Carrefour : helping young people in priority neighbourhoods get onto the job market

On 30 June in Nanterre, Yann Jounot, Préfet for the Hauts-de-Seinedépartement, together with Thierry Roger, Director of Carrefour France's Employment Centre signed a regional agreement, binding them to a 'Businesses and Neighbourhoods Charter', designed to help young people from priority neighbourhoods establish a foothold on the job market. This partnership is in line with Carrefour France's commitment and its various other initiatives that have established employment for young people as one of the priorities of its human resources policy.

Through this agreement, Carrefour will be helping with the economic and social development of priority neighbourhoods, implementing a targeted action plan over 2 years. It is in line with the initiatives that it has already implemented to train young people and provide them with employment, both through recruitment and training programmes (Professional Qualification Certificates for Butchers, Youth Employment Day, etc.), and by establishing employment links with the charity sector (the Apprentis d'Auteuil Catholic association, the Second Chance School etc.).

Carrefour, a major employer in the Hauts-de-Seine département

The retailer employees 558 people in the Hauts-de-Seine département in its hypermarkets and Carrefour Market supermarkets, as well as in its Carrefour Banque and Carrefour Voyage branches. In 2015, nearly 849 people were hired across the whole region, 68% of whom were young people under the age of 26.

At national level, 60% of all recruits are young people under the age of 26. In 2015, Carrefour helped 42,000 people get onto the job market, it trained 5500 people within the framework of apprenticeships or professionalisation contracts and hired 250 young graduates.

The 'Businesses and Neighbourhoods' charter: joint initiatives to help young people in priority neighbourhoods onto the job market.

Under the agreement, Carrefour will be taking action in the following two areas:

• Education and study advice in schools throughout the département, developing entrepreneurship, knowledge of economics and how companies work, and retail professions through addresses, coaching workshops and events. The retailer also undertakes to welcome secondary-school pupils and students selected by the regional educational authority for traineeships and work-study programmes, and to provide them with support.
• Employments, integration and professional training, with the focus on employing and hiring young people from priority neighbourhoods by developing the support scheme for job-seekers, posting job adverts - particularly for work-study programmes - increasing the numbers of work-study contracts, welcoming job-seekers for work-taster periods, taking part in projects alongside local employment and professional integration bodies, providing disabled workers with study and professional advice (the ARPEJEH association set up to help young and disabled students achieve their goals) and holding regular recruitment sessions in partnership with the Hauts de Seine General Council for RSA recipients.

The Préfecture of the Hauts-de-Seine undertakes to help Carrefour select coordinators so it can honour its commitments, use its network of representatives for implementing this agreement, inform the retailer whenever any events are held which are likely to help it meet its aims (forums, recruitment days, etc.), present city-wide projects designed to help its priority neighbourhoods and promote the partnership that has been implemented across the whole region.