Vetoquinol Universal Registration Document 2019

2 34   Vetoquinol  Universal Registration Document 2019  Financial report STATEMENT OF NON-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE Vetoquinol’s people 2.4 Vetoquinol’s people The simplicity and power of the three values “adopted” by Vetoquinol’s employees are a strong driving force for the Group: trust, dare, collaborate. These values serve as a benchmark that guides the daily work of each employee. They help to improve coordina- tion between colleagues working in different professional areas and to increase consistency between action taken and decisions made globally. In 2019, among other things, Vetoquinol: • piloted a new process for assessing employee perfor- mance and development. The Group is seeking to steer its managerial culture towards greater independence and accountability for managers and employees alike. In 2018, an international working group came up with a new process and solution based on a set of require- ments defined by managers and employees at different levels; a pilot scheme was conducted in 2019 across a selection of subsidiaries and central departments before being extended to all Group employees in 2020. • launched a new strategic initiative geared to sustai- nable development, following the first Innovation Day organized in late 2018 with the involvement of all Group employees. Vetoquinol broke all records by gathering over 4,000 ideas, compared to expectations of around 2,500 on the basis of similar experiments in other com- panies. The inclusion of sustainable development in a large number of ideas prompted the Group Executive Committee to add a further dimension to the Veto- quinol strategic plan. Each country and each theme manager then selected the best ideas, which were implemented as from 2019. These policies and values help Vetoquinol to operate in a manner worthy of an international group. They repre- sent shared ‘ground rules’ that apply to both working practices and general behavior. Everyone has a duty to assimilate and apply them in practice so as to uphold and strengthen the Group’s culture and character. Vetoquinol’s people are the driving force behind the “In Motion” strategic plan; the HR department tracks Group staff indicators on a monthly basis. The Group is attentive to and frequently measures employee satisfaction. In 2017 and 2018, Vetoquinol introduced a standardized staff barometer covering all entities, subsidiaries and central departments and repeated the survey in France in 2018. Vetoquinol is proud of the participation rate, a clear sign of its staff’s commitment that also guarantees meaningful results. The results obtained show considerable differences between Group companies. Each entity launched action plans on the basis of the results obtained. Two subsi- diaries, Canada and USA, clearly confirmed their “Great Place to Work” certification from the moment they took part. The Vetoquinol France entity is working on its action plan for improvement. Two groups of “ambassadors” comprising volunteers from all levels of responsibility have met regularly to formulate and implement concrete measures, primarily for improving internal communica- tion and employee recognition. The ambassadors have created materials to help improve the induction process for newcomers. In 2018 and 2019 they organized the first two Vetoquinol music festivals performed entirely by Vetoquinol employees. The ambassadors also organized office open days allowing staff members to discover different departments and jobs at Vetoquinol. In 2018, all Group companies rolled out action plans involving a maximum number of employees in order to identify and implement the most appropriate solutions tailored to their specific culture and challenges. This initiative will continue until the completion of the “In Motion” strategic plan in 2021. Since late 2016, Vetoquinol has conducted innovative leadership courses (Leadership Schools), marking a watershed moment in the company’s culture and recei- ving unanimous approval from managers working at various levels within different departments. All mana- gers based in France have completed the 12-day training course, which the Group continues to offer to newly hired managers. All subsidiary and production plant mana- gers as well as Group executives located outside France completed their training in 2018. In 2019, two Leadership Schools were organized for the management teams that report to the European subsidiary managers.