Korian group’s CSR Commitments Manifesto

As a socially responsible company, Korian, at its own level and together with all its stakeholders, intends to make a positive contribution to the two major challenges of supporting the demographic transition and building an ecologically sustainable development model in line with the objectives defined by the United Nations.

Due to longer life expectancy and declining birth rates in most parts of the world, the number of persons who are potentially or actually in a fragile state because of their age or health relative to the rest of the population is growing rapidly. In Europe, this ratio of fragile persons to the general population will fall from 1:4 to 1:3 by 2040. At the same time, local areas and community services must be restructured to enable fragile persons to live in an environment adapted to their situations, close to the people who assist them on a day-to-day basis and the amenities they require.

Our mission places us at the heart of these societal issues. Our goal, in each of the 600 living areas in which we operate, is to be the long-term trusted partner of fragile persons and their relatives, and to contribute to their serenity and quality of life on a day-to-day basis, regardless of their health. This profoundly social and societal vocation, which is reflected in our values, is at the core of our “In Caring Hands” corporate project.

Our mission is the foundation of our sustainable growth model, which makes investment in the Group’s employees, in the quality of care and in our facilities and living spaces our top priority. 

We are aware that our mission confers on us, in each of the countries where we operate, special responsibilities towards our various stakeholders: our customers, of course, first and foremost, i.e. elderly and fragile persons and their relatives, our employees and their representatives, as well as the healthcare professionals who are essential to the quality of the care we provide, and the parties who make our development strategy possible: our shareholders and financiers, local and national public authorities, schools, training providers, professional organisations, our various suppliers, and all local players, associations, charities and religious authorities.

By nature, we also have close links with academia, research centres, think tanks and the media.

Our 890 facilities in Europe have deep roots in their local areas, in close proximity to the social and environmental realities in the countries where we do business. This translates into a CSR policy that is embedded into the company’s strategy, our business practices and the daily commitments of our employees.

This CSR strategy of Korian is based first and foremost on our corporate values which are benevolence, responsibility, initiative and transparency. These four beautiful values, which were defined by our employees themselves in 2014 at the time of the merger between Korian and Medica, have since been deployed throughout the company and are embodied on a daily basis by teams who are proud of their profession and who are highly committed (90% and 75%, respectively, according to the 2019 “Kommunity” survey conducted with IPSOS in all countries where the Group operates).

The “In Caring Hands” corporate project is anchored in these values and is enthusiastically promoted throughout the networks.

The CSR strategy breaks down into 5 strategic and operational pillars that are integrated into the main focus areas of the “In Caring Hands” project:

1.    Promoting a humanistic conception of care for fragile persons, based on prevention and freedom of choice for the persons cared for and full inclusion of their relatives

2.    Taking care of those who take care, by improving quality at work

3.    Contributing positively and proactively to the longevity society

4.    Being a committed local player in the territories, living areas and local communities

5.    Reducing the carbon footprint of our activities through the efficient and responsible management of our real estate assets, our construction techniques and preventing the waste of resources, based on the French regulatory framework.

These 5 pillars are applied in a holistic and integrated manner as the manifestation of Korian’s objective to contribute positively to society wherever the Group is present, and to meet the legitimate expectations of our multiple stakeholders.

A survey of expectations was conducted starting in 2017, which were then summarised in a materiality matrix before being published in the 2018 Registration Document. They have since been regularly updated in the various countries where the Group does business.

This matrix has been built consistently with the Korian group’s risk management matrix in connection with the company’s duty of vigilance, and focuses on issues such as the occupational health and safety of employees, ethical and compliance risks, and awareness of the global environmental risk applied, for example, to the Group’s real estate assets.

Building on the work carried out in 2017, and in order to promote ongoing consideration of the expectations of the Group’s stakeholders, a multidisciplinary Korian group Stakeholder Council composed of various qualified external personalities, and chaired by Françoise Weber, who is recognised in France for her ability to address complex scientific and societal issues, was set up in September 2019. The role of this Council is to assist the Group in classifying and prioritising stakeholders’ expectations, particularly in the field of medico-social activities. Its work programme for 2020 focuses on nutrition, caregivers’ training, the relationship between caregivers and persons receiving care, and conflict prevention.

