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Our Commitments & Values
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An enterprising and innovative environment
Hear about our employee’s experiences, and what innovative projects have they been part of.
Would you like:
- To be part of a business that fosters creativity and encourages innovation?
- To be an active part of change?
- To have an employer that encourages the entrepreneurial spirit of all their employees?
- A real job, with real responsibilities?
At Saint-Gobain we provide our employees with all of the above, and more. Innovation is a huge part of our DNA, and as a result we have been recognised as a top 100 global innovator*; if you look at the products we manufacture and sell today, 1 in 4 of them didn’t exist 5 years ago!
We only achieve this level of creativity and innovation, by harnessing the value and skills our employees have to offer – and be collaborating with others. We encourage innovation through calculated risk taking, experimenting and Agile working. Our ‘Saint-Gobain Attitudes’ have been designed to promote the right behaviours that foster this creativity, we ask all of our employees to;
Co-designed and open professional development
Hear how our employees have been supported with their own professional development.
Do you like the sound of:
- A career without Boundaries?
- An employer that supports and encourages internal mobility?
- A strong Learning and Development offer?
- Ongoing development throughout your career?
At Saint-Gobain, all of the above is possible, and more! First of all, we want to encourage all of our employees to gain the necessary skills needed to develop in themselves and their career. We have been recognised as one of only eight Global Top Employers, in particular for paying close attention to talent management and skills development for our employees.
Our Learning and Development teams work very hard to create a varied, structured and relevant learning package for all employees, tailored to their needs. Click to find out more about our Learning and Development offering.
People matter and we show it every day
What experiences can our employees share with you regarding Saint-Gobain’s commitment to health and wellbeing?
Should your next employer:
- Care about the physical and mental wellbeing of their employees?
- Have strong principles as to how they conduct business ethically?
- Provide flexible benefits to suit your lifestyle?
We agree completely! Saint-Gobain senior leaders place a strong focus on the way we should conduct ourselves at all levels – from being We agree completely! Saint-Gobain senior leaders place a strong focus on the way we should conduct ourselves at all levels – from being loyal, honest and respectful to others inside and outside our organisation, to following the law, caring for the environment and keeping our employees safe - You can find out more about our Principles of Conduct and Action here.
Wellbeing is a major focus for us, and we regularly review our practices to ensure our employees have the support they need. This can encompass anything from regular ‘walk at work’ challenges, to our very own cycling competition (‘Tour de Jewson’) – we help and encourage our employees to take care of themselves physically. Mental health is also high on our agenda, and we are currently exploring ways to improve how we can support anyone struggling with their mental health. We want to remove the stigma – after all you wouldn’t be expected to hide a physical illness, why should mental health be treated any differently?
Our compensation and benefits team have designed and are regularly adapting our benefits offering. We now have an excellent selection of benefits that can be continuously adapted for every individual, based on their needs and lifestyle. - Click to see more on these.
Commitment to materials based solutions for wellbeing and sustainability
What do our employees think? What the video to find out.
Do you want:
- To work for a company that has a clear social purpose?
- To be part of a company that is working to build a better future?
- To be at the heart of a business working to solve the challenges of tomorrow?
- To have a sense of pride for your business and the associated brands that represent a high level of quality?
If you do, then Saint-Gobain could be the right business for you; our mission is to create great living spaces and improve daily life. We do this by designing, developing, manufacturing and distributing building materials and solutions that play a vital role in our wellbeing and the future of us all.
Saint-Gobain is a global leader in creating sustainable buildings, particularly in new residential and renovation markets. We have also been recognised as a top 100 global innovator*. We achieve this through a strategic network of eight large R&D (research and development) facilities globally, where more than 3,500 colleagues work, spending more than €450Million each year on R&D and through our active presence in 67 countries. Of course we couldn’t do any of this without the help of our 170,000+ employees across the world collaborating together.
Our compensation and benefits team have designed and are regularly adapting our benefits offering. We now have an excellent selection of benefits that can be continuously adapted for every individual, based on their needs and lifestyle
*Clarative Analytics 2017 – Global rankings of the most innovative companies and institutions -
As a Business
People matter to us, and we try to show that every day. As part of this, our aim is to create an enterprising and innovative working environment, where you have the opportunity to learn new skills, and develop your career. We want to be a business that you’ll be proud to work for; one that is committed to improving people's daily life, being responsible, doing the right thing, and to preserving the environment by embedding sustainability in all our businesses.
