Content :

Balancing private and professional life - Actions

 

• Workplace flexibility
• Facilitating family life
• Providing support for employees facing unexpected events
• Activities outside the workplace

Workplace flexibility

"Total E-quality Prize" in Germany • "Responsible Family Firm Certificate" in Spain, received in May 2007

Striking a balance between private and professional life is a guarantee of better productivity and employee motivation.

With this principle in mind, sanofi-aventis has implemented various programs around the world: 

• In Germany: For the fourth time, the Worklife Balance Program was awarded the "Total E-Quality Prize". Part-time work and flexible hours have been developed for several years on the Frankfurt site; these measures are essentially used by women employees to reconcile their career and family life. Recently, a special program for employees on maternity leave and access to daycare on-site were also introduced;
• In Spain, our subsidiary obtained the "Responsible Family Firm Certificate" in May 2007 (Cerficatado empresa familiarmente responsable) for three years, for its results and its improvement plan, known as Armoniza, to reconcile private and professional life (addressing issues such as meetings, working hours, vacation dates);
• In France, the sanofi-aventis Group gender equality agreement, entered into in 2007, reviews good practices concerning meeting schedules (i.e., start/stop times).

• Go to the Total E-Quality website

Facilitating family life

In 2007, our Japanese subsidiary introduced a parental leave project to allow employees to organize their maternity leave in keeping with the local culture, while also enabling them to return to the workplace one year later. 

In Germany, places at an inter-business daycare facility were developed at the Frankfurt site. A specific program was set up for employees on parental leave, both women and men, and part-time work and time flexibility were developed. 

In Spain, the Armoniza project integrated a more suitable organization of meeting schedules and greater flexibility in working hours and vacation dates.

In France, the gender equality agreement provides for a daycare allowance to be paid to parents who must attend training classes outside their regular working hours. 

In Canada, an early childhood center was opened for the children of employees working at the headquarters.  

Providing support for employees facing unexpected events

Sanofi-aventis provides moral and material support to the children of employees faced with difficulties that could have an impact on their future.

Created in 1993, the role of the association “Our Children Matter,” is to provide moral and material support to the children of employees faced with difficulties that could have an impact on their future.

This association, which provides assistance when no other source of help is available, is funded by employee donations and an annual endowment from sanofi-aventis. In addition, the Group provides the funds necessary for its operating expenses.

The association is active in all countries where the Group operates. It works primarily in two ways: first, by responding to requests for individual assistance and, second, by organizing collective actions for all employee children in one country (immunization campaigns, eye exams, dental care, distributing information about HIV/AIDS, and other actions), which it has been doing for many years.

In 2007, the association provided individual assistance to 230 families in more than 27 countries. Its collective efforts in eight different countries reached nearly 2,000 children.  

Activities outside the workplace

Holiday exchange program: This program reflects the international dimension of the Group and the cultural diversity of its employees. Intended exclusively for the children of employees of sanofi-aventis and its subsidiaries throughout the world, these holiday exchanges provide a unique opportunity for children to spend part of the summer holidays abroad with a sanofi-aventis host family.

In Spain and France, athletic and cultural associations are open to employees.

Beyond the benefit for the participants, such programs allow sanofi-aventis to strengthen ties among employees