Rewarding performance & sharing results

Objective

  • To attract and retain staff.

Priorities

  • To develop a sense of belonging amongst Group employees.
  • To lend greater value to the Group's image amongst its workforce and to reinforce its culture.
  • To continue to extend the Global Employee Share Ownership Plan throughout the Group.

Highlights in 2010

  • Within Societe Generale France, the average gross annual remuneration for 2010 amounted to € 50,004 (+4.6% on 2009).

Remuneration

To keep pace with its global expansion, particularly overseas, Societe Generale makes every effort to attract, motivate and retain staff by offering competitive pay packages which include a salary that reflects an individual’s contribution to the Group’s development and other employee benefits. The Group also has a long-term profit-sharing programme which aims to motivate and increase loyalty among certain categories of employees, particularly highly-talented staff.
Monetary compensation includes a fixed salary which rewards an employee's ability to carry out the tasks and responsibilities linked to a given position and master the requisite skills. It can also include variable remuneration which not only rewards collective and individual performance and the achievement of targets set at the beginning of the year, but also factors in employee behaviour which is dictated by Group-wide standards.
Societe Generale's monetary remuneration policy is based on common Group-wide principles, which are then adapted to the particular market environments in which the Group operates. The policy is implemented by Group entities, which draw in particular on remuneration surveys by business and by market. Where the size of a specific workforce makes it worthwhile, a cross-business review between functions and businesses is carried out in order to ensure consistent, objective remuneration levels between the Group’s different activities and to facilitate cross-business co-operation.
The Group's remuneration policy is supervised by the Group Human Resources Department for the whole of Societe Generale, and includes an annual multi-stage policy review at a subsidiary, division, Group Human Resources Department and General Management level. The review is then validated by the Board of Directors, at the proposal of the Compensation Committee.
All Societe Generale Group entities respect their commitments with regard to the payment of taxes and social security charges on salaries and staff benefits.
More details on the principles governing the Group’s compensation policy, particularly for categories of employees which have a significant impact on the Group’s risk profile, can be found in Chapter 5 of the Group's 2011 registration document (Corporate Governance). These principles are part of the framework defined during the revision of the European Capital Requirements Directive (CRD III), transposed into French law by governmental decree on December 13, 2010, and which represents an additional pillar of the regulatory framework, following the regulations introduced in 2009 based on the principles of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the G20 initiatives.
Societe Generale is committed to respecting the professional standards of the French Banking Federation, which are among the most stringent in the world. Before its General Meeting of Shareholders on May 24, 2011, the Group will publish a specific report dedicated to its 2010 remuneration policy for regulated employees, in accordance with articles 43.1 and 43.2 of the governmental decree of November 3, 2009, amended by the governmental decree of December 13, 2010.