AREVA launches FACES, the roll-out project of the Europe-wide Professions and Competences Forecast and Management agreement

AREVA announces FACES, the operational roll-out of the Europe-wide       agreement on Professions and Competences Forecast and Management (GPEC) signed with the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) in April of this year. The official launch took place on October 6 at the annual European seminar organized by AREVA and the EMF. 

Under the FACES project (Forecasting and Anticipating Competences in Europe through Social Dialogue), employees, unions and human resource teams throughout Europe will work together to put the GPEC agreement into action. 

Between November 2011 and April 2012, around 50 joint working groups will meet on the various group sites in Europe. They will focus their attention on the operational roll-out of the four key aspects of the agreement (transfer of       know-how between generations, work/life balance, improving labor dialogue and career development), with special emphasis on facilitating dialogue between generations. The results will be presented to all stakeholders in 2012. 

Philippe Vivien, Senior Executive Vice President, Human Resources at AREVA, said: “The impact of Fukushima on the group’s businesses could have been a valid reason for postponing the signature of the GPEC agreement, which took place one month after the disaster in Japan. But on the contrary, we considered it important to go ahead with the signing because keeping up dialogue with our employees is absolutely essential at all times.”

The European Commission is providing the funding needed to roll out this agreement with the group's partners across Europe. In 2007, AREVA received funding from the Commission to roll out the ODEO project (Open Dialogue through Equal Opportunities) which followed on from the signature of the group’s Europe-wide agreement on equal opportunities. The amount awarded is a sign of recognition for the French group which has 35,000 employees across Europe.