As part of the “Journée du Printemps de la Convivialité” (www.printempsdelaconvivialite.com) event on March 20, 2008 – aimed at helping companies promote a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the workplace – ETDE, Bouygues Construction’s electrical contracting and maintenance subsidiary, has organised a surprise “big breakfast” for all 400 employees at its headquarters in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines near Paris. The event will also see the official unveiling of the design for the future new headquarters building, scheduled to open in 2010.

The breakfast will additionally mark the launch of ETDE’s "Croissant Show" initiative, a series of regular start-of-the-day get-togethers held throughout the year with the aim of enabling employees in the different headquarters departments to meet and get to know each other.

These informal breakfast meetings are part of ETDE’s Efficiency Inititiative, one of the aims of which is to foster exchanges between employees, thereby improving communications and helping people work together more efficiently and effectively.

ETDE, along with 12 other companies, founded the association Le Printemps de la Convivialité in 2006 to promote the idea that a pleasant and relaxed working environment can help boost collective efficiency as well as individual well-being.

A novel idea for bringing employees together

The “big breakfast” event on March 20 will enable ETDE employees to get to know each other better and find out more about each other’s work over coffee, croissants and muffins – or even sausage, bacon and eggs!

The future new headquarters building, scheduled to open in 2010, will also be unveiled via a presentation that will include mockup photos, floor plans, site plans, etc.

During the event, employees will also be invited to make active use of their creative talents by taking part in special brainstorming workshops. A “suggestion box” system will be used to enable employees to propose names for the future headquarters building, as well as initiatives and events designed to make it a pleasant place in which to work. The suggestions will be incorporated into the specification for the new building, which is currently in the process of being drawn up.

Croissant Show: weekly breakfast get-togethers designed to boost efficiency at a day-to-day level

To promote good relations among employees, and ensure a more friendly atmosphere within work teams, ETDE is launching operation “Croissant Show”, an initiative designed to enable employees from different departments to get together over breakfast. Every Friday, one department (usually comprising 10-15 people) will host a breakfast, to which members of another department will be invited, providing an opportunity for friendly interaction and exchanges. Members of the “guest” department will then draw lots to determine which department they will host at the following week’s breakfast. Thanks to the regular Friday meetings between departments under the “Croissant Show” banner, employees will get to know each other better, and exchanges between departments will improve, thereby creating a greater sense of cohesion, and ultimately enhancing efficiency at work.

ETDE submits entry for “employee-friendly workplace” award

ETDE has submitted an entry for the “Prix de la Convivialité” 2008 award organised by the association Le Printemps de la Convivialité. The award recognises efforts by firms in France to establish an employee-friendly environment by fostering mutual understanding and exchanges in the workplace. ETDE has put forward its “Great Spring Clean” event, held on March 23, 2007, which provided the company’s 13,000 employees at its 250 sites around the world with the opportunity for a major clear-out of their workspace (warehouses, workshops, trucks, offices, etc.) in a friendly and informal atmosphere. As a result of employees’ efforts during the major cleanup operation, which was centred around a communal lunch at each site, 250 metric tons of waste were sorted and routed for disposal, more than 90 skips were filled, 9% of space was freed up on IT servers, and 1,206 employee files were updated in the company directory. The award will be presented on March 20, 2008, officially designated “employee-friendly workplace” day.

The employee-friendly workplace: at the heart of ETDE’s Efficiency Initiative

ETDE has focused effort on creating a pleasant and friendly working environment for employees as part of its Efficiency Initiative, launched in 2002, which aims to involve all staff in improving the way their company operates. The initiative’s goals are to identify and solve problems – both minor and major – that negatively impact the overall efficiency of the company, and to share existing good practices (in areas like works, design, purchasing, administration, human resources, etc.) on an internal basis. The Efficiency Initiative allows solutions developed by individual ETDE entities to be rolled out across the Group, making “reinventing the wheel” a thing of the past!

About ETDE

A subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, ETDE is a turnkey provider and integrator of technical and services solutions for public- and private-sector customers in the energy, industry, service, transport, environment and telecommunications sectors. The company’s operations are based around three clearly structured, customer-oriented business areas: utility networks; electrical, mechanical & HVAC engineering; and facilities management. ETDE offers comprehensive capabilities that encompass engineering, installation, maintenance and operation for both French and international customers. It leverages the expertise, commitment and responsiveness of its 13,000 employees to deliver innovative solutions with high technological added value. Backed by a network of 200 locations across France, and with a presence in 28 countries worldwide, ETDE is predicted to post sales of 1.9 billion euros in 2008.