The Group regularly reassesses the risks related to its activities and its environment in order to:

• ■ensure the quality of operations;
• ■protect the Company’s reputation and the value of its assets;
• ■secure the Company’s decision-making and processes;
• ■ensure that the actions taken are consistent with the Company’s values;
• ■mobilise the Company’s employees around a common vision of the most material risks.

Risk management within the Group is based on a risk monitoring and identification process. The risks are analysed and preventive or corrective measures are implemented to reduce their potential impact.

Identification of risks

Every year the mapping of the Group’s major risks is updated based on an approach combining:

• ■a bottom-up analysis – to collect operational managers’ point of view and the contributions of each country;
• ■a top-down analysis – driven by General Management and the Group’s functional division heads.

Risk analysis and assessment

The risk mapping exercise includes the assessment of the criticality of all major risks.

The gross criticality is assessed based on a joint analysis of two criteria:

• ■the highest probability of the risk materialising; and
• ■the estimated scale of its maximum potential negative impact (non-financial, in particular operational, and financial).

The combination of these two criteria defines the gross criticality of the risk.

The risk management framework allows weighting of the gross probability, the gross impact or both criteria, which gives the net criticality of the risk.

A presentation of the risk factors by category is summarised in the table below, with the net criticality of each risk factor indicated according to the three-level scale: low, medium or high. As this Universal Registration Document only presents significant risks, no low-level risks are mentioned.

The risks are classified by decreasing level of criticality within each category (operational risks, strategic risks, legal, ethics and regulatory risks, or economic and financial risks).

Risk treatment

The Group implements action plans as part of a continuous improvement process. Furthermore, it has taken out insurance coverage to externalise some of the risks.

The risks presented below are those that the Company considers, as of the date of this Universal Registration Document, to be likely to have a significant impact on the Group or of which stakeholders should be made aware.

Main risk factors

In each category, the risk factors are presented in order of importance, starting with the most significant:

• ■presentation of gross risk, as it exists as part of the Company’s business;
• ■presentation of the management systems implemented by the Company.

Other risks may emerge in the future and give rise to a materially adverse impact. The above list of risks is therefore not exhaustive.

Some of the risks described in this chapter are associated with social, environmental or governance (ESG) issues. The main non-financial risks are indicated in the table above and in the paragraphs below with the following symbol: ✪.

Chapter 3 of this Universal Registration Document provides more details about the policies implemented by Korian, particularly as part of its ESG strategy, to identify, prevent and mitigate the occurrence of these risks; it also presents the outcomes of these policies.

Despite technological and medical progress, the pandemics linked to Covid-19 and the H1N1 virus have shown humanity's vulnerability to pathogens. New potential threats to health could arise due to the melting of polar ice, the multiplication of crises or another factor not yet known. Infectious diseases could thus spread across the world.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Group established a vigilance plan that has demonstrated its effectiveness and could be rapidly redeployed in all of its establishments and in all its countries of operation (long-term care nursing homes and healthcare facilities ) in the event of a new pandemic. This European standard is continuously updated to incorporate best practices in terms of hygiene, traceability and prevention measures.

The Group also ensures that its network always has a steady supply of protective equipment (masks, gloves, etc.) by building up a permanent stock corresponding to two months of consumption. Hygiene diagnostic campaigns covering all European facilities were entrusted to Bureau Veritas from 1 July 2020, with the aim of checking the proper application of these standards and assisting the teams in their implementation.

In 2022, the Group provided care for 810,000 residents and patients in its 1,200 facilities or in their homes.

Given their frailty, cognitive profile or age, there are risks inherent to caring for elderly or fragile people.

These risks may be associated with the following situations (non-exhaustive list):

• ■delivery of treatments and medication;
• ■care procedures;
• ■the risk of falls;
• ■seasonal epidemic outbreaks (influenza, respiratory infections) liable to affect elderly people with chronic diseases; and
• ■poor application of the quality standards (Korian Standard) and the Positive Care approach (designed to promote non-drug therapies where relevant), and the risk of abuse.

The quality and safety of treatment and care are the Group’s top priority. Consequently, the management of the risks relating to treatment and care is a matter of particular vigilance. Furthermore, the Group has committed itself to an ISO 9001 quality certification process that significantly exceeds the regulatory requirements.

The following procedures have been established and rolled out within the Group:

• ■medical, ethics and quality of service policies in compliance with the Group’s values, good business practices and regulatory requirements; 
• ■regularly publishing recommended best practices for the directors and staff of the facilities; 
• ■adopting a quality management approach in order to provide care in conditions of optimal quality and safety.

Furthermore, all staff members are trained in an individualised approach to the needs of residents or patients through the personalised or therapeutic project (Positive Care) and in the prevention of abuse. Annual thematic awareness-raising campaigns are rolled out at the European level.

The control system includes internal audits (such as 360° quality audits) and external audits, as well as annual self-assessment programmes.

Quality audits are carried out in the facilities by the Quality Department teams in every country. These audits are conducted using audit frameworks tailored to each activity, which include the requirements of the Korian Standard and the regulations in force in the country in question. The quality audits focus on:

• ■knowledge, application and control of Best Practices; 
• ■items of traceability.

All facilities are audited every two years.

In addition, the Group organises external audit campaigns:

• ■assigned to organisations that have been approved to conduct ISO 9001 certification (e.g. Afnor in France, DNV in Italy and Spain, Dekra in Germany). These audits are carried out in order to assess, from a neutral, objective external perspective, the implementation and effectiveness of the quality management system. By 2023, 100% of the long-term care nursing homes and healthcare facilities operated by the Group since 31 December 2019 will be certified;
• ■as part of the verification of the proper implementation of control plans such as health plans, infection risk management or Human Resources management.

Furthermore, the different national and regional authorities carry out controls in the facilities, in accordance with the various regulations in force.

The Group Quality & Prevention Committee, chaired by the Group’s Chief Medical, Ethics and Quality of Service Officer, oversees the audit programmes and the proper implementation of action plans.

A consolidated dashboard is presented to the Risk, Ethics and Compliance Committee chaired by the Group’s Chief Executive Officer.

The quality management system also includes:

• ■a system for reporting Serious Adverse Events (SAE), which aims to record every incident in all Group facilities, and to ensure that appropriate measures are implemented immediately;
• ■implementation of a whistleblowing system enabling any unethical or irregular practices to be reported;
• ■crisis management procedures scaled appropriately for each country and for the Group as a whole.

Regarding the identification and prevention of any abuse, the Group ensures that professionals are made aware of and trained in best practices and encourages the reporting of all risky incidents and behaviours. Any situation that may constitute a case of abuse is subject to immediate precautionary measures and, where applicable, sanctions.

Further information on the SAE procedures and on Korian’s Positive Care approach are presented in Sections 3.2.1 and 3.2.4.2 of this Universal Registration Document.

The Medical, Ethics and Quality of Service Department monitors these policies and coordinates these actions. Further information on operational risk management can be found in Section 3.2.3 of this Universal Registration Document.

Within the Group, 67,000 women and men in the various professional categories (care, hospitality-catering, recreational activities, administration, etc.) are dedicated to helping the most fragile and the elderly.

The future needs are significant and relate to:

• ■demographics;
• ■increased prevalence of chronic diseases;
• ■increased dependency; and
• ■the isolation of fragile people.

Recruitment needs will have a major impact in the coming years.

However, certain qualifications (caregivers, nurses, doctors and rehabilitation specialists, for example) are currently in short supply in most of the countries where the Group operates, due to insufficient capacity in public training courses and the lack of attractiveness of these demanding professions. This situation can lead to local recruitment difficulties, as well as to high staff turnover rates, particularly among qualified care staff.

As part of the “In Caring Hands” corporate project (described in Section 3.2 of this Universal Registration Document), the Group has structured a recruitment and quality of life at work strategy focusing on five main pillars:

• investment in working conditions and quality of life, in particular concerning health and safety at work or the revision of the “Korian social contract” in each country;
• management quality;
• strengthening and centralisation of recruitment services to improve their effectiveness in all countries and at Group level;
• implementation of a sourcing strategy (identification of candidates and creation of pools) leading to the diversification of recruitment sources (apprenticeship, validation of knowledge acquired through experience, internal mobility, own training centre, international partnerships), aimed at reducing the exposure to recruitment;
• commitment to ongoing training and professional development thanks to the Korian academies in each country.

