Ongoing recruitment drives

Objectives:
  • permanently attract new talent and new skills to take up the relay from leaving staff,
  • promote and cement diversity in recruitment.
Highlights in 2008:
  • 23,766 full-time employees on an open-ended contract (+25.83% on 2007) - 61.5% of which are women - and 12,048 full-time employees on fixed-term contracts;
  • increase in experienced non-executive, non-banking staff, who accounted for more than 25% of new bank cashiers recruited in Retail Banking in France in 2008;
  • 335 VIE interns around the world, ranking the Group as the company with the highest number of interns for the second year running;
  • launch of the Group recruitment website, Careers, which presents different employee career paths;
  • SOGElive: 2008 image and recruitment campaign;
  • launch of the third edition of Citizen Act, the “Business Game” linked to the Group’s Corporate and Social Responsibility.
Varied recruitment campaigns, particularly in France
Société Générale has several programmes in place to ensure the diversity of the profiles and talents of its new recruits and to ensure the replacement and renewal of skills:
  • SOGElive: an innovative one-day Group event organised by Société Générale at which each of its businesses was represented. 4,000 candidates attended the event, 1,000 were given an interview, and over 460 employees were on hand to provide information and advice. The day was followed by a number of recruitment drives outside of the capital (8 towns) for the Group’s Retail Banking business, and SOGElive will continue to visit various schools and universities until spring 2009.
  • Placement of the 1,000th VIE intern within the Group in June 2008. VIE placements not only contribute to the Group’s global development, but also offer young graduates the chance to benefit from valuable 12 to 24-month training in a foreign country. Participants can take up new positions at the end of their training, both in France and abroad, in fact more than 75% have already seized the opportunity.
  • Heightened participation in various events to broaden the scope for recruitment (Rencontres Emplois et Divers’cités, Paris pour l’emploi, Forum ANPE Seniors).
Appealing to a younger audience
Société Générale Group has an active policy of training young people and students (9,373 work placements and 335 VIE interns taken on in 2008) and seeks to develop partnerships with higher education establishments, both in France and abroad.
In France, Société Générale’s approach is to “pre-recruit” students in its target areas of expertise (i.e. with certificates and diplomas in banking and finance, etc.) via work placements (apprenticeships and work experience programs). In fact, the Group took on France took on over 1,627 young people on work-study contracts in 2008, mostly in its Retail Banking business.
In order to meet its recruitment needs and diversify the profiles of its young recruits, Société Générale has also signed 45 partnerships with various higher education establishments, including three outside of France (Italy, United Kingdom and Europe). Its new partners in France in 2008 include: ENSTA, ENSAI and IGR-IAE Rennes. Overseas, the Group has also developed links with a number of target training programmes in 7 countries: China, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Recruitment campaigns targeting young people in difficulty or from underprivileged areas have also been stepped up. In France, despite the drop in the image and appeal of banks prompted by the financial crisis, Société Générale remains one of the most popular employers amongst newcomers to the job market (Source: survey carried out by TNS Sofres July 2008 and June 2009).
Société Générale pursued this policy in 2009 :
  • to achieve professional integration through recruitment in France of 2000 young people within the Bank, namely retail banking network ;
  • 900 young people will all be able to discover the banking field under a work-study contract which provides income and dedicated tutor.

Its recruitment drives aside, Société Générale also promotes the issue of social responsibility via a student competition, Citizen Act, that primarily focuses on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Helping new employees find their feet
Launched in 2007, Société Générale’s induction programme was extended over a broader scope in France and 56 other countries in 2008 to cover 201 entities and 95% of the Group’s headcount (135,000 employees in 2007 excluding Rosbank, the Russian subsidiary acquired in 2008). The programme is designed to ensure each new employee's successful integration within their first few months of working for the company and includes:
  • a welcome programme for an employee's first few days which gives them the chance to discover more about the Group, its strategy, its businesses and its values as well as their new entity and team,
  • a dedicated intranet site providing key information and pointers for recruits to help them familiarize themselves with the company,
  • an e-learning module, in English and French, on the economy and Group in general which also gives them the chance to brush up on their knowledge and understanding of the banking sector,
  • mentorship by an experienced member of staff during their first few months of working for the company,
  • an integration seminar within the employee's entity, country or business line. A "Group Integration Day" was held in Paris in June 2008 which was attended by 2,000 new recruits, 37% of whom were from outside France. All in all, a total of 72 countries were represented.