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Paris, 11/14/2011.

Veolia Environmental Services extends its commitment to keeping disabled people in employment

On August 30, 2011, Veolia Environmental Services in France and Agefiph officially renewed their partnership agreement to promote access to employment for people with disabilities.

A first partnership agreement covering the two-year period from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2011 with Agefiph, a French national fund that promotes the employment of people with disabilities, saw the overall rate of employment for disabled people in the company in France rise to 5.13%. Actions included awareness sessions and training on the theme of disability within the company, and in particular, the creation of a network of Mission Handicap correspondents across all regions and subsidiaries.

Among the achievements revealed in the 2010 review were:

the hire of 229 people with disabilities (the target set was 200);
the attainment by 226 employees of disabled-worker status (RQTH in French);
a drop in the number of establishments that implement no actions to employ disabled people.

The new hires were the result of our partnership with the "CAP Emploi" network, the SAMETH (support services for the access to employment of people with disabilities) and diverse regional bodies and organizations working on the professional reintegration of disabled people, as well as our partnership with a number of temporary employment agencies.

The targets for this second agreement covering the period from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2013 are:

to consolidate the disability policy at Veolia Environmental Services in France, notably by keeping disabled employees in the workforce: to successfully maintain 80% of people with disabled-worker status within the company and to reduce departures resulting from incapacity by 10%;
to have reached, at the end of the period covered by the agreement, an employment rate of 6% with a minimum of 150 more hires of people with disabilities;
to maintain the network of Mission Handicap correspondents responsible for deploying the disability policy within each subsidiary and region.

Pierre Blanc, Chief executive of Agefiph

"This new agreement shows an interesting, well-structured project, but it's more than that: it's real ambition with real, proactive commitments. We are expecting a true commitment from Veolia Environmental Services to keep disabled employees in the workforce. At the end of this second agreement, the Mission Handicap will continue to operate without funding from Agefiph."

Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Veolia Environmental Services in France

"Veolia Environmental Services is a socially responsible company, and is therefore committed to formulating and maintaining a disability policy that covers hiring, training and maintaining access to employment for its disabled employees. The work of the Mission Handicap network and its correspondents has disseminated best practices throughout the company and the rate of employment of people with disabilities rose from 4.6% in 2009 to 5.13% in 2010."

This commitment was also marked by an unregistered agreement on November 18, 2010 on the integration and maintenance of access to employment for people with disabilities between Veolia Environmental Services in France and its social partners.

All actions undertaken to promote the employment of people with disabilities are part of the wider diversity policy. The integration of disabled people is at the heart of the Veolia Environmental Services diversity policy, which is focused on promoting diversity in every aspect of professional life: workforce, expertise, culture, career development and prevention of discrimination. Actions in this area earned the company's waste activities the French diversity label on July 9, 2010.

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