In addition, in 2017, the Korian Group created the Korian Foundation for Ageing Well. This Foundation, which is structured around a scientific board and has an endowment of €600,000 per year, actively backs basic and applied research programmes on ageing and on the support for elderly and fragile persons, and contributes to public debate on the societal issues surrounding longevity through “morning sessions” in local areas and discussion workshops.

In early 2020, a new Foundation based on the same model was set up in Germany. It will focus on occupational health in the care field. It will be headed by Elisabeth Scharfenberg, a well-known German personality in the care sector and a former Bundestag member.

Through the endowments awarded to its Foundation in 2019 and direct contributions to non-profit associations and research organisations – like the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, or INSERM in France - the Group has devoted over 1% of its net income to philanthropic actions, focusing on three action areas:

-    Medical research, particularly on neurodegenerative diseases
-    Integration and support for young professionals
-    The defence of women in vulnerable positions

Starting in 2020, this contribution will be increased to at least 1% of the Group’s net income.

To implement its sustainable development strategy and to make a positive contribution to the longevity society, the Korian group has set up a structured governance at all levels. The Board of Directors has therefore set up a dedicated committee on the issue, the Ethics, Quality and CSR Committee. At the Group Management Board level, the Group’s Human Resources Director is in charge of steering the CSR policy with the heads of the various BUs and the Group’s functional officers and the related professions (Chief Financial Officer, Chief Real Estate and Development Officer, Chief Medical, Ethics and Quality Officer, Communication Officer), in order to ensure that all levels of the Group are mobilised, in particular the facilities, which also maintain close ties with the various local players. Regular reports are provided at the bimonthly meetings of the Group Management Board. CSR commitments are included in each BU’s annual objectives and are adapted along the managerial line.

The Group’s commitments are formalised in CSR commitments, which break down into concrete quantifiable KPIs that are used to monitor the implementation of the action plans in the 5 focus areas:

The choice of these commitments, which are the concrete reflection of Korian’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility, covers the following areas:

1.    Firstly, to our patients, residents and customers:

Our primary responsibility is to contribute to each person’s ability to choose freely and to reinforce or maintain autonomy. This demands a philosophy of care built around persons and their needs that respects their expectations – that is the essence of our “Positive Care” approach.

•   It also requires the ability to assist persons receiving care and carers in choosing the care solution most suitable for them.

•    Enabling fragile persons and their families to choose freely requires the progressive development of a diversified range of services and support solutions at the level of the living areas, as well as the deployment of a Customer Care Charter across the network to ensure that all Korian teams have the know-how and have received training to assist fragile customers and their families.

•    The autonomy of our patients and residents is nurtured by our Positive Care approach, which focuses on customers’ abilities and desires, and includes a range of non-drug therapies. Each Group site is trained in this approach, which was developed in France and Italy. The Group aims to have 100% of sites covered by 2023.

•    The guarantee of irreproachable quality at all our sites will be measured through the deployment of the ISO 9001 quality standard. The goal is for 100% of sites to be certified by 2023, with a first stage in mid-2021 (15% of sites certified), then 50% of sites by 2022 and 100% by 2023. The “360-degree quality” perspective will be complemented by integrating customer, family and employee quality approaches and measures into a common approach that guarantees operational excellence.

2.    Secondly, to our own teams:

“taking care of those who take care” is our priority. We want to maximise quality at work for the Group’s 56,000 employees, 82% of whom being women and 75% of whom being caregivers, in their day-to-day activities, all year round, to ensure continuous quality care.

This consists, first and foremost, in strengthening the social contract that binds us to our teams by ensuring a safe and healthy work environment, reducing workplace accidents and the associated absenteeism, encouraging permanent employment through improved work organisation, better needs planning and reducing turnover throughout Europe, and investing in our site managers and staff, who are the cornerstone of the network.