This project aims to make Korian the benchmark employer in the sector in Europe. At the same time, it contributes to the Group’s ESG commitments and to the other objectives of the “In Caring Hands” corporate project:

• ■operational excellence (by contributing in particular to the quality of service);
• ■innovation and digital transformation.

These actions have already earned Korian the Top Employer label in Germany for the third consecutive year, in France for the second consecutive year, and in Belgium and Italy for the first time. Together these four countries employ more than 90% of the Group’s employees.

The Human Resources policy takes the form of eight concrete commitments that are rolled out in all of the Group’s countries and are the subject of specific action plans and projects (see Section 3.3 of this Universal Registration Document for more information). These eight commitments are also found in the Korian Standard, which incorporates the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard.

An employee satisfaction survey, “Kommunity PULSE”, measures employee commitment. In 2022, the Company conducted the Kommunity PULSE survey among all Group employees, of which 36,200 participated, from November to December 2022.  The results are presented in Section 3.3.2.6 of this Universal Registration Document. PULSE’s results show a high level of employee commitment (78%), up compared to 2022. This testifies to the strong commitment of employees to the “In Caring Hands” project, particularly in the areas of professional training and a better understanding of employee compensation and benefits. However, the feeling of a safe working environment and work-life balance deteriorated in the 2022 survey and thus calls for increased consideration by managers in the form of precise action plans at each Group site.

The Human Resources policy, the Kommunity PULSE barometer and the Group’s occupational health and safety policy, together with the Group’s training policy, are described in section 3.3 of this Universal Registration Document.

The Group’s activities with elderly or fragile people are particularly exposed to the risks of misleading information or media campaigns.

The challenge for society related to the ageing of the population is particularly topical and is the subject of numerous political and social debates. Korian may be exposed to controversies concerning the care of elderly or fragile people in general or the Group in particular. There is therefore a risk of harmful media coverage or the spreading of inappropriate and/or misleading information.

Reputational risk is the focus of the Group’s attention, particularly in terms of preventing and reducing its impacts.

The Group pays particular attention to the quality of the services provided by its facilities. This quality is based first and foremost on the Company’s culture and the compliance of every single employee with the Group’s Ethics Charter. It is also based on standards and procedures, which are regularly updated as described in section 2.1.2 of this Universal Registration Document.

In order to promote dialogue, family liaison officers are present in all our facilities in France. Their duties include:

• ■ensuring that residents’ stays are in line with their expectations and are as pleasant as possible;
• ■ensuring smooth communication with relatives as the main point of contact;
• ■scheduling meetings with relatives and informing them about events at the facility;
• ■being the guarantor of the quality of the care experience for residents and their relatives;
• ■participating fully in the life and projects of the facilities and ensuring compliance with the quality approach.

Facilities are encouraged to take into account all observations or complaints made by residents, patients, their relatives or employees. Rapid and satisfactory responses must be provided, with the support of the Social Life Committees (Conseils de vie sociale – CVS) or equivalent in other countries.

The CVSs meet at least three times a year and are composed of the elected representatives of families, residents and employees, as well as the management of the facility. They issue opinions and make proposals regarding the operation and organisation of the facility.

In order to encourage dialogue in the most difficult situations, the Group encourages the liaison officers to use mediation. In France, a former judge was appointed as an independent mediator in 2021. This mediator, who is not an employee of the Group, has total independence in the performance of his duties. The mediator’s team is made up of a group of independent mediators. Residents, patients and their families can contact the mediator directly. A Mediation Charter was published in 2021 and is available on the Korian website. The mediator’s first report was published on 17 February 2022 and is also available on the Korian website.

Mediation systems have been set up in France, the Netherlands and Spain and are being implemented in Italy. These systems are described in section 3.2.3.4 of this Universal Registration Document. Alongside the policy of promoting open and transparent dialogue with residents and patients in order to resolve tense situations or disagreements, the Group pays particular attention to the impartiality and objectivity of the information communicated by the media relating to these activities which are of a sensitive nature. Where necessary, the Group contacts the media outlets in question when its feels they are not being sufficiently impartial and objective.

Information systems play an essential role in the management of the administrative and medical records of 810,000 residents and patients and in the administration of the Group’s 67,000 professionals (payroll, planning, career management). They also enable the management of financial flows, accounting, etc., on a daily basis.

Any significant dysfunction, whether due to internal causes (obsolete systems, a failure to maintain infrastructure, uncontrolled IT projects, malicious acts, etc.) or external causes (viruses, cybercrime, etc.) could impact the Group’s activity and results.

The past year was mainly marked by a surge in international tensions and their economic consequences. In this general context of increased pressure, cybercriminals have multiplied their attacks, affecting all economic sectors without distinction, and not sparing the healthcare sector. A trend confirmed by the Group’s IT security teams, which have noted an increase in cyberattack attempts.

The Group has made strengthening the security of its systems a priority.

Moreover, Korian’s activity requires it to collect and process personal data, some of which are considered sensitive, such as the health records of residents and patients. The Group is therefore subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applicable since 25 May 2018, as well as the different regulations governing the processing of personal data and health data applicable in the various countries in which it operates. The Group complies with all of these regulations.

In order to mitigate the impact of these risks, the Group relies on identified resources within each country’s Information Systems Department. The Information Systems Security Officers are responsible for managing these risks and securing the information systems in order to prevent any failure and ensure business continuity. 

The work of these local departments is coordinated at Group level.

Within the Group Information Systems Department, an Information Systems Security Office coordinates the network of local information systems security managers, defines the common cybersecurity standard and manages the actions and projects carried out at Group level to ensure a satisfactory level of security in each country.

In addition, to identify system vulnerability risks and implement action plans in order to correct them, Korian calls on specialised service providers to carry out intrusion tests and security audits. At the same time, the Group conducts regular awareness-raising actions among its employees (anti-phishing programmes, etc.) and monitoring of the Internet (including the deepweb and darkweb) in order to identify any data leaks.

With regard to the application of the GDPR, each country has a Data Protection Officer (DPO), led at Group level by a DPO reporting to the Medical, Ethics and Quality of Service Department. The Group has also created a Personal Data Framework, which includes the main principles of the GDPR and the level of requirements to which countries must commit as well as the tools and governance bodies to be put in place. This framework is rolled out in all countries, taking into account any specific features and wording. In France, in accordance with the recommendations of the French Data Protection Authority (Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés – CNIL), each processing operation is recorded in a register and undergoes a preliminary risk analysis and/or an impact analysis when the processing presents a high risk to the rights of individuals.

In addition, preventive measures and training programmes are carried out with members of staff to raise awareness of the risks associated with digital technologies and of the regulations governing personal data. Targeted audits are conducted regularly in order to assess the security and compliance of the systems in place and to implement any necessary action plans. Lastly, the system for reporting SAEs aims to record all incidents relating to information systems, cybersecurity and personal data in all Group facilities.

The Group’s facilities strive to ensure the safety of all people using them, in compliance with applicable regulations.

In addition to the risk of epidemics, operation of facilities involve the following safetey risks:

• ■building safety risks (including fire safety and health safety);
• ■food safety risks for residents and patients;
• ■Legionella-type bacteria in risks facilities’ hot water systems, potentially causing legionellosis (respiratory infection) which proves fatal in approximately 11% of cases;
• ■risk associated with operation of biomedical devices and equipment used for diagnostic, therapeutic or rehabilitation purposes.

Any incidents resulting from malfunctions in the systems and equipment used by the Group’s facilities, or any failure to comply with regulations or with hygiene rules (in kitchens or during the distribution of meals), could:

• ■incur the Group’s civil and/or criminal liability;
• ■lead to the suspension of its operations;
• ■impact its business, results or financial position; and
• ■damage its reputation.

The Group ensures that each country defines and implements a maintenance policy for its facilities and buildings, together with an investment plan. The Group entrusts the tasks of controlling and monitoring the maintenance and safety of installations (equipment, buildings, medical devices and systems, etc.) to independent professionals.

The Group’s internal procedures stipulate the best practices to follow in terms of fire safety, health safety, food safety, etc.

Separately, employees complete mandatory training. Korian’s internal teams conduct 360° quality audits to ensure compliance with rules and best practices. In addition, legally qualified organisations periodically carry out external audits. The maintenance system is an integral part of ISO 9001 certification processes.

