Translations Best practice in French version Best practice in English version

SNCF, contributing to social cohesion and regional dynamism

7. Community involvement

Skills and technology transfer

Context

Historically rooted in the territories, SNCF is committed to their development and social cohesion with a range of actions to benefit local players and people in fragile situations.

On a daily basis in the Hauts-de-France region, it manages 200,000 passengers on 1,240 TER and 150 TGV trains, thanks to 20,400 agents. Every day, it is twice around the world in kilometres travelled. 

Objectives

  • Acting for people in fragile situations

  • Contributing to the local economy: local purchasing and employment, social innovation and territories

  • Reducing the environmental impact of SNCF activities: moving from a linear to a circular model, responsible purchasing, etc.

APPROACH

Vocational integration and social cohesion

The PIMMS (Point d'Information Médiation Multiservices) are territorial schemes enabling inhabitants of various territories to access public services and benefit from personalised support for all the procedures of daily life in territories that often have difficulties accessing public services. The PIMMS are also a vector for professional integration: the employees who run them are trained in social mediation and supported in their professional project. SNCF is a partner in 57 PIMMS. 

Since 2008, the SNCF Group has been working to promote social integration and the return to work of people who are far from employment. A partnership with Chantier Ecole, a federating network of structures that have signed up for Workshops and Integration Workshops, provides support for a wide range of projects: development of green spaces, minor renovation and painting of buildings, waste collection and sorting, etc.

Fight against exclusion

SNCF founded the "European Station and Solidarity" Charter in 2008, and is actively contributing to joint reflection on a European scale on the phenomenon of station wandering and how to intervene. The Group is setting up partnerships with associations of social workers who go out to meet homeless people in stations all over France. A specific partnership exists with the Samu Social in Paris. 8 SNCF agents are seconded there as "mobile assistance team drivers". 

Since 2011 (national partnership agreement renewed in 2016), SNCF has been working alongside the Ministry of Justice to implement actions to prevent and combat recidivism and to help people get out of crime: alternative measures to imprisonment (criminal reparation measures, community service, citizenship courses). SNCF is a partner in the Tour de France of the 2017/2018 high-speed rail network.

For 22 years, the SNCF Foundation has been supporting projects that promote: mastery of basic knowledge, awareness of science and technology, access to culture, cohesion and citizenship; and runs two schemes: skills sponsorship (561 employees committed in 2017) and "Coups de coeur solidaires" (371 projects supported in 2017).

Local purchasing and employment

In 2017, the Group's purchases from SMEs amounted to EUR 1.5 billion. SNCF's supplier panel includes more than 20,000 suppliers, 13,000 of which are SMEs. The Group Purchasing Department provides SMEs with a mailbox for receiving their unsolicited proposals and putting them in touch with contacts potentially interested in their products or services. 

Social innovation and territories

SNCF Développement is SNCF's economic development and entrepreneurship support subsidiary. With the help of a network of partners, it offers an integrated range of services to support economic development in 3 ways: accompanying territories, supporting entrepreneurs and promoting innovation.

Best Practice identified for the World Forum for a Responsible Economy in 2018.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  • Make the fight against inequality a real performance lever, particularly in order to differentiate oneself when responding to calls for tenders

  • Supporting regional economic development and industrial change in areas with a strong railway base: contribution to opening up access, local dialogue, etc.

  • Building a framework of mutual trust with its suppliers

Benefits

Quantitative indicators 2017 :

  • Number of people on integration courses (Public Rail Group, excluding subsidiaries): 1,257 (compared with 1,178 in 2015)

  • Number of people accepted for community service - GPF: 152

  • Number of associations supported, all schemes combined: 1,119 (compared to 960 in 2015)

  • Percentage of purchases from SMEs - GPF: 18%

  • Amount of purchases from the sheltered and adapted work sector (STPA): €16.3 million

  • Entrepreneurs financed by a loan or grant: 14; accompanied entrepreneurs outside financing: 59

  • SNCF agents supported in setting up their own business: 23

This Best Practice has been translated voluntarily by an anonymous contributor. If you have any comments, please contact mpaquin@reseau-alliances.org.

Workforce
260 000 (2017)
Turnover
33.5 milliards d’euros (2017)
Country
France

SNCF

2, place aux étoiles, CS70001
93633 La Plaine Saint Denis, Cedex

www.sncf.com

Mise à jour le 29/01/2020

Creative Commons Attribution This work by Réseau Alliances – World Forum Lille is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.