Our concrete commitments focus on:

a.    Maintaining or reinforce average tenure of jobs currently of 6 years.

b.    Investment in training leading to professional qualifications: our goal is to have 8% of employees in programmes that lead to professional qualifications by 2023, i.e. twice the number as in 2020, with a 1st step end of 2020 at 5.5%.

c.    To ensure diversity at all levels of our organisation, and building on the fact that Korian is already an exemplary company in terms of gender diversity, we are committed to increasing the number of women in Top Management by 10%, with the aim of achieving a ratio of 50%.

We will measure the progress of all these HR policies through our employee commitment surveys, which will be conducted annually starting in 2020.

In addition, the quality of management-labour dialogue is one of our priorities, with the aim of continuously strengthening the social contract at the country level and at the level of the European Works Council, which will be operational by the first quarter of 2020.

3.    To the longevity society:

our expertise in the field of care for seniors and fragile persons invests us with a special role in society and in the provision of care.

The Korian Foundation for Ageing Well conducts basic research and experiments, in conjunction with a network of partner universities and scientists, focusing on 4 major areas: maintaining autonomy; prevention as an active tool for maintaining autonomy; the social utility of the elderly; and solidarity, in particular for women in vulnerable positions. On this basis, Korian actively participates in various programmes and initiatives that promote inclusion, such as the “collective of 40” companies in France that have joined forces in a common programme that aims to integrate underprivileged young people into work through apprenticeships and ongoing training and that provides integration services for the most disadvantaged.
Concretely, in the coming years:

•    We intend to continue supporting scientific research and have set a goal of backing at least 5 research studies leading to publications, in particular through our network of Foundations.

•    We are committed to setting up a Stakeholder Council in the countries where we operate, in addition to France.

•    Given the importance Korian places on research and our active participation in philanthropic actions, we are committed to devoting at least 1% of our annual net income thereto.

4.    To the local communities that host our activities:

we believe that we play a very active role in local areas, as creators of stable, long-term and inclusive jobs and as active contributors to local public health policies.

Our facilities are each woven into a broad societal fabric due to our business lines, to our fixed and mobile care teams and to the local intergenerational influence they generate. The facilities are very often actively involved in the life of their communities through associations and concrete projects, as well as through the Social Life Councils set up to encourage dialogue between the community, the facility and families. The facilities are also local economic actors.
We are committed to achieving the following goals:

•    100% of sites engaged in a project for their local community by 2023

•    100% of sites having set up a local community and family committees by 2023

•    At least 70% of the purchases done locally (in one of the Group countries) and at least 20% from small businesses

5.    Lastly, to the environment:

with our 890 sites in Europe and a very dense local network in both rural and urban areas, our buildings and properties have a carbon footprint that must be reduced by optimising energy and water consumption and by implementing a proactive waste management policy.

In 2019, we prepared a carbon analysis report for the Group, which provided us with an initial overview of all carbon-related aspects.

In 2020, we will design a trajectory aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, by focusing primarily on two actions: optimising the energy consumption of our real estate assets and controlling waste generation.

We have already set an initial target of reducing energy consumption by at least 3% by 2020 in France, Belgium and Italy.

In this respect, a Group Technical Department has been created within the Group Real Estate and Development Department to manage and coordinate the reduction in the carbon emissions of the Group’s real estate assets.

In addition, starting in 2020, awareness-raising programmes will be deployed throughout the Group on issues such as food waste, energy and waste management and greater sensitivity to the carbon impact of business travel.

•    Our aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of the Group’s real estate assets by 40% by 2030.

•    To reduce the volume of waste generated by 5% by 2023.

•    To obtain High Environmental Quality certification for all new buildings built as from 2020.

An overall indicator of the deployment of this CSR strategy will be obtained each year throughout the plan by measuring the implementation of CSR commitments at all Group sites.