The SAE reporting system applied by the Group’s facilities includes all major technical malfunctions. The Group is organised to manage any exceptional critical situations by applying crisis management procedures calibrated for each country as well as for Group level.

The Group implements a development policy to support the strengthening of the Group’s medical activity.  

The implementation of this strategy requires the ability to find suitable targets and development opportunities at acceptable costs and conditions, as well as the implementation of appropriate integration processes, in order to guarantee a high level of quality across the networks.

The local development teams constantly monitor opportunities and business trends in each country.

At Group level, Korian has a dedicated department whose duties include reviewing partners and strategic opportunities, selecting them, carrying out audits and conducting negotiations.

This department relies on rigorous multi-criteria analysis procedures involving external audits and expert opinions. These audits cover operational, quality, and ethics and financial issues.

These analyses make it possible to identify the risks and take them into account when determining the acquisition price of the target and thus limit the risk of overvaluation. Furthermore, the teams in charge of integration are involved in the acquisition audit process with the aim of preparing a preliminary integration plan, in order to minimise the integration risk. This plan will be completed and validated following the acquisition.

Any proposed investment or divestment exceeding €1 million, including partnerships and acquisitions of equity interests, whether or not it results in control being acquired, is subject to the approval of Korian’s Commitments and Investment Committee.

Furthermore, projects with an enterprise value in excess of €15 million or in a new country or outside the scope of the Group’s pre-existing business lines (determined at the local level) must be approved by the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Commitments and Investment Committee of the Board.

Real estate is subject to cycles of variable duration and is itself sensitive to the overall economic environment. Real estate companies are subject to changes in the price of construction materials, may suffer disruptions in their supply chain, or even go bankrupt. Buildings under construction may require repairs to be made, their delivery deadlines may be extended and their budgets may increase, these effects often acting cumulatively.

Construction sites can also be impacted by force majeure events (bad weather, strikes, wars, etc.) in proportions that are difficult to anticipate.

In order to ensure that it can meet changing needs and avoid the obsolescence of certain buildings, the Group has drawn up a transformation and modernisation plan for its real estate portfolio. Furthermore, the real estate strategy implemented since 2017 aims to selectively increase the rate of ownership of assets by benefiting from favourable financing conditions. As a result, the Group owns a number of facilities, either through buyouts of properties that it operates or through the construction of new facilities. In the latter case, the Group is subject to technical or financial uncertainties, such as:

• ■obtaining building permits;
• ■compliance with the construction schedule; and
• ■technical control of projects (in particular the need to take into account the latest regulations on the energy performance and environmental footprint of buildings).

These risks may delay the start of operations or lead to additional costs, which could impact on the Group’s business and results.

To protect itself against these risks, the Group has set up dedicated internal teams responsible for coordinating architects and project managers, handling procedures for obtaining building permits, and overseeing construction work.

The Group has also set up a Technical and Environment Department, which liaises with each country’s Real Estate Department to ensure compliance with the various environmental regulations and standards and with the low-carbon roadmap.

In addition, the Group protects itself by selecting companies taking into account their financial strength, and by contracting with insurance companies and banks that issue completion guarantees.

Further information on the Group’s ESG strategy and low-carbon roadmap can be found in Chapter 3 of this Universal Registration Document.

The Group’s medico-social and healthcare activities are subject to laws and regulations in all countries where it operates. In most countries the opening of a medico-social or healthcare facility requires authorisations to be granted. Authorisations are generally issued or renewed subject to compliance of the service provision with assessment and quality control procedures conducted by the supervisory authorities in accordance with the applicable laws in each country.

Furthermore, the pricing of the Group’s facilities is regulated. It includes:

• a portion paid by the residents or patients themselves;
• a portion relating to treatment and care, directly or indirectly subsidised by public funding.

In order to ensure the proper application of the rules on the use of financing, Korian provides Facility Directors with access to information systems that provide a framework for the allocation of resources to the appropriate category of expenditure (care, dependency or hospitality). The same applies to expenses related to medical equipment and devices. The reports produced are subject to controls at facility level and then at central level.

The Group conducts regulatory watch in all of the countries where it operates in order to protect itself against any negative repercussions resulting from changes to regulations or pricing rules. This watch enables the Group to anticipate any major changes while ensuring the compliance of its operations. The Group is also an active participant in trade union activities.

In addition, the fact that the Group operates in several countries and markets, as well as the diversification of its activities, limits the risks resulting from of regulatory change and thus mitigates the impact at Group level.

Furthermore, the Group’s operating licences can only be withdrawn under strictly limited circumstances.

In the context of global warming, the frequency and intensity of major climate events, which can lead to damage to property, as well as temporary disruption to facilities, are increasing.

Moreover, by their nature, Korian’s activities consume energy for the operation of the 1,200 Group facilities and generate waste. If the Group’s low-carbon roadmap action plans were to prove ineffective, its environmental impacts could remain at their current level or even increase. The Group is also required to comply with the applicable regulations.

In order to adapt to the effects of global warming, the crisis management system notably provides for the installation of generators for use in the event of a disruption to the electricity supply, as well as measures to ensure the safety of people (moving people to other facilities, if necessary). For example, in the event of a heat wave, Korian’s facilities operate thermal insulation solutions (air-conditioned rooms and/or portable air conditioners, blackout blinds, etc.). In addition, management has set up protocols and training courses on topics such as hydration and the prevention and treatment of dehydration, in order to be able to identify and pay special attention to individuals at risk during such events.

The Group has also decided to adapt existing buildings to increase their resistance to extreme weather phenomena, where necessary.

Korian has defined a roadmap based on the Group’s carbon footprint, making it possible to achieve the target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030. This roadmap has five components for each of the most significant carbon emission factors:

• ■energy consumption of buildings;
• ■purchases of goods and services;
• ■food purchases;
• ■transportation of employees; and
• ■waste management.

The Group’s CSR Department and Technical and Environment Department are responsible for managing this roadmap in coordination with the other functions involved (purchasing, Human Resources, etc.). Furthermore, a Group Commitment and CSR Committee, composed of experts, monitors the action plans and discusses best practices aimed at reducing the Group’s carbon impact.

Low-carbon targets have been included in the Top Management targets since 2020. Furthermore, campaigns aimed at raising awareness of energy and waste reduction are being carried out in all of the Group’s countries.

The Group is working to reduce the carbon footprint of its buildings through:

• ■acquisition of new equipment or modification/upgrade of existing equipment that contributes to improving energy management;
• ■modification of the energy mix (by changing equipment, purchasing renewable energy or producing energy on site);
• ■implementation of centralised monitoring of energy consumption;
• ■eco-friendly awareness campaigns for users and specific training for asset managers and maintenance staff.

The Group has all new buildings certified to guarantee low carbon emissions (HQE, LEED, BREEAM, setting a maximum target of CO2/m²).

Further information on Korian’s environmental policy can be found in Sections 3.6 and 3.7 of this Universal Registration Document.

The Group employs about 60,000 people at more than 1,200 sites in seven countries. The Group works with a large number of suppliers and partners. Moreover, some of the Group’s employees interact with policymakers or public bodies within the framework of its activities. Despite the Group’s vigilance, non-compliant individual practices could occur, such as:

• ■non-compliance with the Group’s charters (notably the Ethics Charter and the Responsible Purchasing Charter);
• ■non-compliance with the Group’s policies (in particular the anti-corruption guide, the gifts and hospitality policy, and the conflict of interest policy).

Any of these practices could damage the Group’s reputation and even incur its liability in the event of a violation of anti-corruption legislation.

The Group is subject to Law No. 2016-1691 of 9 December 2016 on transparency, the prevention of corruption and the modernisation of the economy (the “Sapin 2” Law). Article 17 provides for the implementation of a system to prevent and detect acts of corruption and influence peddling that may be committed within the Group. In the event of non-compliance with this system or of any acts of corruption, the Group’s companies could be subject to prosecution and financial penalties.

The Group attaches the greatest importance to preventing and combating all forms of corruption, whether active or passive, private or public, of breaches of probity and of influence peddling.

