On May 14th, the Economic Peace Trophies marked the first international event designed to support virtuous management practices in organizations. Organized by Grenoble Ecole de Management, the Economic Peace Trophies rewarded ten national and international organizations.
The goal of the event was to encourage organizations in their implementation of humane management initiatives. The winners of the trophy will receive two years of support from the professors and researchers at the Economic Peace, Mindfulness and Well-Being at Work Chair. This mentorship will help the organizations enact concrete measures with positive results.
The trophy jury considered three facets of economic peace when selecting the winning organizations: personal development, the development of relationships and management styles, and the development of the entire organization and its partners. The organizations were also divided according to size: 1-249 employees, 250-5,000 employees and more than 5,000 employees. The jury was able to select its winners from a pool of 75 national and international organizations that applied for the Economic Peace Trophies.
10 organizations rewarded by the Economic Peace Trophies
Category: personal development
- City of Kingersheim - a benevolence laboratory (1-249 employees)
- GSF Propreté - a healthcare/nutrition training program (more than 5,000 employees)
Category: development of relationships and management styles
- ALMA - the collaborative spirit for a virtuous dynamic (1-249 employees)
- APF Industrie - the digital transformation for all (250-5,000 employees)
- Veolia Centre-Est - GLocal model (250-5,000 employees)
- Engie Group - imagining 2030 using collective intelligence (more than 5,000 employees)
Category: development of the entire organization and its partners
- Cover Dressing - “good-to-wear” (1-249 employees)
- Vals du Dauphiné - leading the LIBERTE initiative (250-5,000 employees)
- Socota - a pacifist industrial model (more than 5,000 employees)
Jury Prize
- L’Institut de l’Engagement - A citizen launchpad to support training and employment (1-249 employees)
Spotlight on the winning projects
City of Kingersheim
A benevolence laboratory (1-249 employees)
The municipality of Kingersheim (population: 13,000) is a suburb of Mulhouse in the Haut-Rhin department (Alsace, France). The city’s mayor, Jo Spiegel, has focused on finding the best means to enable citizens to participate in decision-making and collaborative projects. The Happy-Culteur project first focuses on the municipality’s employees. This laboratory for benevolence aims to provide the employees with concrete tools that support inner peace (e.g., practices of mindfulness, developing emotional intelligence and positive psychology).
The end goal is for benevolent relationships to spread to interactions with citizens, institutions, associations and other partners. To achieve this goal, the initiative offers cycles of 8 sessions to discover mindfulness and emotional intelligence, creates and shares thematic educational videos, leads workshops and conferences, offers resources (books, videos, etc.) and creates an open forum to share all of these resources.
GSF Propreté
A healthcare/nutrition training program (more than 5,000 employees)
The French GSF Propreté group designs and implements solutions for cleanliness and hygiene in work, sales, production, healthcare, leisure, and transportation environments. With 6,000 clients in France and abroad, 3% of the company’s employees are dedicated to training. To help overcome the risks of workplace accidents and improve well-being at work for its 34,067 employees, GSF decided to implement an awareness campaign on the subject of well-being in the workplace. The initiative will be built around physical and nutrition training for employees, an analysis of accidents in collaboration with site managers, and the addition of research and suggestions by doctors, sophrologists and other partners.
The goal of the program is to optimize work on-site in collaboration with employees, healthcare professionals and regional leadership. The end goal will be to implement these initiatives at a larger scale across the entire group and its subsidiaries. The group’s customers are also active participants in the initiative.
ALMA
The collaborative spirit for a virtuous dynamic (1-249 employees)
Alma is a coop that is completely owned by its employees (around 100 employees). Created in 1979 in Grenoble, the coop has a turnover of 10 million euros, 20% of which is invested in R&D. The company focuses on four highly valuable areas of the IT sector with an international network and subsidiaries.
For almost 40 years, collaborative management has been at the heart of the company’s values. The company is built around autonomous business units that are united through a transversal governance structure and a lively collaborative spirit. Every three years, each business unit carries out an elaboration/validation process (ElVa) for continuous improvement. This process enables all teams to participate in strategic planning and operational implementation. After five years, Alma is aiming to grow the ElVa process to a company-wide scale in France and its subsidiaries, thus applying it to leadership teams, the board of directors and general management.
APF Industrie
The digital transformation for all (250-5,000 employees)
APF Industrie, located in Echirolles near Grenoble, France, employs 150 people and offers business services such as industrial subcontracting, transportation for people (including disabled travelers), cleaning, facility management or concierge services. The association is aware of the benefits to be had from increasing the added value of its services. Encouraging digital skills, autonomy, employability and work-life quality is at the heart of this process. APF Industrie’s project is therefore to transform its employees and their services thanks to a digital mutation. The goal is to reduce barriers by integrating digital solutions throughout the company. This means enabling all employees to master digital tools. The project will be carried out from June 2019 to June 2021.
