in Punjab area, in Pakistan
 
Though the actual extent of domestic violence remains unknown due to under-registration of cases, it is estimated that 70% to 90% of women in Pakistan have been facing at least once in their lives physical, psychological or sexual abuse*.According to Aurat Foundation’s Annual Report 2008, a total of 7,571 cases of violence against women were recorded al l over Pakistan that year, one fourth of which were murders and “honour” killings.

Médecins du Monde is establishing a comprehensive care for women victims of violence and their children within 34 public shelter homes of Punjab. This comprehensive support includes medical, legal and psychological aid as well as educational and social services. The program aims at raising awareness of the general population towards shelter homes and to decrease the stigmatization towards their residents.

“I was beaten up by my husband for more than a year. I left my house to my father’s. Instead of helping me, he told me to go back. I didn’t want to go home and spend my whole life in that hell. A neighbour told me about Dar-Ul-Aman (shelter) and guided me how to go there and seek help. This filled me hope so I left my father’s house and went to Jhang Dar-Ul-Aman”, explains one of the beneficiary, 22 years old.

Due to women’s economic dependence, restricted mobility and high family or community pressure, the very decision to leave the household and look for protection is a difficult, sometimes dangerous, step. What‘s more, the lack of information on rights and available facilities hinder access to proper care.
Information campaigns resulted in a very-significant increase of women seeking refuge and support in the Dar-Ul-Amans.
In these shelters, women can now benefit from medical care, psychological counselling and legal help and a secure place to make their own decisions.

In 2009, the PPR Corporate Foundation granted €80,000 to the project.
 
Find all detail about the programme’s activities and the project’s monitoring
 

The Foundation supports initiatives fostering public information and awareness about violence against women and women’s empowerment for both PPR employees and general public. The exhibition of the photographer Catherine Cabrol has already contributed to raise awareness on violence against women of some 3000 PPR Group’s employees as well as clients from French Fnac stores.
 
The PPR Corporate Foundation targets first of all at Group’s employees: on March, 8, 2009, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day following the Foundation’s launch, the exhibition “Injuries To Women” by the photographer Catherine Cabrol, bringing together portraits and testimonials of women victims of various forms of violence was inaugurated at the PPR head office in Paris with Catherine Cabrol in attendance.
The photo exhibit then moved on to the headquarters of Boucheron, Yves Saint-Laurent, Redcats and La Redoute, as welle as in several logistics sites of the Group.
"Far from the stereotype of woman as a victim, I, on the contrary, encourage them to hold their head high to face us, openly, with modesty and feminity. And in their eyes, their postures, their hands, I search for their special beauty: this is my tribute to them.”
 
Encounters with the photographer and with women depicted in the photos, combined with presentations by legal experts on Women's Rights, such as Sophie Bessis, Deputy Secretary General of FIDH, provided employees with opportunities to learn and exchange views on the issues.
In 2010, the Foundation wants to roll the exhibition out to spread awareness across all of PPR Group’s brands.

Besides, clients could discover this photographic works in the Fnac Stores in Paris – Ternes, Boulogne, Nantes, Lyon Bellecour and Grenoble..

Discover extracts from the « Injuries To Women » exhibit – photos and testimonials
 

 Entrepreneurialism, our big adventure! This is the PPR group slogan. Extending this dynamic, at the beginning of 2010 the Group launched the first Innovation and Sustainable Development Awards. Objective: to enable its 73,000 employees to put their sense of initiative, creativity and responsibility to good use.

Over a 3-month period, those PPR employees who wished to take part formed teams dream up an innovative project combining economic efficiency, social equity and ecological requirements, submitting it to a jury of 6 internal members and 3 external members.

In total, 56 projects were evaluated, drawn up by 160 employees from 15 different countries and representing the Group's 5 brands.

At PPR's General Meeting, which took place on the 19th May, François-Henri Pinault handed out PPR's first ever trophies for Innovation and Sustainable Development, rewarding the following 3 projects:

At PPR's General Meeting, which took place on the 19th May, François-Henri Pinault handed out PPR's first ever trophies for Innovation and Sustainable Development, rewarding the following 3 projects:

- The 1st prize went to PUMA, for its project to design a shop in an entirely eco-friendly manner in India, the "Carbon Neutral PUMA store in India". This prize came with a budget of €25,000 to help set up the project, as well allowing them to take on a student intern from the Masters in Sustainable Development course at HEC for 6 months.

- The 2nd prize went to La Redoute and its project to display information on the environmental and social performance of household linen products. This prize came with a budget of €10,000.

- The 3rd prize went to Fnac Portugal and its project to create "Mini-Fnac's in hospitals". This would involve creating play areas run by Fnac employees to entertain children receiving treatment in hospitals close to the brand's stores in Portugal. This prize came with a budget of €5,000.

Finally, the Jury wished to applaud the quality of work of one of PUMA's teams in Hong Kong by awarding them an honorary prize for their project to create textile collections from organic materials and designed, produced and sold only in China, thus promoting the local development of the area.