The Group’s commitment is reflected in:

• ■a regularly updated corruption risk mapping allowing identification of high-risk scenarios and implementation of the corresponding control systems;
• ■the Group’s Ethics Charter, updated in 2021 with the publication of the document “Our values and ethics commitments”, lays the foundation for the values and behaviours expected of the Group’s staff. It is given to each new employee, who must sign it;
• ■the anti-corruption guide and the gifts and invitations, conflicts of interest and sponsorship/corporate philanthropy policies enable the Group to address its important messages, such as:
  • ■reminders of the definitions of corruption and influence peddling,
  • ■sanctions incurred and potential impacts for the Group,
  • ■conduct of lobbying activities;
• ■a third-party assessment procedure applied in the countries in which the Group operates;
• ■online and in-person training modules dedicated to raising employee awareness of the ethics commitments (in particular corruption and influence peddling), supplemented by specific training sessions for the functions and activities that are most exposed to the risk of breaches of probity;
• ■specific accounting procedures incorporated into the Group’s internal control standards;
• ■a whistleblowing system managed at Group level by the Director of Safety, Ethics and Crises and at country level by the departments in charge of compliance, including access to a secure external platform enabling employees and all of the Group’s stakeholders to ask questions of an ethical nature or raise an alert, whether anonymously or not; and
• ■the particularly close attention paid to the risk of corruption in internal audits.

Since September 2022, the Group has been supported by a Compliance Department. Under the supervision of the General Secretary, the Compliance department is responsible for the deployment of this programme in conjunction with the departments in charge of compliance in each country.

Korian’s activities are based on a fixed cost structure and its dynamic development requires sustained investment. The Group is therefore exposed to risks related to liquidity, volatility and inflation in financing conditions, as well as its ability to integrate acquisitions in order to deliver the expected results.

The Group has set up various sources of funding that are described in Note 8 to the financial statements.

At 31 December 2022, the Group’s total net indebtedness amounted to €3,775 million (excluding lease commitments), and the average maturity of the Group’s financial borrowing was 4.8 years (excluding short-term debt offset by available cash at closing).

Korian’s ability to rapidly integrate acquisitions is fundamental to pursuing its development strategy.

In 2022, 20 facilities were integrated or were in the process of being integrated. In particular, this involves acquisitions in Italy, including Italian Hospital Group, and in the United Kingdom. 

The Group could encounter difficulties or suffer delays in the integration of these assets, impacting the quality of the services provided, the acquisition of control, the expected synergies and its ability to deliver the expected results.

The Group has significant experience in the integration of acquisitions. Starting from the phase of identifying potential targets, the assets the Group is considering acquisition of are subject to in-depth analyses carried out by multidisciplinary teams in order to reduce uncertainties and understand the risks that may arise during integration.

As described above, any proposed investment or divestment exceeding €1 million, including partnerships and the acquisition of equity interests, whether or not control is acquired, is subject to the approval of Korian’s Commitments and Investment Committee.

Furthermore, projects with an enterprise value in excess of €15 million or in a new country or outside the scope of the Group’s pre-existing business lines (determined at the local level) must be approved by the Board of Directors upon the recommendation of the Commitments and Investment Committee of the Board.

All projects are also monitored through a monthly business review for each country.

Every country has a dedicated department whose role is to supervise, support and monitor integrations. These departments are coordinated at Group level. A specific process has been set up in order to:

• ■structure the integration process;
• ■identify and address the risks;
• ■monitor the successful implementation of the business plan;
• ■ensure that the ESG requirements set by the Group are properly met; and
• ■ensure that the Group’s systems and standards are implemented within the desired timeframes.

Since its creation, this department has participated in the integration of many facilities. Due to its extensive experience in the field of integration, this process is industrialised and well-managed.

Progress on the integration of the main acquisitions is monitored by the Board of Directors’ Investment Committee.

At 31 December 2022, the Group had a solid balance sheet and a high level of liquidity. The Group also benefits from the support of its various banking partners and maintains a balanced distribution of its sources of financing between bank debt and debt issued on the capital markets. Korian also ensures that it diversifies its market debt instruments, which results in a diverse set of investors financing the Group.

However, the Group remains exposed to changes in market conditions and to the assessment by investors and banks of the interest rate and market environment as well as of the Group’s credit quality when raising new financing.

The Group is therefore exposed to the risk of rising interest rates and to the appetite of banking partners and credit investors for providing it with financing.

In general, real-estate debt is taken on at fixed rates for leases and mortgages. For other debt, the choice between a fixed rate or variable rate depends on the type of debt instruments concerned as well as market conventions, or may be the result of a deliberate choice made by the Group in relation to its policy for managing interest rate risk, and therefore to its level of coverage of pre-existing interest rate risk.

The Group is therefore exposed to eurozone interest rate risk as regards both the variable portion of its current debt and its future refinancing and fund-raising arrangements.

The Group mainly operates locally and therefore in the currency of the country in question, without incurring any foreign exchange risk. With the exception of the United Kingdom, all countries of operation belong to the eurozone.

Foreign exchange risk does not constitute a significant risk for the Group.

Korian closely monitors its cash position and changes in its current and future liquidity needs. It then implements its strategy of diversifying sources of financing at the same times as it optimises the cost of its debt.

Korian has set up centralised and pan-European cash management through the use of cash pooling, allowing optimal use of its resources.

The raising of new bank or financial market financing is managed by the Group’s central services. From time to time, the Group’s subsidiaries may obtain financing from outside the Group, in particular to fund real estate projects.

In 2022, the Group issued several financing solutions, in various formats, including Schuldschein issues and real estate debt with its banking partners. The average debt maturity now stands at 4.8 years (excluding short-term debt offset by available cash at closing).

In addition, the Group benefits from a revolving credit facility in the amount of €500 million under its syndicated loan agreement, not used as of the date of this Universal Registration Document, from a short-term negotiable debt securities programme (NEU CP) for €300 million, and from a medium-term negotiable debt securities programme (NEU MTN) for €200 million.

During 2022, and more particularly from the middle of the first half of the year, without having to resort to it, the Group nevertheless noted a deterioration in the debt market, in particular in the markets for Schuldschein and private placements in euros. The Group’s access to the disintermediated debt market in the coming months could require Korian to use different terms or instruments, adapted to the expectations of investors, from those used in the past.

The Group’s indebtedness as at 31 December 2022 is described in Note 8 to the financial statements.

Moreover, Korian pursues a policy of actively monitoring and managing the risk of interest rate fluctuations. It is based on the Group’s projected net debt position, after factoring in the execution of its business plan.

The Group has put financial instruments in place to hedge against this risk and uses standard derivative instruments (interest rate swaps, swaptions, caps and floors). The average maturity of its derivative hedges is more than 4.9 years.

At 31 December 2022, taking into account the fixed-rate debt and interest rate hedges in place, approximately 84% of gross borrowings were at fixed rates. The net debt was 100% hedged.

The interest rate risk on the projected debt, in line with the business plan, is already hedged for 2023. The profile of this hedge is declining over time.

In view of the existing hedges, at 31 December 2022 the sensitivity of financial expenses to a change in market rates over the next 12 months was as follows:

• ■a 0.5% increase (50 basis points) in the yield curve would increase the Group’s financial expense by less than €0.2 million;
• ■a 0.5% decrease (50 basis points) would decrease the Group’s financial expense by less than €0.2 million.

These details also appear in Note 8 to the financial statements.

As its bank and bond financing arrangements evolve, the Group adapts its hedging structure to maintain alignment with the debt profile, in accordance with the Group’s prudent financial management policy.

The international environment has been marked by a return to higher inflation since the middle of 2021. Inflation may increase the cost of the resources used by Korian to carry out its activities. This risk increased at the beginning of 2022 due to the political conflict in Ukraine. In this context, the Group must ensure that it has the ability to protect itself as far as possible from cost increases and consider protective or alternative measures in relation to the operating costs of services and costs related to real estate.

Labour costs represent 60% of revenue and are exposed to inflation, either through wage indexation, as in Belgium, or through annual negotiations leading to collective agreements, as in France.

In 2022, in France, salaries less than or equal to €2,500 gross per month were increased by 3%, effective from September 2022.

Apart from the inflationary effects, wage costs may also be exposed to legislative decisions to increase wages, as was the case in France starting in 2020 with the “Ségur de la Santé”, or in 2022 in Germany where salaries were increased by around 25% from September 2022. These cost increases were offset by dedicated public financing or price renegotiations.

