Work environment

Safeguarding workplace health

Crédit Agricole S.A. is committed to ensuring a work environment where employees are treated with respect and dignity. These commitments are particularly reiterated in the Global Agreement renewed in 2023 with UNI Global Union, as well as in the Group’s code of conduct. 

As described in its health, safety and quality of work life policy, Crédit Agricole S.A. offers a working environment that safeguards the health of its employees. To this end, the Group implements actions of prevention, information and support to its employees (free screening and vaccination campaigns, advice on workplace ergonomics, nutrition and stress management, support tailored to employee carers, remote medical consultation service). Intended for entities present on the Evergreen campus in Montrouge, a remote medical booth complements this healthcare offer for fully confidential video consultations with an independent general practitioner. The measuring instruments and sensors provided in the booth enable the GP to carry out a consultation under the same conditions as an in-person appointment.

Additionally, measures to prevent psycho-social risks (freephone numbers, psychological counselling lines accessible 24/7, social workers) are also available, in addition to specific psychological support dedicated to employees with disabilities.

Lastly, committed to maintaining employment for employees facing challenges (such as long-term absence, chronic illness etc.) and in accordance with applicable national legislation, the Group’s entities offer adjustments to the workstation, modifications to working hours, therapeutic part-time work, a guide or system to support returning to work after a long absence, additional teleworking days, as well as increased medical follow-up with a pre-return and return visit.

 

Occupational healthcare

The health and well-being of its employees are a central concern for the Group. To this end, the medical units of Crédit Agricole S.A. carry out a number of information and prevention actions towards employees to contribute to their continued good health (information on preventing and controlling diabetes, flu vaccination campaigns etc.).

Mandatory medical check-ups assess the state of health of the Group’s employees through personalised monitoring, enabling the provision of advice and recommendations to all. An information and prevention check-up is organised upon hiring or an internal mobility, or prior to hiring for positions where employees are exposed to particular risks. These visits are renewed periodically, at most every five years.

Medical check-ups are also planned in connection with sick leave, and an appointment with the occupational doctor may be requested directly at any time by the employee, the employer or the occupational doctor.

 

 

Social benefits & well-being at work

 

Eligible employees of member entities enjoy a number of social benefits, including access to day-care and leisure centres, child-minding providers and academic support for children aged 6 to 18, access to sports activities (gyms, sports associations, online offers), Group banking benefits, access to social housing, health insurance and supplementary health insurance, several subsidised staff canteens, advantages through the works councils of the Group’s entities, and more.

 

 

 

This service offer is intended to contribute, as far as possible, to maintaining a good work-life balance.

The Group pays particular attention to its employees who are in a caregiver situation. Thus, in France, the Group’s entities have implemented solutions to assist them: as well as existing legal leave options (family solidarity leave, caregiver leave, parent presence leave), they have access to a helpline, counselling, dedicated guides, extra home office days, working hours flexibility, donation of days of leave between employees etc.

 

Teleworking / Home office

100% of Group employees in France are covered by a teleworking agreement or charter. Employees are given the opportunity to tele-work up to 40% of their annual working time, with flexibility offered in terms of days worked away from the office, an allowance for tele-working days and a contribution towards any hardware costs. 

The Global Agreement of 2023 formalises the principles of teleworking applicable across all entities of Crédit Agricole S.A.

 
Parenthood

 

In 2022, Crédit Agricole S.A. renewed its commitment towards corporate parenthood, aimed at encouraging a balance between personal and professional life, creating a favourable environment for employed parents, and guaranteeing non-discrimination in their professional advancement. By signing this new parenthood charter, Crédit Agricole S.A. reasserts these principles, which were originally signed in 2009. 

Since 2021, all women of the Group throughout the world have access to 16 weeks of maternity leave on full pay. As part of its Ambitions 2025 MTP and in line with the Global Agreement signed in 2023, Crédit Agricole S.A. and its subsidiaries have committed to providing 28-day paid paternity leave worldwide. This commitment must be implemented at the latest by 2025 in all entities worldwide. At end 2023, it already covers 87% of employees.

The Group also enables parents to adapt their work organisation by implementing more flexibility, in particular through part-time work, telework and organisation of working time.

 

Transport

To encourage the use of active transport methods, the Group makes available to its employees covered parking areas for their bikes and e-scooters, with charging sockets, changing rooms and showers.

Power wheelchairs for the movement of disabled persons on site are also made available to users of the Evergreen and SQY Park campuses.

Some entities also cover financially the “Forfait Mobilités Durables” transport option dedicated to zero-emissions commuting, and make available e-bikes and e-vehicles free of charge.

 

On-site catering

The main campuses of Crédit Agricole S.A. in the Paris area offer collective catering options that are suited to the number of people present on each site.

Crédit Agricole S.A. is the first CAC 40 company in France to open a “Café Joyeux Inside” within one of its campuses, thereby acting in favour of inclusion, disability and equal opportunities. Since 15 January 2024, six workers with a mental or cognitive disability welcome every day the employees present on the Evergreen campus in an area that has been entirely refurbished in the colours of social enterprise Café Joyeux.

 

 

Campuses designed for the well-being of all

Fully aware that a pleasant working environment contributes to the well-being of its employees, the Group has actively brought nature and biodiversity into its various campuses. Thus, the Evergreen campus located in Montrouge, a southern suburb of Paris, comprises seven buildings covering 200,000 sq.m. on a site totalling eight hectares of green spaces, with over 90 plant and 30 animal species. For its part, the SQY Park campus located to the west of Paris comprises six buildings totalling approximately 90,000 sq.m. of office space on 14.5 hectares of land. Both sites are certified as bird refuges by the French national organisation for the protection of birds (“Refuges LPO”), proving that Crédit Agricole commits to preserving and welcoming local biodiversity. SQY Park is also certified EcoJardin for the ecological management of its park, while Evergreen was one of the first sites in France to obtain the BiodiverCity Life certification.

Drawing on these certifications and constant dialogue between ecologists and site gardeners and operating teams, a specific and ecological management of the green spaces has been implemented on both sites, in particular via the late mowing of meadowland and gardens, banning any chemical treatment of water features, installing place bee hives and bird and bat nest boxes, and organising a number of activities to raise the awareness of employees about biodiversity (garden visits, theme-based workshops, conferences and presentation of local wildlife surveys).