Unifying culture

TESTIMONIAL: CHRIS HOCKEY, GROUP HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR
“The Group improves its performance by strengthening its employees’ commitment.
In 2006 we carried out an Engagement Survey of all Group employees to assess their motivation. This survey was carried out with the assistance of external consultants. It consisted of 76 questions and required about 20 minutes to complete. Answers were delivered via the web, with complete anonymity guaranteed. 70% of our employees took part in it. This enabled us to assess employees’ priorities and implement action plans by country. This system means we have a tool which will enable us to measure improvements.”

Neopost has always set a clear rule in human resources policy: each employee must play a part in the group’s success. Each person’s commitment and professionalism is also one of the cornerstone’s to the success of the neopost model. The group has built a real unifying culture, setting it apart from other companies and allowing it to attract, train and retain the best talent.

THE “NEOPOST WAY”
The Group has its own principles and values which act as a unifying force for all employees. These principles and values may be summarised as challenge, recognition and fun. At Neopost, this is called the “Neopost Way”. It has been formalised in a document available on the website and given to each Group employee and new recruit so that everyone is familiar with the Group culture. Neopost has carried out an engagement survey among its employees to assess this mindset.

RECRUITMENT
Neopost’s decentralised structure and manageable human scale mean that the Group gives its subsidiaries considerable latitude when it comes to recruiting, defining and formalising each employee’s roles and responsibilities.
Nonetheless, the main qualities that the Group looks for and develops among its employees are identical from one country to the next: managerial and entrepreneurial capability among executives, appropriate professional skills, ethical values and integrity, discipline, ability to anticipate and take initiatives as well as capacity for teamwork..

EVALUATION AND REMUNERATION
Each year, each employee undergoes an assessment review.
For many employees, remuneration includes variable pay which depends both on individual performance and the unit and/or Group’s performance. In general terms, Neopost seeks to tie all employees into the company’s results, particularly through profit-sharing or incentive payment agreements.
The Group also has stock option programmes to reward and retain the best talent.

TRAINING
Neopost considers training essential in its drive for constant improvement and has devoted to it a budget amounting to about 3% of total payroll. In organisation terms, subsidiaries are responsible for training their own employees. Specific training courses may be made available at the Group level, particularly for group-wide projects of a certain size. For top management, Neopost seeks constantly to update skills through a specific system called Neopost University, developed in partnership with French business school HEC.

COMMUNICATION
There is a quarterly in-house newsletter to ensure that communication within the Group is as good as possible. The main purpose of this newsletter is to inform all employees about major developments, new arrivals in the Group, and each subsidiary’s main commercial successes. The newsletter is called NNN (Neopost Network News) and is available on the intranet. It also enables the Chairman and CEO to communicate with all employees. In addition, each subsidiary also has an in-house newsletter of its own. The fact that the intranet is so highly developed is an asset for geographically dispersed teams, allowing them to work together in a secure manner. Video conferencing is also widely used within the Group.

CLEARLY DEFINED ETHICAL FRAMEWORK
In order to promote the Group’s strategy and proper professional conduct, Group management regularly visits subsidiaries to hold discussions with operational managers, identify their expectations, answer questions and reinforce key messages about the major objectives, compliance with ethical standards and duties regarding information to be passed on to all employees. The sales teams of the North American and French subsidiaries have taken part in a specific ethics training programme. This programme is gradually being rolled out in other subsidiaries.