The rents paid for the operation of the non-owned portfolio represent approximately 11% of the Group’s revenue. Korian operates 1,200 facilities in seven European countries and is a tenant in 72% of its operating portfolio. The Group is exposed to any increase in rents that could occur either during a lease renewal or through the indexation of rents in accordance with the terms of the contracts. However, there are protective clauses in the contracts (cumulative inflation thresholds to be reached, which only partially reflect inflation). Rents are indexed to indices specific to each country of operation and are mainly linked to inflation, or to residential or commercial rents. They may also depend on specific indices related to the business sector (e.g. the rent increase benchmark rate for long-term care nursing homes in France).

Regarding the cost of investments in renovation of the facilities or relating to new construction and renovation, interruptions to the supply chain or an exceptionally high increase in the cost of raw materials on the global market could result in a delay or an increase in the costs of certain projects prior to their delivery.

Purchases related to operations represent approximately 16% of the Group’s revenue. They can be affected primarily by price inflation. It should be noted that the supply of energy, whose prices were subject to strong tensions in 2022, increased by around €20 million over the year, net of specific subsidies. This increase in energy costs is therefore not fully covered by dedicated financing and has had a negative impact on the Group’s margins.  A significant portion is hedged for the coming year and the Group is implementing multi-year hedging policies. In 2022, energy represented approximately 2% of the Group’s revenue.

The Group’s Finance Department has implemented effective and regular monitoring of its key indicators, including the operating margin (EBITDAR), occupancy rate, occupancy cost ratio and changes in the various cost categories.

The increase in payroll costs in the main countries where the Group operates may be offset by allocations received and accommodation rates.

The Group has a Human Resources policy that aims above all to improve the quality of life at work, employment conditions and employee satisfaction in order to retain its employees and contribute to their development. This policy is part of the corporate project, designed to provide high-quality care for residents and patients and thus contribute to the level of occupancy rates in the facilities.

To operate an optimal goods and services purchasing policy ensuring quality and competitive prices, Korian has set up Purchasing Departments in the main countries of operation.

The principal functions of these departments are to:

• ■ensure the highest level of quality and efficiency in purchasing;
• ■minimise operational risks and create value;
• ■obtain the best value for money from suppliers;
• ■find solutions and suppliers that meet local needs and requirements;
• ■establish long-term partnerships and relationships with suppliers; and
• ■guarantee the reliability of preferred suppliers.

The subsidiaries are not dependent on single suppliers. They have alternative sourcing options in order to ensure healthy competition while limiting business continuity risks. In appropriate cases, the Purchasing Departments negotiate prices that are fixed over a certain period, such as energy prices in Germany and Belgium, which are fixed for 2023.

The main measures used to manage inflation risk are based on:

• ■careful monitoring of indicators (salaries, rents, other expenses);
• ■anticipation of negotiations about the pricing policy;
• ■regular renegotiation with suppliers; and
• ■a policy of diversification.

The Group’s Real Estate and Development Department is responsible for managing risks related to the leasing of buildings, including increases in rents. This department also manages the portfolio’s assets. The active real estate management policy has, among other benefits, made it possible to minimise the number of leases indexed to the most volatile indices and therefore to reduce the risk of decorrelation between changes in rents and the accommodation prices paid by residents.

To manage the risk of rent increases when leases are renewed, the Group has set up a dedicated management system in all of the countries where it operates. It is based on a precise analysis of each lease and notably the occupancy cost ratio (EBITDAR/rent), the expiry date and any renewal clauses, the aim being to proactively determine the outcome of each contract upstream of the process.

More generally, the Group has implemented several mechanisms to protect itself from uncontrolled rent increases. These include:

• ■active management of current leases and anticipation of expiries;
• ■add contractual stipulations to the leases signed: free month agreements, indexation freezes or caps, rent reductions, which are part of global negotiations also involving the duration of new leases; and
• ■increasing the proportion of its portfolio that is fully owned (around 28% in 2022 compared to 25% at the end of 2021). 

With regard to the construction costs of turnkey or renovation projects, the Group has several contracts for which the inflation risk is mainly borne by the developer and not by Korian as future operator or future operator and owner. On projects for which Korian is the developer, the Group works with standardised concepts that have been industrialised and make it possible to order raw materials in advance for a series of projects and therefore to control the costs of future deliveries. In addition, framework agreements have been put in place to guarantee prices for products and services over a specified period.

The Group has drafted and implemented an internal control and risk management procedure based on the recommendations set out in the AMF’s reference framework (entitled “Reference Framework on risk management and internal control measures”) (the “Reference Framework”).

The risk management and internal control measures complement the control of the Group’s activities. The risk management framework aims to identify and analyse the most material risks and then address them through appropriate action plans. The controls to be implemented as part of these action plans are part of the internal control procedures. The latter thus contribute to the treatment of the risks to which the Company’s activities are exposed.

The internal control system is applied to the Company and to all companies within its scope of consolidation.

Internal control refers to all Group processes that contribute to the rigorous and efficient management of its business activities and the control of its risks.

More specifically, the purpose of internal control is to:

• ■ensure compliance with laws, regulations and the Group’s values;
• ■ensure accounting and financial information is reliable and accurate;
• ■protect the Group’s assets and reputation;
• ■ensure targets are reached; and
• ■prevent and detect fraud and irregularities.

The internal control system is intended to provide reasonable assurance that these objectives are being achieved.

Internal control is based on a centralised structure with a policy of delegating powers and responsibilities to the Group’s operational and functional departments. In particular, the Group ensures that:

• ■its strategy and operational goals are clearly communicated;
• ■optimal guidance is provided to assist everyone in their work, in particular by sharing Best Practices;
• ■its employees have the skills and resources they need to perform their work. To this end, the Human Resources Department in all countries where the Group operates has assessment, periodic monitoring and training procedures in place;
• ■processes are carefully controlled.

The Board of Directors’ Audit Committee oversees the internal control process. The process is then implemented by the Group’s Chief Executive Officer, the Group’s country General Managements, the Group’s operational and functional divisions and departments, and by its employees.

The Board of Directors’ Audit Committee oversees the effectiveness of the internal control and risk management systems and reports regularly on this work to the Board of Directors.

Its responsibilities are defined in the Internal Regulations of the Board of Directors and are described in Section 4.1.3.3.1 of this Universal Registration Document.

The Group’s Chief Executive Officer defines the principles underlying the internal control system and ensures its implementation, in particular through:

• ■the internal committees she has set up, which involve the Group’s main functional managers; and
• ■dialogue with the General Management in the countries where the Group operates.

The Group Risks, Ethics and Compliance Committee meets under the chairmanship of the Group’s Chief Executive Officer every two months and notably reviews and monitors:

• ■the Group’s most material risks and the process for updating its risk map;
• ■major Group disputes, which the Group Legal Department consolidates for all countries;
• ■the results of internal audits;
• ■implementation of compliance plans (primarily with respect to corruption and the GDPR) and preparation for any major legislative amendments; and
• ■statistics concerning complaints and alerts issued within the Group, in particular via the internal whistleblowing system.

The Group Finance Department is responsible for the quality and accuracy of the accounting and financial information produced by the Company and its subsidiaries. In order to optimise its work, the units within this department are divided into business lines:

• ■in every country, separate teams are responsible for the facilities’ accounting and management control;
• ■at Group level, the units comprise, in particular, the Treasury and Financing Department and the Financial Control Department, which includes the consolidation teams.

Within the Finance Department, the Group Tax Department notably monitors any changes to the applicable tax regulations and oversees the Group’s tax risks. Where necessary, it is supported by the local Tax Departments.

The Audit and Internal Control Department reports to the Group Finance Department and presents the results of its work to the General Management, the Group Risk, Ethics and Compliance Committee and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. It carries out the following duties:

• ■internal audit: implementing the audit plan approved by the Board of Directors’ Audit Committee and drafting of recommendations to improve risk management, compliance with internal control procedures, overall compliance and overall performance;
• ■internal control: drafting and updating internal control standards (including 175 key controls in 2022), as well as organising the demanding self-assessment campaign carried out within the Group; and
• ■risk management: coordinating the Group’s risk mapping exercise, which includes recording and assessing the major risks and the associated action plans, the governance in place for the “top risks” and the identification and qualification of opportunities.

