Management monitoring
The system of employee surveys deployed in France since 1993 was rolled out to other coun-tries beginning in 2005. It includes two types of surveys conducted in alternation from one year to the next. The first is a satisfaction survey that monitors the in-house climate along the three dimensions of company image, management practices and attitudes, and professional expe-rience. The following year the survey takes the form of a set of indicators measuring employ-ees’ degree of commitment.
In 2006 the survey was an international barom-eter of in-house climate. A sample of more than 4,400 employees – out of about 73,500 in the countries where BNP Paribas has its largest operations – described how they see the com-pany and their work situation. The highlights of the 2006 survey can be summarised as follows:
• A positive view of the work situation and of management methods, reflecting some specific cultural features of each country, including a historically stronger tendency to be critical in France
% positive opinions France Germany Morocco UK New York
motivation of teams 55 88 62 76 79
View of teams’ management 65 85 95 76 79
Optimism regarding future
within the Group 65 83 87 73 78
Atmosphere in the workplace 86 95 83 91 92
• Consensus concerning the Group’s very positive image, which builds team cohesion
% positive opinions France Germany Morocco UK New York
Overall image 93 90 98 85 90
performance 99 96 99 95 98
Reputation 96 98 100 91 92
quality of products and services 92 93 100 89 90
Ability to innovate 89 89 100 82 84
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BNP PARIBASAND ITS STAKEHOLDERS• A few exceptionally high scores, often more than 20 points above the benchmark defined by inde-pendent polling firms, concerning corporate vision and values
% positive opinions France Germany Morocco UK New York
Clarity of strategy 81 83 96 75 78
Application of commitment 71 97 83 90 90
Application of responsiveness 71 90 78 87 89
Application of initiative 61 90 78 87 89
• A very favourable assessment of the Group’s practice of corporate social responsibility
% positive opinions France Germany Morocco UK New York
Respect for society in general 95 94 97 93 96
Respect for employees 75 93 87 88 93
Environmental compliance 80 72 95 75 80
Compliance with ethical principles 96 75 99 92 97
Combined with Group management tools, this global barometer produces more fine-tuned analyses, which are provided to the relevant managers to help them lead their operating entities.
• human resources development / clearly identified operational challenges
Internal communications
Four years after the previous readership and satisfaction survey on internal communications, a new measurement was taken in 2006 in 17 countries, on 913 employees making up a rep-resentative sample, in terms of both territories and business lines. Based on the same meth-odology as the 2002 edition, the 2006 survey revealed a number of changes.
Readership of publications
Group-level media confirmed their preponder-ance compared to those of core businesses, business lines or territories. Echo’Net, the Group intranet, is accessible to 81% of employ-ees, up from 76% in 2002 and the Ambitions magazine reaches 77% of Group employees.
These publications, read by about nine out of ten addressees, have the largest readerships among internal communications media.
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BNP PARIBASAND ITS STAKEHOLDERSEffectiveness of the process
Group media clearly fulfil their mission. They garner high and rising satisfaction rates as regards the corporate themes of image, strat-egy, results or marketing. The survey reflects a more qualified assessment on operational and local topics, for which the more pinpointed local communication media are needed and appreciated.
Although it also suggested ways of improving the content of Group publications, the survey confirmed that Echo’Net plays a cohesiveness-building role and that further development of Ambitions can be useful. The printed edition of the magazine leads to conversations among employees and allows them to keep articles.
Ambitions has always been issued in French and English and began to be published in Italian in 2006.
Innovative mindset A core issue
The banking industry is among the most innova-tive sectors, due to the growing impact of infor-mation technology, which accounts for 15 to 20% of banking groups’ operating expenses, plus the high level of expertise and intelligence concentrated in financial services, and the attention clients pay to new developments.
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Financial innovation is therefore encouraged and its benefits are passed on to clients, whether in the areas of hedging, investment yields, simpler access to transactions or lower unit costs.
Intense competition in this sector where no pat-ent protection is available produces a constant trend towards standardisation of services. As a result, permanent innovation is required to cre-ate value-added products (product innovation) and to automate efficiently products that have become standard (process innovation).
A cross-functional project
Two of the Group’s values, creativity and reac-tiveness, are essential ingredients for the pursuit of innovation. The ways in which Group employ-ees can contribute to the innovation drive have been revamped and made a part of the 2006 Quality Action Plan.
The Innovation Awards, introduced during the 2006 BNP Paribas Days, recognise two types of contribution: innovation produced by R&D experts in the fields of finance, marketing, IT and telecommunications; and innovations suggested by any employee as part of the innov@ction process.
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The innov@ction process
To turn their ideas into proposals, employees have access, on the Intranet, to the Group’s spe-cific principles and methodology. Thanks to these shared tools, the core businesses, business lines and functions oversee the process, integrate its results into their reporting and act as the selec-tion committee. The system ensures both that employees’ contributions are recognised and that suggestions are shared with other Group entities.
The first Innovation Awards will be handed out during the 2007 BNP Paribas Days.
Alongside this Group initiative, Étincelle, the tool that manages employees’ suggestions within French Retail Banking, continued to play an use-ful role, producing a growing number of sugges-tions. Of all the suggestions analysed in 2006, 10% were approved.
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