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Corporate Social Responsibility
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6.23.2008 - 08:11am ET
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Exclusive survey on SRI employee savings: An attractive concept that remains relatively unfamiliar for many companies
(CSRwire) PARIS,FRANCE, - June 18, 2008- With the support of AXA, Novethic and
Altedia IC present the findings of the first survey of French companies
and employee savings invested in SRI assets.While they are globally
interested in the prospect, companies do not fully comprehend SRI.
However, they identify it as a factor in employee-employer
relations.
SRI will experience strong development in the next five to ten years,
and could become widespread or even mandatory according to two-thirds of
those surveyed. 27% of the respondents to the Novethic-Altedia IC
survey are among the top 120 listed corporations in France. On a more
general level, interest in employee savings invested in SRI assets is
growing. Currently, more than half of the respondents offer at least one
SRI-based savings fund to their employees. As for the rest, one in five
respondents plans to do so in the near future.
Survey responses suggest that significant differences exist among
companies when it comes to their understanding of the SRI employee savings
concept. Half of all respondents have a good understanding of SRI, but
one-quarter confuse SRI funds and solidarity funds. This confusion is less
apparent for companies that actually offer SRI-based savings funds or that
offer a PERCO plan, given the regulatory requirement to include a
solidarity fund in this type of product.In addition, less than one-third
of the companies surveyed are aware that they are currently under no
regulatory obligation to include SRI in their employee savings
programs.
All respondents agree that offering an SRI-based employee savings
program is consistent with their sustainable development policy.
Paradoxically, however, sustainable development departments within
companies are the drivers of SRI in only 12% of all cases, trailing human
resources (94%) and trade unions (59%). SRI employee savings is perceived
as a conduit of dialogue with France’s "social partners," which are
considered by 71% to be the most appropriate drivers of SRI savings plan
development. Financial considerations are secondary. However, for the 43%
of respondents that do not offer employee savings programs, the level of
awareness among employees is inadequate. As for external promotion, 64% of
companies with no SRI option have never been approached by asset management
firms.
SRI employee savings dataStatistics: Launched in 2002
with the creation of the CIES (Comite Intersyndical de l'Epargne
Salariale), an employee savings committee formed by a group of trade
unions in France, the market for socially responsible employee savings has
since reached significant size. In fact, assets under SRI management in
employee savings programs now account for more than 6% of diversified
employee savings, and the potential for further growth is substantial. At
year-end 2007, SRI employee savings represented 2.8 billion euros,
compared with 2.3 billion euros in 2006, an increase of 22%. In terms of
asset classes, equities are still predominant (56%), followed by bonds
(23%). As for SRI methodologies, the selection of assets based on
environmental and social criteria is the most prevalent approach, while
screening methods are hardly used.
Inclusion: SRI employee savings encompass diverse products that
integrate extra-financial criteria into the asset selection process. SRI
and solidarity denote two different phenomena. Solidarity funds are those
that allocate 5 to 10% of their assets to micro-financing, for example.
While the law requires that all PERCO plans include a solidarity fund, no
such requirement exists for SRI.
Click on this link to access the full survey: http://www.novethic.com/novethic/english/upload/SRI_Employee_Study.pdf
About Novethic
A subsidiary of Caisse des Depots, Novethic is a leading center for
research, information and expertise pertaining to SRI (socially
responsible investment) and CSR (corporate social and environmental
responsibility). Its web site, www.novethic.fr, is a comprehensive
source of information for responsible economic actors.
About Altedia IC
An independent investment and asset management consulting firm and
subsidiary of the Altedia / Adecco group, Altedia IC has been specializing
in Responsible and Sustainable Investment (RSI) for more than four years
and has created a research center dedicated to this subject: AIC
Research.
About AXA
AXA and its Company Retirement Savings experts, major players in the
employee savings and group retirement markets, and AXA Investment Managers
(AXA IM), a multi-expert in asset management, have offered their support to
the Novethic-Altedia IC survey.
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