Assisted by their local Finance Departments, the General Management in the countries where the Group operates are responsible for applying the Group’s procedures, supervising financial performance and approving the financial statement closing procedures for their respective subsidiaries.

The Finance Departments in the countries where the Group operates are responsible for verifying the accounting and management data in accordance with the Group’s instructions. They also prepare the statutory financial statements.

The heads of the departments ensure that the facilities comply with the regulatory obligations. This includes providing support in their relations with the supervisory authorities and monitoring the achievement of the contractual objectives defined with these authorities.

All countries where the Group operates have an Information Systems Department tasked with ensuring the security of the management tools and, as far as possible, the prevention of any malfunctions thereof, thereby ensuring business continuity. The work of these departments is coordinated at Group level.

The organisation of governance in the countries where the Group operates aims to replicate the organisation at Group level.

The Group is organised in such a way as to increase the speed and reliability of its procedures for producing financial information.

The Book of Rules is a document prepared for the members of Top Management and includes all the key rules, procedures and principles that apply within the Group. It is updated regularly. Each manager receiving the Book of Rules is responsible for its application and distribution within his or her team. The Group Legal Department and the Legal Departments of the countries ensure a uniform interpretation.

The Audit and Internal Control Department deploys and maintains a set of common internal control standards across the entire Group. These standards cover the main processes involved in particular in preparing accounting and financial information, as well as in preventing fraud and corruption.

Every year, a demanding self-assessment campaign is conducted with the functional departments of every country on the key controls described in these standards. The feedback obtained is used to assess whether the internal control procedures are adequate and effective within every subsidiary and, where appropriate, to define the action plans to be implemented. In 2022, these standards included 175 key controls on 12 processes. For the 2022/23 campaign, a documentary control system was implemented for 15 key control points concerning six processes in order to ensure the accuracy of the ratings of so-called “mature” countries in terms of internal control (France, Germany and Italy). This additional system made it possible to validate the accuracy of the returns with very slight adjustments (only seven adjustments of one degree out of the 45 points, mainly relating to the formalisation of controls and not their effectiveness).

The operational management control unit reports to the Finance Department of each country. Its role is to monitor the operational performance achieved by the facilities and support functions in respect of the targets assigned to them.

Every year, all of the facilities prepare a budget based on the guidelines laid down by the General Management and the Finance Department of each country. These budgets follow a common framework that takes into account the business model and the applicable regulations in the country concerned. Operational management control reviews the budgets and then consolidates them at the level of each country, for approval by the country’s General Management.

The Group’s Financial Control Department then examines and consolidates all budgets presented by the countries at Group level.

The budgeting process also includes an update during the course of the year with the production of three forecasts based on the financial information from the results to date, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of the financial forecasts.

Every month, operational management control prepares a report serving as a basis for management dialogue with Facility Directors and Regional Directors. This report is consolidated at the level of the Operations Departments in each country as well as that of the General Management in each country.

This report monitors key financial indicators such as revenue, occupancy rates, average accommodation rates, major expenditure items (including employee benefits expenses), trade receivables, cash flows and investments. Any deviations from the budget or forecast and any changes from the previous period are identified, analysed and explained. During a formal meeting by country, called the Business Review, the General Management, the Finance Department and the main functional departments of each country present this report to the Group’s General Management.

Simultaneously, the Group Financial Control Department produces a consolidated monthly report. The latter incorporates the management control information for each country into the Group information system. This report is also presented to the Group’s General Management every month, and corrective measures are taken if necessary.

The Group publishes half-yearly financial statements as at 30 June (consolidated) and annual financial statements as at 31 December (individual and consolidated), as well as quarterly revenue figures.

The Group Financial Control Department, which reports to the Group Finance Department, is responsible for preparing the consolidated financial information. Its duties include the following:

• ■distribution of accounting and financial principles in the form of a procedures manual, the Korian Reporting and Accounting Manual;
• ■preparation of precise instructions, including a detailed schedule, which are forwarded by the Group Financial Control Department to the subsidiaries before each consolidation exercise;
• ■sub-group consolidation;
• ■use of a single information system deployed in all the Group’s subsidiaries.

In addition, the consolidated subsidiaries prepare a letter of representation addressed to the Statutory Auditors, in which the Management of the consolidated subsidiaries confirm the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the financial information submitted for the purposes of the consolidation exercise.

Debt and cash management are overseen at Group level. The Chief Executive Officer submits a funding strategy to the Board of Directors’ Audit Committee and to the Board of Directors. New credit facilities may require the authorisation of the Board of Directors (depending on the governance rules applicable).

The Company’s available cash, whether stemming from these credit facilities or from the generation of positive cash flows, can be made available to its subsidiaries through current account or inter-company loan agreements, in particular to finance their development transactions. Foreign subsidiaries may occasionally take out local bilateral loans subject to prior approval by the Group Finance Department and/or the Board of Directors (depending on the applicable governance rules).

In addition, the Group has set up a centralised system for managing means of payment in the administrative headquarters of every country where it operates. Payments made by operational sites are consequently kept to a minimum.

Lastly, the Group has a daily cash pool arrangement with its main banks. The Group Finance Department monitors the monthly consolidated cash positions at country level.

All investment and divestment decisions are subject to the approval of an internal committee, either the International and Strategic M&A committee for any investments in a new country or above a certain threshold, or the Group Commitments and Investment Committee. The Group Chief Executive Officer, the Group Chief Financial Officer, the Group Chief Real Estate and Development Officer, the Group International Development Advisor, the Group Executive Vice President Business Development and New Countries, and the Group M&A and International Business Development Director are permanent members of these committees.

In addition, the Board of Directors’ Investment Committee is responsible for reviewing and issuing an opinion prior to the Board of Directors’ decision on significant investment or divestment transactions. (Further information is presented in Section 4.1.3.3.3 of this Universal Registration Document.)

An efficient IT organisation is essential to guarantee that all accounting and financial information published is relevant and reliable. To this end, the Group continues to implement mechanisms that safeguard its information systems.

To develop in line with the Group’s requirements, existing applications are regularly adapted or changes are made to applications. Such changes ensure that information flows are better and more securely managed.

Each country manages its operations and is responsible for their end results. In order to coordinate the ethics, medical and quality of service policies, the Group has set up a Medical, Ethics and Quality-of-Service Department, whose objectives include:

• defining the quality and operational risk management policy using ISO 9001 standards;
• defining guidelines for the Group-wide medical policy, in compliance with:
  • ■ethics,
  • ■good business practices, and
  • ■regulations in the Group’s countries.

This department is also responsible for supervising the quality management system implemented in each country, ensuring the harmonisation of practices, and managing and centralising the results of external or internal quality audits conducted within all of the Group’s facilities.

This supervision is based on the following committees, chaired by the Group Chief Medical, Ethics & Quality of Service Officer:

• ■a Group Quality Committee composed of quality managers from every country and a Group Medical Committee composed of medical representatives were created in 2017. These committees meet quarterly to assess the monitoring of the ethics, medical and quality of service policies, share best practices and thus improve Group and country procedures; and
• ■a Group Quality and Prevention Committee, which monitors the application of the Korian Standards and oversees preventive actions in terms of safety and security.

In addition to these committees, the Group Medical, Ethics and Quality of Service Department supervises all the national quality managers in each of the seven countries, in particular conducting monthly updates in order to review performance and manage ongoing projects.

In accordance with the health regulations applicable in the countries in which it operates, the Group defines a Serious Adverse Event (SAE) as being any internal or external event that is liable to:

• ■put a facility’s service continuity at risk;
• ■undermine the quality of care for residents or patients; and
• ■threaten the safety of employees.

In all countries where the Group operates, the Facility Director must report all SAEs to his or her supervisor, who will assess with the Facility Director the level at which the event should be handled. The SAE procedure includes various classification levels:

• SAEs involving the health of people;
• SAEs involving safety;
• SAEs involving the operation of facilities; and
• SAEs that pose a threat to the public and/or to the Company’s reputation.

Depending on the severity of the event and the level at which it is to be handled, a local, regional, national or Group-wide crisis unit may be set up, in accordance with the crisis management procedure.

The SAE procedure is a process for identifying and handling incidents but also for improving risk prevention. All adverse event reports are also added to a database that enables us to define any corrective actions that may be required. In addition, the Group performs a weekly consolidation and ranking of SAEs at Group level according to 14 criteria common to all countries.