We're delighted that you may be considering a career at Saint-Gobain, but as well as knowing what we commit to as an employer, it is very important that you understand how we like to work, and therefore what is expected of you as an employee. You've probably heard it before, but we really do place a strong emphasis on hiring people that align well with these core principles and attitudes.
Our Principles of Conduct and Action underpin everything we do; they’re the foundation of how we do business responsibly. Building upon these principles, the Saint-Gobain Attitudes set a standard in the way we want to work in order to make a reality of our ambition; 'to help create great living places and improve daily life'. Once you’ve taken the time to understand how these fit together, take the Saint-Gobain-Ometer and see if we’re the right fit for each other!
- Our Attitudes
- Our Principles
Our Principles of Conduct & Action
The Principles of Conduct and Action are important as they commit both management and employees conduct business responsibly. Every colleague is expected to abide by these values and approaches to business in their everyday work – regardless of country or area they work in. Click here to find out more.
Our Attitudes
Our Attitudes reflect how we like to work. We ask all of our employees to put five attitudes into practice in everything that they do, to help make our shared ambition a reality.
Principles of Conduct
The Saint-Gobain Group considers that the basic values shared by management and employees alike are as follows, these principles of conduct apply to each of us.
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Professional Commitment
This means mobilising to the best of one’s ability the knowledge and know-how of the individual and also calls for training to keep both up to date. It requires personal commitment and a willingness to take on tasks and to gain the knowledge necessary to do the job. It means we want everyone to effectively contribute in caring particularly for the environment and for worker health and safety.
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Respect For Others
This is an absolute prerequisite for the professional and personal development of each person. It applies throughout the Group worldwide. It implies an acceptance of pluralism and other cultures and of people of all origins. It is expressed in a readiness to listen to others, to inform, to explain, and to engage in dialogue.
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Integrity
This requires a rigorous adherence to doing the right thing in all professional activities. It means that no individual compromises the interests of the Group in favour of his or her own private interests – whether in dealing within the Group or in dealing on behalf of the Group with third parties, whatever local practices might be.
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Loyalty
This requires honesty and fairness in dealing with all colleagues as well as with third parties dealing with the Group. In particular, it is incompatible with the pursuit of self-interest where the latter conflicts with the goals of the individual company or the Group as a whole. It implies the adherence to the guidelines and internal rules of individual companies and of the Group.
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Solidarity
This is based on a sense of individual responsibility at work, which prevails over self-centred thinking. It encourages team work and bringing out the best in each person, in order to achieve the objectives of the company and the Group. It means rejecting management or operational methods geared more to the self-satisfaction of given individuals rather than the interests of the individual company or the Group as a whole.
Principles of Action
The Saint-Gobain Group wishes to set out the principles of action which govern the activities of all management teams and employees in the exercise of their professional responsibilities, regardless of the country involved. These principles of action help us achieve responsible and sustainable growth, in accordance with the Group's long-term strategy.
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Respect for the law
All Group companies must apply in all areas all laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. Particular attention is drawn to the areas described below.
All Group companies must prohibit all actions which might breach applicable norms of competition law. They must refrain from any form of financing political parties or activities, even if allowed under local law. They must also reject all forms of active or passive corruption whether in domestic or international transactions. Furthermore, Group companies must not exploit loopholes or inadequacies in any such laws or regulations where this would mean non-compliance with the norms of the Saint-Gobain Group in the other areas.
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Caring for the environment
Group companies are to actively promote the protection of the environment. All company sites, wherever they are located, must be managed in a way that allows the setting of clear environmental targets and the regular monitoring of environmental performances and measuring the same against these targets. They must strive to raise the main relevant environmental performance standards of their own sites to the level of particularly effective performance standards found in the Group for comparable sites – even if that means going beyond the requirements of local legislation.
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Worker Health & Safety
Group companies are to take particular care to adopt all measures necessary to ensure the best possible protection against health and safety risks in the workplace. They must adopt risk reduction policies and follow-up on the due application of the same, checking actual results against the applicable standards. Such policies apply both to their own employees and to employees of sub-contractors, when the latter are working on a Group site. They must strive to raise the main relevant health and safety performance standards of their own sites to the levels of particularly effective performance standards found in the Group for comparable sites – even if that means going beyond the requirements of local legislation.
