Terrena: the role of advisor, a lever for prevention and social dialogue

Interview with Linda Breuillet, Social Affairs Manager — Terrena Group

Terrena is a French cooperative and agri-food group with more than 12,000 employees and a dozen flagship brands (La Nouvelle Agriculture, Père Plump, etc.). Since 2019, the law requires all companies with more than 250 employees to designate a sexual harassment and sexist acts referent. At Terrena, this obligation has been transformed into opportunity to strengthen risk prevention and the culture of respect.

Going beyond the law: an assumed choice

“We wanted to go beyond our legal obligations by also appointing a point of contact in all companies in the group with more than 50 employees”, explains Linda Breuillet, Social Affairs Manager.
“The objective was to give each entity the same means to listen and act, regardless of size.”

This decision is part of a collective agreement on the prevention of occupational risks, negotiated with trade union organizations. This text made it possible toextending the scope of action of referees, now competent not only on sexual harassment and sexist acts, but also on psychological harassment, prohibited discrimination and workplace violence.

A CSE referent/company referent duo

Each entity now has a duo of referents :

• The CSE referent, appointed by the Social and Economic Committee;
• The company referent, from human resources.

This pair works in synergy to inform, listen and guide employees, but also to carry out preventive and investigative actions if required.

“It was important that they shared the same prevention culture, a common posture and an equivalent level of knowledge.”

Expanded and supervised missions

The missions of the company manager are now clearly defined:

• Informing and raising awareness teams, by disseminating preventive messages and by supporting managers;
• Listen and guide the persons concerned to the right contacts (doctor, psychologist, social worker, etc.);
• Trigger an internal investigation in the event of a report, with the establishment of an ad hoc committee composed of a member of the management and the referees.

One maximum period of six weeks is designed to conduct these investigations.

Innovative training with Qualisocial

To support this approach, Terrena wanted to professionalize all the actors concerned:

“We have chosen to jointly train CSE referents and company advisers, but also to involve school heads”, specifies Linda Breuillet. “They are the ones who carry the message on the ground and who must know how to react accurately.”

In order to strengthen the posture and the understanding of sensitive situations, Terrena called on Qualisocial to co-build a tailor-made and innovative training.

“We didn't want top-down, theoretical training. Qualisocial offered us a course combining different formats, alternating content contributions, scenarios and time for reflection. A much more dynamic approach that is adapted to our realities.”

At Terrena, the appointment of referees is not limited to a regulatory constraint. It is a strategic lever for prevention, social dialogue and quality of life at work, supported collectively by HR, staff representatives and managers.

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