This process is also defined in concert with the various supervisory authorities in order to ensure that the appropriate information is submitted (a description of the event itself and of the precautionary measures in place and/or envisaged), in accordance with the applicable regulations.

The Group has continued its efforts to:

• ■strengthen the consistency of its ethics approach;
• ■identify and prevent all levels of risk inherent to its activities; and
• ■improve the overall quality of its practices and services provided to residents and patients.

The Group’s Positive Care approach focuses on individual needs and expectations and aims to provide care to residents and patients under optimal quality and safety conditions. This approach is key to improving our processes and resolving any potential issues.

This policy is part of the Group’s desire to always show proper care and respect and thus improve risk control upstream through preventive action. The Board of Directors’ Ethics, Quality and CSR Committee oversees this policy. To ensure that the Group’s ethics principles are applied on a daily basis, a wide range of training courses have been set up.

The Quality Assurance Process is established across Europe by the Medical, Ethics and Quality of Service Department in cooperation with the Quality Departments in every country. The latter ensure that the Group’s quality policy and operational risk management procedures are implemented and followed, while factoring in any specific features of local regulations.

The Quality Assurance Process involves deploying a set of rules, policies, procedures and best practices, compiled together in quality manuals accessible to all of the Group’s facilities. In addition, in order to ensure the proper functioning of this system, independent internal and external teams conduct quality audits in all of the Group’s countries.

At the same time, prevention programmes are developed to address key issues:

• ■the prevention of epidemics;
• ■the use of medication;
• ■the safety of residents and patients;
• ■the risk of infection;
• ■well-being; and
• ■personal data protection.

These programmes are promoted and organised in ways that are tailored to each facility.

In addition, the launch of the ISO 9001 certification project across the entire Group is reflected in the implementation of a common standard at European level (the Korian Standard). This standard details the Group’s requirements that meet the ISO 9001 standard and which are set out, where applicable, in country quality manuals.

The aims of this approach are as follows:

• ■to standardise the quality of Korian services in all its countries and business units;
• ■to obtain certification for Korian’s network from an external organisation;
• ■to encourage and facilitate the sharing of Best Practices with a view to making improvements on an ongoing basis.

This project is an extension of the initiatives being undertaken in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, where facilities are certified in the third year following their integration at the latest.

The first facilities in France, Belgium and Germany were certified in 2021.

The entire network of long-term care nursing homes and healthcare facilities  (excluding mental health clinics) will be certified by the end of 2023 and within two years following the integration of each new facility.

Regarding mental health clinics, the Group conducted a review in 2021 for implementation between 2022 and 2024.

Further information on the quality approach is available in Chapter 3 of this Universal Registration Document.

The insurance policy is managed at Group level with the aim of ensuring homogeneous and consistent coverage of risks (in particular: the types of risks covered, the level of deductibles, the level of caps). The approach consists of aligning coverage limits with the replacement value of the insured property or, in the case of liability coverage, with an estimation of Group-specific risks and of reasonably foreseeable sector-specific risks. In order to reduce risk, the Group has also implemented a prevention policy.

The risk coverage programmes incorporate the specificities of local regulations while maintaining the Group’s desire for centralisation and global coverage. The insurance policies taken out under these programmes are placed with leading insurance companies.

In all the countries where it operates, the Group has taken out insurance policies, either through Group insurance programmes or through policies taken out locally, covering, among other things: 

• ■civil liability;
• ■the risk of property damage; and
• ■where applicable, operating losses and risks related to the vehicle fleet.

For the construction projects it carries out as project owner in France, the Group takes out policies covering structural damage, its liability as a property developer and comprehensive worksite liability.

The Group has also set up an insurance programme covering the liability of its corporate officers, executives and employees.

The social and societal nature of Korian’s mission means that the Company plays a special role in society. This rests on the heightened sense of responsibility felt by all members of the Company to meet the major challenges of an ageing population in Europe.

The Group’s societal role is at the heart of its mission to “Provide care and support to elderly or fragile people and their loved ones, respecting their dignity and contributing to their quality of life” and of its corporate project. It is manifest in each of Korian’s facilities in Europe, which are deeply rooted in their communities, aware and sensitive to the social and environmental realities of their countries. We are proud of our mission of serving the most fragile and elderly among us.

As an extension of these commitments, and in accordance with the mandate given by our shareholders at the General Meeting of 22 June 2022, we have become a European company and have engaged in dialogue with all our stakeholders in order to prepare for transition to the status of a purpose-driven company, which will be submitted to a vote by our shareholders at the General Meeting convened for 15 June 2023.

Korian’s ESG strategy was designed with consideration for its stakeholders’ expectations to identify priority social, societal and environmental challenges. In 2021, Korian updated its materiality matrix to identify and prioritise the expectations of its stakeholders, as well as the most relevant issues with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In discharging their mission of caring for elderly or fragile people, the Group’s facilities are in close contact with various categories of stakeholders: residents, patients, as well as their relatives and caregivers, employees and their representatives, healthcare professionals, joint authorities and other public and local authorities. At the level of facilities, regions, countries and the Group, Korian is strengthening and structuring its model of stakeholder dialogue.

As a result, Stakeholder Councils are now in place in five of the Group’s seven countries (France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy). The Group has also supported the creation of independent foundations in France, Germany and Spain, whose governance bodies include representatives of the main stakeholders.

• ➤A BROAD STAKEHOLDER ECOSYSTEM

This materiality exercise was updated in 2021 based on feedback collected from all stakeholders across the Group's network in Europe, after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Numerous discussion groups were organised in each of the Group’s countries. Nearly 2,000 people took part in these, including patients, residents, their relatives and families, Korian teams, trade union representatives, etc. As a second step, Korian analysed and classified this information, then supplemented it with the perceptions of investors and the media. Qualitative interviews were then conducted with the Group’s key managers, namely the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer, the members of the Group Management Board (including the country Directors) and the main functional departments of the Group.

This process helped to refine the mapping of Group stakeholders and identify priority objectives according to their ESG impact, as related to:

• ■Korian’s mission;
• ■ESG strategic pillars;
• ■non-financial risks.

A weighted assessment of priority issues was then carried out, mapped to both stakeholders' perceptions and Korian's.

This materiality matrix synthesises the five pillars of the Group's ESG strategy and the non-financial risk analysis (see below) to identify the areas Korian should prioritise in light of the expectations of its internal and external stakeholders.

This approach is an integral component of the business model presented in Chapter 1 of this Universal Registration Document.

In 2022, as part of the preparation for its transition to the status of a purpose-driven company, Korian also launched a consultation with its stakeholders to gather their opinions and expectations concerning the Company’s mission and main avenues for progress in achieving it (see details in Section 3.1.2).

Korian’s ESG strategy aims to improve the Group’s social and environmental impact by operating in accordance with its values and taking into account the expectations of its internal and external stakeholders.

The strategy is broken down into five strategic and operational pillars, stemming from our corporate project. This strategy is implemented operationally through action plans, investments and objectives at Group, country and facility levels.

The Group has established a roadmap focusing on 5 pillars and 15 quantified ESG commitments, which meet and are based on the main international non-financial reporting standards (such as those of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)). These indicators are used to measure the progress of ESG performance. The Group’s CSR Department monitors this matter in conjunction with the countries and functional departments. Indicators are subject to reporting during monthly business reviews.

They are presented to the financial community alongside the publication of annual results, at conferences and in individual meetings with investors, and notably SRI investors.(1)

A correspondence table cross-referencing the SASB Healthcare Delivery industry standard is provided at the end of Chapter 3.

The ESG commitments are incorporated into the annual targets of each business line, distributed throughout the management chain, and assimilated in the long-term performance action plans for Top Management.(2)

The following criteria were included in the variable compensation of Top Management in 2022:

• ■The Net Promoter Score (NPS), measured through customer satisfaction surveys;
• ■A composite HR indicator: stabilisation of average tenure reduction in the frequency rate of work accidents with stoppage and 10% of the workforce enrolled in a qualifying training programme;
• ■Reduction in carbon emissions per sq. metre due to buildings' energy consumption versus 2019.

