CSR is part of efforts to respect people and the environment in a sustainable development approach. The aim is to improve the quality of life of employees and all those who come into contact with the company.
For the company itself, there are concrete advantages to CSR:
A responsible company is more attractive to customers and prospects. Candidates are also attentive to these criteria, so a company with a strong CSR policy has a better chance of attracting talented profiles. A strong CSR approach also promotes the involvement of employees within the company.
Beyond simply wanting to display an ESG score and/or a CSR Charter, it’s because we have fundamental values that stem from the company’s raison d’être that we have embarked on this process. Today, this commitment has been recognized: Meanwhile has been awarded the UIMM CSR label, an important step that validates all the actions we have been implementing for several years.
Here is an example to understand how the Meanwhile company approaches CSR:
To proclaim that we are driving at the right speed on the highway is one thing. To reveal that we are driving at 130 km/h, dial in support, on a motorway limited to 130 km/h is another. To decide to drive at 120 km/h on a motorway at 130 km/h because, after studies, we have understood that with this speed and with our vehicle, we have the best efficiency in travel time, consumption and risk: this is the ideal.
CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility is an approach aimed at integrating the environmental issues of sustainable development, but also the social, economic and ethical issues in the medium and long term, into the vision and strategy of an organization.
This is a voluntary process on the part of the organizations. Since its publication in 2010, the ISO 26000 standard has been the reference framework in this area. It gives guidelines but does not provide a framework of requirements for certification.
ESG: This acronym designates the Environmental, Social and Good Governance criteria that are used to analyze and assess the consideration of sustainable development, but also the economic and social aspects of activities, and long-term issues in business strategy.
Meanwhile is a company created around a common vision: the consideration of women and men, their experience and their know-how as well as all the value they represent within the company.
At Meanwhile, there is a climate of trust and recognition of employees in which everyone is responsible and free to take their own initiatives.
We are convinced that technology is nothing if it is not human-centric. It is for this reason that we place the well-being of people at the heart of our solutions.
We are all passionate about new technologies and we capitalize on the knowledge of each member of the team to build our solutions.
Ambitious and daring, we love challenges. We take charge of our projects in a responsible, dynamic and positive manner, in a spirit of conquest that allows us to surpass ourselves.
At Meanwhile, we display our CSR charter because we are constantly committed to the well-being of our employees, and beyond, to all those around us. This commitment is now officially recognized thanks to our UIMM CSR label.
What’s more, this written and displayed CSR charter is an essential asset when responding to calls for tender, particularly in the context of public procurement contracts, where such an approach is now required.
Finally, for future large-scale financial transactions, having a rigorous ESG score, which testifies to the positive evolution of our CSR approach, is a key factor of confidence for our partners and investors.
The societal pillar of CSR can be divided into two complementary axes: internal and external.
The internal axis concerns the well-being of all the company’s employees, in a demanding environment characterized by high commitment and a very short innovation cycle.
Aware of this reality, Meanwhile made the choice – right from the start – to look after the well-being of these people, both inside and outside the company. This includes giving employees the opportunity to express themselves on their own time, in order to create a caring and collective environment, so that this remains one of the cornerstones of our management.
It is with this dynamic in mind that Meanwhile works every day to build a healthy, caring environment, where solidarity and mutual recognition are actively cultivated. This concrete commitment, now recognized through our CSR label, guides all our internal actions.
At Meanwhile, gender parity is neither an imposed objective nor a regulatory constraint: it’s a reality that flows naturally from our recruitment principles. We do not discriminate in any way – positive or negative. Our recruitment decisions are based above all on skills, passion, expertise and adherence to the values that define Meanwhile: commitment, benevolence, team spirit and high standards.
This positioning has enabled us to build balanced teams, where the diversity of profiles and complementary talents enrich our corporate culture. Gender parity is the direct result of a sincere commitment to equal opportunity and the recognition of merit.
At its inception, Meanwhile was built around strong values, which initially included that of the “liberated company”. We later realized that this term, on the one hand, was the subject of controversy. Indeed, it has regularly been used in the form of a posture in order to make a society more attractive, for example.
On the other hand, we think that this term raises the following problem: it can be misinterpreted by young recruits or people wishing to join Meanwhile.
Following this, we therefore took advice from colleagues and questioned ourselves internally about the use of these terms. We have therefore decided to use the term “empowering company”.
For Meanwhile, the empowering society is the culmination of an organizational model in which autonomy goes hand-in-hand with commitment, and freedom with responsibility.
These two examples demonstrate the full consideration of corporate social responsibility.
With regard to the external axis of the societal pillar, Meanwhile’s raison d’être, “Innovation is only relevant if it serves Being”, stated at the company’s inception, has always enabled us to stay on course, without compromise.
Meanwhile, Meanwhile designs, manufactures and deploys technological solutions so that men and women can devote their time to something far more important.
Innovation can be broken down into three phases: idea, creation and market launch. At each stage, it is everyone’s responsibility to consider the impact of their innovation on Social and Environmental Responsibility.
Meanwhile’s positioning, with technological machines that are uniquely for human – inspired in particular by Charlie Chaplin’s reflections – enables us to contribute to the construction of the most beautiful of humanities.
Meanwhile employees attach great importance to the environment, particularly through their daily actions. Indeed, over 70% of our workforce commute to work every day by bicycle or public transport. Despite this, Meanwhile continues to raise the awareness of its teams on a regular basis, so that they can improve every day.
This agreement positions us as a company with high national and international potential, and encourages us to give priority to local economic players. Since its creation, Meanwhile has always favored regional and local players to the detriment of extra-territorial players, i.e. those from outside France and Europe. It is for this reason that we were asked to sign a first PERL agreement on November 21, 2018.
Thus, Meanwhile first favors collaborations with players in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, then with national, European and finally international players, only when they are the only ones capable of supplying certain equipment, materials or technological building blocks.
Meanwhile is currently implementing a process which, in the coming years for some products, and in the coming months for others, will limit the use of non-European players to the strict minimum.
We will initially establish a formal CSR charter. This will be displayed on a dedicated page of our website. We will then set up internal scoring first, with the aim of calling on a certifying body in the coming months to provide us with objective ESG scoring.
It is then on the basis of this initial score that we will set objectives and that we will put in place other actions in order to make it evolve annually and in a significant way our ESG score.
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