Sébastien Alby, legal expert in the Human Resources Department of Groupe Limagrain

The largest seeds company in the European Union and the fourth largest in the world, the Limagrain group, which controls Vilmorin & Cie in particular, has annual sales of 1.136 million euros. With its 6,000 employees, half of whom work abroad, this French group is present in around thirty countries. It has 35 expatriates, and a significant proportion of its employees travel on business. Its annual repatriation budget is around €35,000.

Your employees are covered by a basic assistance contract. Why have you set up a specific security service?

Sébastien Alby: Employers are increasingly being held liable in all areas. In terms of employee safety, the courts are even imposing an obligation of result. More specifically, with regard to business travel, the so-called "Karachi" jurisprudence condemned an employer for inexcusable fault for failing to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of his employees, who died during an attack in the capital of Pakistan.

Following this court ruling, we thought it would be a good idea to set up security or political insurance for all our employees, whether they are travelling or not. With the help of our broker, we took out ea-mysafepass from Europ Assistance and Crisis, which covers beneficiaries in the event of a crisis and provides political repatriation if necessary. These guarantees therefore go beyond those contained in an assistance contract that only provides for medical repatriation.

Who benefits from this security contract?

S. A.: We have voluntarily centralised the subscription of the policy at Group level. Initially, only our French subsidiaries signed up to the policy. We are gradually extending it to our other subsidiaries. Our aim is to standardise risk cover for all Group employees. What's more, we have taken out this policy for all our employees, without distinguishing between those who do or do not travel on business.

In this way, a sedentary employee who stays in Auvergne all year round will benefit from the same level of cover as a frequent traveller or expatriate, even if he or she moves very rarely. Of course, this cover is of particular interest to our missionaries, i.e. our employees who travel frequently, and expatriates on a two- to five-year assignment abroad.

What impact has this centralisation had on contract pricing?

S. A.: The fact that we took out a group contract for the majority of our subsidiaries was, of course, a factor in our negotiations with the assistance company. By centralising our operations, we were able to benefit from a mass effect. Previously, contracts taken out at subsidiary level only covered basic assistance. Since centralisation, we have been able to cover political risk without incurring additional costs in our overall assistance budget.

Once the group had taken out a safety contract, what steps did you take to keep your employees informed?

S. A. : It's important that all our employees are informed of the assistance and safety guarantees available to them. To this end, we have created a specific section on our intranet, dedicated to human resources and more specifically to business travel. Before making a trip, each employee can consult the database provided by the assistance provider and assess the actual or potential risks in the geographical area where he or she wishes to travel. Finally, the employee chooses whether or not to leave.