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Employee Rights
Group companies must scrupulously ensure that employees’ rights are respected. They must promote an active dialogue with their employees. In addition, and without limitation, they must respect the following rules, even if not provided for by applicable local law.
They must refrain from any form of recourse to forced labour, compulsory labour, or child labour – whether directly or indirectly or through sub-contractors when the latter are working on a Group site; and they must refrain from any form of discrimination with respect to their employees, whether in the recruitment process, at hiring, or during or at the end of the employment relationship.
How we like to work – The Saint-Gobain attitudes
The world is moving at an accelerating pace. Changes that profoundly impact society and our markets at large are leading us to review our business models and question the way we work. This is why we took the time to work with hundreds of leaders from across our global organisation to establish what makes us the successful business that we are today, and who we need to be in order to properly embrace the challenges of tomorrow and fulfil our ambition to create great living places and improve daily life.
We ask all of our employees to put the following five attitudes into practice in everything that they do, to help make our shared ambition a reality.
- Act As An Entrepreneur
- Innovate
- Cultivate Customer Intimacy
- Be Agile
- Build An Open And Engaging Culture
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Acting As An Entrepreneur
What does this mean?
Acting as an entrepreneur means being results-driven as if it was one's own company.
Acting as an entrepreneur means showing strong commitment and having a sense of ownership: for example, you would treat any project in which you are involved as if it were your own – ensuring success through your personal initiative and drive.
It also means having an impact and leaving your personal footprint on the results, performance and sustainability of Saint-Gobain - this responsibility sits with all employees. To have such an impact, you need to have the courage to take risks and make decisions that advance the results and performance of the Group.
Finally, acting as an entrepreneur relates to being an active part of and showing enthusiasm for change.
Why is it important?
Saint-Gobain is evolving more than ever, in a changing business environment. While it is essential to stay true to our Principles of Conduct and Action, we also need to change our perspective on risk-taking and initiative.
Acting as an internal entrepreneur within the Saint-Gobain Group is about having the right mind-set to align our strong values with the necessity to succeed. 'Intrapreneurship' is now needed to foster our dynamic growth, change and innovation.
As such, everyone has the opportunity to develop their own leadership skills and has the freedom to inspire others and promote positive change.
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Innovating
What does this mean?
Innovate refers to the ability to be open and think differently.
It means thinking out of the box, being original and experimenting with new solutions.
It implies being future-orientated and anticipating changes in markets, customers and technologies.
Finally, it is the ability to promote a safe space where failure is accepted as being part of the innovation process and where everyone can learn from it.
Why is it important?
Saint-Gobain operates in a rapidly changing world.
This requires the Group to constantly innovate to meet its challenges (i.e. integrating a diverse workforce and making it evolve, enabling cooperation with competitors when the market requires it, questioning past procedures to propose new ones, thinking of new ways to lead R&D through co-development)
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Cultivating Customer Intimacy
What does this mean?
It means understanding, anticipating and meeting the fundamental needs of both internal and external customers at all times and at all levels of the organisation.
With this attitude, Saint-Gobain people show a strong focus to meet customers' needs while also being able to proactively provide creative solutions when necessary. To do so, Saint-Gobain employees need to develop their empathy, i.e. their ability to put themselves in the shoes of the customer and change their perspective to understand the fundamental needs of others.
Why is it important?
Serving customers and markets by creating great living places and improving daily life demands the whole innovative potential of Saint-Gobain, and is one of the key objectives of the Group's strategy.
It is essential to ensure Saint-Gobain's unique position in the market whilst perfectly understanding the evolving needs of the customers in a constantly changing environment.
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Being Agile
What does this mean?
This is the ability to be quick in action and mind. It means embracing change and being an active part of it.
Being agile requires Saint-Gobain employees to develop their self-awareness, an awareness of their colleagues and of their environment (both inside and outside the organisation), knowing the strengths of the people around them.
It requires a lot of energy and you must ensure you know the capabilities of your team, whilst always remaining focused on sustainable development.
Why is it important?
More than ever, Saint-Gobain faces new challenges: getting products to market quickly, adapting to new methods of communication, finding ways to manage new generations, and ensuring all Business Units have an adequate digital strategy.
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Building An Open And Engaging Culture
What does this mean?
The first requirement, at all levels, is to be open-minded. This means accepting differences, being open to take both positive and negative feedback, being open to try new ways of working and collaborate (internally and externally), to create a safe space where each and every one can express themselves to boost team spirit.
