Groupama wins “Action to help inner-city youth” award

On 9 December, the President of the French National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer, handed over the “Action to help inner-city youth” award to Groupama for its action as part of the national commitment to inner-city youth employment signed in May 2008.

The award comes in recognition of the implementation of the Plan Espoir Banlieues (Hope for the Suburbs plan) by all companies in the Group, which resulted in the recruitment of 341 employees under 26 and 83 people as trainees or on contracts involving work and study, all of them from so-called “sensitive” areas, between May 2008 and August 2009.
The three-year commitment made by Groupama consisted of recruiting annually one hundred under 26-year olds from urban areas classed as sensitive – sixty on temporary or permanent employment contracts and forty on traineeships or contracts involving work and study. Groupama has therefore far exceeded its initial commitments.
The Group’s offices in France, in both rural and urban areas, can offer these young people real opportunities in the world of work.
Christian Collin, General Secretary Groupama SA: “This initiative to promote diversity and help combat all forms of discrimination aligns fully with the Group’s guiding principles. In 2008 and 2009, 10% of people taken on by the group in France were from sensitive urban areas”.

About the Enterprise & Diversity Action awards
The aim of the Enterprise & Diversity Action awards, organised for the first time this year, is to make known and reward the leaders of companies developing bold initiatives to fight discrimination.
The jury, chaired by Richard Descoings (Director of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris), awarded four prizes based on concrete initiatives conducted by the candidate companies:

• “Action to help inner-city youth” award: Groupama and Société Générale (joint winners)
• Enterprise & Diversity Action Grand Prix: SNCF
• Jury’s Special Award: TF1
• Award for boldness: L’Oréal.