Hermès - Registration Document 2016

2016 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT

HERMÈS INTERNATIONAL

Corporate social responsability

Introduction

The

Group Operations Committee

meets every two months; it com-

prises the heads of theHouse’smain corporate functions (approximately

15 people). It analyses projects’ technical and functional aspects, faci-

litates information sharing and serves as a collective decision-making

body providing a pragmatic perspective on sustainable development

challenges. The involvement of its members is essential to projects’

concrete implementation. It met five times in 2016.

Each of the House’s main métiers and key subsidiaries has its own

local

sustainable development committee.

These committees, formed to

launchandmonitor initiatives, share their achievementsat regional mee-

tings or through the best practice observatory on the intranet.

As specified in the “Environment” chapter, initiatives in this area are

drivenmore specifically by a specific

“HSE network”

run by the industrial

department.

These committees carry out operational initiatives, and play a role in

internal management and communication with teams. For example, all

French sites and subsidiaries organise operations with their employees

during the European Sustainable Development Week. Hermès of Paris,

the American subsidiary, has run a Sustainable Development Week

every autumn since 2013. This year, the event included an internal com-

petition on the theme of creative recycling.

In 2016, members of the Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and

Hong Kong sustainable development committees met for the third

consecutive year to share their operational practices and jointly create

an eco-actions charter for stores.

2.1.3

Tools

Over the last 10 years, theGroup has developeda number of tools to help

implement roadmaps validated by the Executive Committee. Committee

work and operational decentralisation are facilitated by the dissemina-

tion of these tools, all of which have been constructed in a participatory

approach so as to facilitate their adoption.

The House’s ethics are enshrined in a forty-page Ethics Charter distri-

buted to all teams, in 10 languages. It aims to promote the corporate pro-

ject and reaffirm the Group’s commitment to certain fundamental prin-

ciples in the way Hermès relates to its stakeholders and wider society. It

is given to all new employees when they join the House. It is structured

around the following points:

Hermès’ relations with its employees, suppliers and customers;

Hermès’ relations with society and the natural, social, economic and

cultural environment;

uncompromising principles of Hermès objects;

relations between Hermès and its shareholders.

As described in chapter 2.3.7, Hermès adheres to all major principles

and international agreements on human rights.

A code of business conduct, also available in 10 languages, sets out the

House’s guiding principles on a range of operational matters. It lays out

a matrix alert system by geography and by function. It addresses, among

others, the following issues:

extra-professional activities;

acceptable perks and gifts;

money-laundering, corruption;

confidentiality;

conflicts of interest, insider trading;

workplace bullying;

use of Group resources.

The “All artisans of our sustainable development”

strategic framework

was distributed to all Management Committees in 2015 and serves as

a basis for the work of each one. It is built on six pillars:

Hermès oversees the development and transmission of its artisans’

savoir-faire (

know-how),

and more widely that of our staff which form

the foundation of our approach to sustainable development;

the satisfaction and professional fulfilment of

employees

, together

with their diversity, are a driver of sustainable growth, and as such a

matter for special attention;

the durability of our business depends primarily on the future availa-

bility of the high quality

materials

that are key to the Hermè’s unique

character. Hermès protects and respects the exceptional natural

resources that are used to produce its objects;

Hermès is constantly seeking long-termand ambitious but pragmatic

solutions to better preserve the

environment;

the Group’s ability to grow is linked to the development and sustai-

nability of its

suppliers and partners,

which are leading players in

the field of high quality products and services, but also in social and

environmental endeavours;

finally, Hermès ensures dialogueand thedevelopment of harmonious

relations with its

stakeholders

and plays a role as a responsible com-

pany wherever it operates.

This document was prepared in a participatory approach, focusing on

the most significant issues in terms of the values of the House, the

Company’s sustainability, and its responsibility towards its social, eco-

logical and societal environments. On each issue, it indicates priority

topics and proposes three-year ambitions. Each business line and each

subsidiary is called on to draw up a roadmap on the basis of the six

overriding pillars; the Sustainable Development Committee reviews the

various roadmaps annually.

Teams also have access to other tools, including:

“Ambitions”, an operational sustainable development blue print

which provides a shared language and serves as a support for the

actions of the operational teams. It helps each entity, depending on

its activity, to identify the main areas in which it can take initiatives. It

is naturally consistent with the strategy’s six pillars;