This means developing a transversal approach whilst being collaborative, taking a global view and learning continuously. We should always be true to our General Principles of Conduct and Action: being exemplary, having integrity, respect and trust.
Demonstrate an inclusive leadership style which involves and develops people based on an open and meaningful dialogue.
Why is it important?
Today’s world is volatile, uncertain and complex, bringing daily risks. It challenges us and pushes us out of our comfort zone. What is true yesterday or what is true today, will not be true tomorrow.
In the face of such a challenging environment, individualism or a battle of egos cannot be a sustainable solution. The answer comes from an ability to work collaboratively in an inclusive environment that enables innovation and agility. The ability to establish a supportive environment where each and every person feels at ease, and is prepared to contribute and develop continuously, becomes a key factor.
In this stressful environment it is necessary to combine emotion, fun and rationality.
In the Community
Our passion for improving daily lives goes far beyond just selling products. Our business takes action to have a positive impact on the communities it operates in. What could this mean for you, as a future employee of Saint-Gobain? Find out more about our employees efforts, the projects they get involved with and how they feel about our work in the following areas:
Our Charitable Partnerships
In 2002 we launched our Together Charity Partnership – encouraging colleagues to join with our communities, customers and suppliers to support one charity – chosen by our employees. Since this date colleagues have raised over £2Million for charities focussing on causes including: heart disease, cancer care, supporting young people and developing hospice care.
Our current charity partner, Barnardo's was chosen by our colleagues in 2016 – and since then we have developed a unique partnership where our funds are focussing on two specific areas:
- Supporting young people by investing in facilities and courses to provide construction based skills, training and employment for young care leavers
- Creating new transitional homes – build to a superior quality for young care leavers to transition towards fully independent living.
This charity partnership is well supported by our employees and gives them an opportunity to give back too. Below are some examples of how our employees have got involved.
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Future Place Academy
Shenaaz Chenia, our Director of Industry and Community Training has been working closely with Barnardo's and has helped to create the Future Place training academy in Lewisham in South London.
Shenaaz has helped to create bespoke training programmes that will provide young people with skills needed by employers – to help make their eventual move into full-time work easier. As well Shenaaz’s time, and energy, money raised from our colleagues the Saint-Gobain Foundation has also donated £43,000 to help renovate the building where the training will take place.
Find out more about our Foundation here.
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Fundraising
Colleagues across our business hold a wide variety of fundraising events – from branch BBQ's, cake sales, and sponsored challenges [The National Three Peaks is a favourite] to organising Dragon Boat races with suppliers, customers and friends.
We actively encourage our colleagues to get hands-on with our charity partners – as well as raising vital funds. From using expertise to improve facilities at care centers, and doing regular 'make-over' work, colleagues also apply their professional skills – acting as mentors, and giving time to give career and interview advice.
As a neighbour
Across the UK & Ireland we have more than 1,100 sites, including more than 45 manufacturing facilities. This means we are neighbours in many communities across the country. We want the local community to recognise us as a responsible neighbour, an active member of the communities in which we operate and an organisation that creates benefit to our communities.
As well as creating jobs in local communities, and taking part in community activities, many of our business are active supporters of local charities and voluntary organisations.
We actively take steps to reduce our impact on local communities – altering the routes of our lorries, ensuring dust is kept under control through water suppression, installing noise dampening measures and ensuring our sites are well-kept and local biodiversity is improved so nature can also thrive.
Invent Yourself
Many of our employees go on to have long fulfilling careers within our network of 36 businesses in the UK & Ireland, or across one of the 67 countries that we operate in worldwide.
Career moves in Saint-Gobain aren’t just up either. Experience and qualifications in a particular field are great but we don’t pigeonhole people. We have an impressive track record of colleagues successfully moving sideways across disciplines. This open-mindedness, combined with the breadth of our operations, means the possibilities for your career path are (almost!) as varied as your tastes.
Our intrinsic values of innovation, agility and customer intimacy influence how we do business and how we treat our colleagues, stakeholders, suppliers and customers.
Reshape the world
Join our innovative, passionate and entrepreneurial community to help us create great places and improve daily life. We strive to make the spaces where we live, work, learn and play more comfortable, efficient and healthy. We’re using the expertise gained over our 350 year old history combined with cutting edge innovation to create tomorrow’s world.