GLocal model (250-5,000 employees)
With representatives on all five continents, Veolia designs and deploys sustainable solutions for optimal management of water, waste and energy. Veolia Eau France, the French branch dedicated to water management, is organized into nine regions, including the Center-east region that is implementing the GLocal project.
The idea is to increase proximity to local actors by creating autonomous “SME-like” structures in 67 territories. These territories will become the cornerstone of the organization. With one director per territory, there will be less hierarchy and increased transversal, collaborative work that is closer to the realities of the field. To achieve this, Veolia Eau France launched a project to create a joyful company based on an upside down triangle and the subsidiarity principle. As part of this program, the company created a group of “change sponsors” who will share best practices and new management approaches throughout the company.
Engie Group
Imagining 2030 using collective intelligence (more than 5,000 employees)
As a global player in the low-carbon energy sector, Engie is banking on being a global leader of the transition to a zero carbon system, in particular for companies and local authorities. Engie is planning to build upon collective intelligence in order to mobilize both internal and external ecosystems. The group implemented its “Imagining 2030” initiative in order to encourage the participation of its 160,000 employees, its clients, its partners and society as a whole. The program aims to survey all of these stakeholders in order to better understand emerging needs and adjust its offer.
In 2018, 25,000 survey participants contributed to a digital platform whose artificial intelligence analyzed all contributions in ten languages. Engie had also already launched “Engie Lab” to enable employees to share their ideas and beliefs about the future. Engie’s initiative is designed to build on new digital and artificial intelligence tools in order to unite the voice of thousands of individuals and employees so that they can contribute to the group’s strategic thinking.
Cover Dressing
“Good-to-wear” (1-249 employees)
The associative startup, Cover Dressing, is located at the Havre and specializes in understanding the clothing habits of people with reduced capacities due to limitations such as age, sickness or disability. The startup’s goal is to increase the ergonomy of ready-to-wear clothing, making it “good-to-wear”. The project aims to encourage social inclusion and reduce inequality in terms of access to clothing.
Through modelized workshops and digital tools, Cover Dressing aims to mobilize the participation of all players in the fashion and healthcare value chains. Raising awareness began in 2018 thanks to 48 specialized shopping events, six workshops for clothing and rehabilitation, six thematic workshops in shopping malls and a “Good-to-wear” fashion show. The next step is to consolidate and ensure the longevity of these initiatives by developing partnerships with brands and ready-to-wear companies, pursuing R&D for medical issues, developing a community of customers through a community website and raising public awareness about the “Good-to-wear” initiative.
Vals du Dauphiné
Leading the LIBERTE initiative
Les Vals du Dauphiné (a federation of municipalities), local authorities, local business leaders and a group of interprofessional networks have united more than 300 companies in the North Isère area to work on pacifying the entire territory and thereby increase its attractiveness. The resulting LIBERTE project is a laboratory for innovation to improve well-being at work through values such as creativity, collective intelligence, benevolence, trust and the right to make mistakes.
To ensure the longevity of the territory, local authorities will support companies in their efforts to integrate virtuous cycles that support the well-being of employees and contribute to the common good. The state government will all support these initiatives. As of 2020, the model should be implemented in neighboring municipalities.
Socota
A pacifist industrial model (more than 5,000 employees)
Created in 1930, the textile and clothing division of the Socota group employs more than 7,000 people in Madagascar. Starting in the 90s, the company launched an industrial transformation strategy to switch its industrial operation from the Madagascan territory to international markets (South Africa, Europe and the USA). The company integrated the manufacturing of cloth and clothing with offers for design and associated services.
Socota represents an unprecedented initiative in Subsaharan Africa that combines competitiveness, sustainability and job creation. The focus of this reorganization was based on a value system that enabled the organization to meet the needs of clients (major international brands). A strong HR policy created strong support for these values. Investments in social and environmental values also helped motivate employees. Socota now focuses on ensuring the longevity of its model in an evolving international environment.
L’Institut de l’Engagement
A citizen launchpad to support training and employment (1-249 employees)
Created in 2012, the Institut de l’Engagement enables youth participants to exhibit their potential through citizen engagement and build their future. The mission of the institute is to promote the engagement of its laureates to schools, employers and incubators. The initiative enables them to overcome academic, cultural, social and financial barriers. With a budget of 3.2 million euros, the association is solely funded by donations and subsidies (85% private sector funds).
2,000 volunteers and a network of 350 partners (training institutions, companies, foundations, associations, local authorities…) work to support, mentor and offer individualized financial support. To continue its mission, the institute must convince new local partners in various sectors in order to encourage a change in practices towards more virtuous approaches. Up to date, 13,500 youth have received support, 3,600 have followed the entire program, and since 2016, 700 new citizen laureates have been mobilized every year.
Learn more about the Economic Peace Trophies on the Economic Peace chair website.
