Issue and expected outcomes
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MNEs engagement in extending social security examples of practices
A questionnaire was sent to the HR services of each of the 56 subsidiaries so they could perform a self-assessment. Danone also contracted a consulting company in order to
go through the responses, challenge them exchange back and forth with the subsidiaries in order to obtain the most objective assessment possible and analyse them. Few elements of
benchmark regarding market practices i.e. collection of the levels of protection offered by other companies in the same country were collected and taken into account since at the
time, the objective was to get a picture of the position of each subsidiary against the
ambitions of the Dan‘Cares programme that were already set and not against competing companies.
Definition of internal minimum levels of protection The Dan‘Cares programme provides guidelines that set an internally defined
minimum level of medical care protection covering all employees permanent and temporary meeting the following criteria:
– the composition of the minimum health care package is: inpatient, outpatient and
maternity care as well as basic medicine; –
the minimum accessibility criteria are: provide accessible, quality care at an affordable price the out-of-pocket payment borne by the worker should not be over
20 percent of the total cost of care.
In other words, the Dan‘Cares programme guidelines define the provided coverage as follows
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: –
scope: complementary medical care; –
extent: all employees permanent and temporary; –
level: at least 80percent of the cost of inpatient, outpatient and maternity care in geographically accessible facilities as well as basic medicine are covered the out-of-
pocket payment borne by the worker should not be over 20 percent of the total cost of care.
International commitment The Dan‘Cares programme was one of the topics developed through the social
dialogue led between Danone and UITA. In 2011, Danone and UITA signed an IFA, which i
ncluded both the commitment in terms of invalidity and survivor‘s benefits and the provisions of the Dan‘Cares programme as regards medical care. This allowed for an
institutionalization of the programme, and was the only time to date a multinational enterprise and a global union agreed on a detailed health insurance minimum package for
all employees.
6
See the International Labour Organisation definition of coverage in ILO: World Social Security Report 201011
Geneva, 2010, p. 22.
MNEs engagement in extending social security examples of practices
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Figure 3. Extract of the Danone-IUF international framework agreement on health, safety, working
conditions and stress, 2011
“Danone considers that its health mission must be reflected primarily in actions for the benefit of its employees. To this end, Danone has taken a number of initiatives HealthWork, Dan’Cares. HealthWork
actions are designed to inform and make Danone employees aware of better health through dietary habits and physical activity, etc.. Similarly the Dan’Cares action plan is intended to provide minimum medical cover for all
employees, primarily by ensuring that fundamental needs hospitalization, maternity, medical consultations are covered by local schemes andor insurance cofinanced by Danone companies and its employees, at a cost and
of a quality and accessibility above or at least equal to those offered by other locally established international groups.
The application of the D an’Cares action plan could be the subject of dialogue between the trade unions
andor staff representative bodies. Subject to local legislation, where staffs are asked to contribute, the introduction of medical care cover shall be the subject of negotiation.
Employees of all Danone companies shall be covered under a disabilitylife insurance scheme.”
Source: Danone-IUF international framework agreement on health, safety, working conditions and stress, 2011.
As regards disability and survivor‘s
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benefits, the internally set minimum level is equal to one year growth salary in the form of a lump sum. The rest of this case study
focuses on the Dan‘Cares programme which relates to medical care benefits since the process for defining the minimum level of protection and implementing it was far more
complex
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. Implementation mechanisms
The implementation was progressive. The process undertaken by each subsidiary when joining the Dan‘Cares programme is the following: conduct the assessment,
undertake a gap analys is where are we in comparison to Dan‘Cares guidelines and
elaborate and implement an action plan by the end of which the level of protection enjoyed by workers complies with Dan‘Cares guidelines. After the assessment and gap analysis,
each subsidiary has to provide a yearly action plan that it has to follow and report on to headquarters. In this plan, the subsidiary has to detail the local needs the new medical care
benefits will respond to what is already covered by the national health insurance, if any, what is already covered by a complementary plan, if any, and what will be covered through
the new plan. The action plan also details how the medical care insurance will be financed, including if the subsidiary will need financial support from headquarters to start
the implementation.
The programme is result-oriented; each subsidiary is free to choose its own implementation mechanism. The new medical care insurance can be made available
through a private insurer, a pooling of insurers, a mutual health fund, etc. Each subsidiary is also free to go beyond the minimum medical care package and accessibility criteria set
by Dan‘Cares guidelines. Still, harmonization between the subsidiaries of the same country is encouraged with a view to reduce costs and facilitate staff mobility. For instance, in
7
Though the International Framework Agreement mentions ―life insurance‖, the international
terminology as defined by International Labour Organisation Convention No. 102 for the guarantee covered is ―survivor‘s benefit‖.
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According to our interlocutors at Danone, many countries of operation already had statutory obligations and or many subsidiaries already had complementary benefits in place that met this
internally set minimal level when the International Framework Agreement was signed. Also, put in place such benefit is easier for the subsidiaries than medical care benefits it is easy to see whether
or not they meet the requirement and subsequently renegociate their insurance policy accordingly.