In 2023, the non-financial criteria will be strengthened with an increased weighting in variable compensation. Five criteria are included in the objectives of Top Management:

• Continuous improvement of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), demonstrating Korian’s quality of service;
• Improvement in workplace quality-of-life, as measured by a “composite” HR indicator;
• The increase in the number of ISO 9001-certified facilities, in line with the 2023 roadmap, which aims for 100% ISO 9001-certified facilities by the end of 2023;
• The reduction in the energy consumption of our facilities, new objective in 2023;
• The quality of care, as measured by a composite indicator (for managers), new objective in 2023.

2023-2025 performance share plan

In 2022, the weight of the ESG indicators in the long-term variable compensation awarded to the Chief Executive Officer and Top Management was increased to 50% of the performance conditions. Furthermore, an additional indicator has been added for 2023.

The 2023 performance share plan includes the following three criteria: the reduction of carbon emissions, the percentage of women members of country management committees and within Top Management, and a composite indicator on the quality of care.

Korian’s ESG priorities are fully integrated in the Company’s financial strategy. A committee comprising representatives of the Finance and CSR departments meets monthly to measure the progress made in this area.

In June 2020, Korian became the first company in the sector to carry out a private bond placement (Sustainability Linked Euro PP) of €173 million, based entirely on non-financial performance criteria and with a maturity of eight years. An additional issue (tap) of €57 million was completed on 6 October 2020, bringing the total amount of the bond series to €230 million.

As a new milestone in the roll-out of the Group’s ESG strategy, this private offering was structured around 3 of the 15 main ESG commitments for 2023. This has strengthened investor confidence in the Group’s ambition and its non-financial objectives:

• ■as regards quality: achieve ISO 9001 certification for all facilities;
• ■as regards employees: double the proportion of staff members participating in qualifying training programmes to reach 8%;
• ■as regards society: reduce direct and indirect CO2 emissions.

Depending on the extent to which each of these targets are met, the interest rate on the bonds may be increased or reduced by up to 20 basis points. If the interest rate increases, half of the increase will be allocated to internal compensatory measures and/or paid to one or more external partners (such as associations or NGOs), the other half being paid to investors.

An independent body, tasked with reviewing the non-financial performance statement, verifies the achievement of the above commitments every year.

• ➤Achievement of the ESG objectives for 2022

In 2021, Korian announced the success of two issues:

• ■a non-convertible green hybrid bond in the amount of £230 million, the purpose of which is to finance the modernisation, acquisition or development of real estate assets, mainly in the United Kingdom. The report on this financing was published on 15 June 2022 on the Korian website on the Sustainable Finance page (https://www.korian.com/en/sustainable-finance), accompanied by the certificate of partial allocation of funds provided by our auditors;
• ■a social bond in the amount of €300 million, based on social criteria, the proceeds of which will be used to finance the growing need for care in Europe, in medico-social and healthcare facilities, as well as in co-living residences or home care services provided by Petits-Fils. The report on this financing was published on 14 October 2022 on the Korian website on the Sustainable Finance page (https://www.korian.com/en/sustainable-finance), accompanied by the certificate of total allocation of funds provided by our auditors.

In order to meet the growth in healthcare needs over the next two decades, as well as the structural challenges of the healthcare sector (persistent effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, crisis of confidence, shortage of healthcare professionals, weakening of the economic model due to the rise in inflation and interest rates), we decided in 2022 to initiate a profound transformation of our Group and its corporate project.

As one of our major goals is to strengthen the confidence of our stakeholders, this transformation will be grounded in our transition to being a purpose-driven company, as announced at the General Meeting held in June 2022, which we will submit to a vote at the General Meeting in June 2023.

Through this transformation, the Group wants to:

• ■redefine a shared mission that has become broader than its historical activity;
• ■secure, through their inclusion in the Company’s Articles of Association, a corporate purpose and social and environmental objectives that frame our societal commitment;
• ■strengthen the inclusion and participation of all our stakeholders in fulfilling our mission.

Launched in March 2022, the preparation of our transition to becoming a purpose-driven company has begun and is following the following stages:

• ■March to May 2022: mobilisation of Top Management and preparation of consultations;
• ■June to November 2022: consultation with all stakeholders;
• ■October to December 2022: summary and prioritisation of needs and expectations;
• ■November to February 2023:
  • ■drafting of our corporate purpose and social and environmental objectives;
  • ■identification of operational objectives and initiatives in line with our mission;
  • ■creation of the Mission Committee in anticipation of adoption;
• ■February to June 2023:
  • ■preparation of a first roadmap detailing the implementation plans and indicators for operational initiatives in line with our social and environmental objectives;
  • ■familiarisation of the Mission Committee with the Company and preparation of the first committee meeting, to be held on 6 July 2023;
  • ■15 June: General Meeting at which we will propose our transition to being a pupose-driven company;
• ■Second half of 2023:
  • ■first meetings of the Mission Committee and assessment of the means allocated to the strategy established to serve the social and environmental objectives;
  • ■transitional phase between the 2019-2023 CSR roadmap and the preparation of the new CSR roadmap, incorporating the new orientations of the mission-led company, and taking effect in 2024.

In June 2022, we launched a vast consultation to understand, on the one hand, what the expectations and priorities of our stakeholders are and, on the other hand, the specific contribution that our Group can make given its history, values and expertise.

More than 1,500 people, representing residents, families, patients, employees and their representatives, as well as public authorities and the investment community took part in this exercise through workshops, interviews, surveys, question-and-answer sessions or dedicated meetings at governance bodies or stakeholder councils.

To this was added the written contributions of 14,000 employees across Europe, collected during the annual employee engagement survey, which was carried out in November 2022.

This consultation enabled us to identify for each stakeholder group the essential elements on which to build a renewed mission.

Residents, patients, families, prescribers and associations have asked us in particular to place people at the centre of all our concerns, to take care of our employees as a priority (in terms of training, motivation but also support) so that they in turn can take care of their loved ones and nurture a relationship of trust through transparent communication and greater proximity.

For their part, employees and their representative bodies expressed the desire to improve the quality and further personalise the care of those entrusted to them. They also stressed the importance of training as a driver of quality and employability, and the need for the Company to help them when they experience complicated personal situations. Local authorities expect the Group to contribute to direct and indirect employment in their regions, as well as professional development of employees, in order to increase employability in their regions. They wish to see us communicate even more clearly and transparently on our economic model, on the use of public money and the sharing of value and, lastly, to involve our facilities and employees more closely in the fabric of their regions.

Lastly, the investor community recognised the consistency and continuity of the transition to being a purpose-driven company with the CSR commitments already made. Furthermore, investors insisted on the attention that must be paid to the operational and pragmatic implementation of the commitments, associated with clear objectives and indicators, and monitored by a fully committed Mission Committee representing the diversity of stakeholders.

On the strength of all these contributions, our Group was able to articulate the new mission that it will propose, at the General Meeting of 15 June 2023, to include in its Articles of Association, which will be filed with the Commercial Court.

This mission is based on a purpose:

The wording of our new purpose: “Take care of each person’s humanity in times of vulnerability”

and five social and environmental objectives, consistent with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 

• show respect and consideration to every individual for whom we care and their loved ones, as well as every one of our employees and stakeholders while also fighting all forms of discrimination;
• develop a fair and sustainable business operating model that benefits our patients, residents and their families, our employees and other stakeholders for all our business lines and investment decisions;
• encourage and enhance innovation to help better prevent illnesses, increase the effectiveness of treatments and enhance the quality of life and satisfaction of patients, residents, families, employees and other stakeholders;
• harness our geographic footprint and diverse network of facilities to improve access to care, build a resilient local ecosystem and contribute to economic momentum in the regions in which we operate;
• protect our communities’ life environment through the adaptation of our processes and behaviours to fight climate change and preserve biodiversity.

As part of its risk management process, Korian analysed its major risks to identify those which have a social, societal or environmental dimension likely to affect the Group, its activities, performance or stakeholders, or the environment. The methodology for identifying risks, their description and the associated management systems are described in Chapter 2 of this Universal Registration Document.

The table below summarises the primary non-financial risks identified within the framework of the Group risk assessment, the policies and actions implemented and the key performance indicators (KPIs).

To develop and implement its ESG development strategy, the Group has set up dedicated governance.

• ■Board of Directors assisted by the Ethics, Quality & CSR Committee: design of the ESG strategy and monitoring of its execution.
• ■Group Management Board: execution of the ESG strategy and monitoring of the actions carried out in each of the pillars by the Chief Brand and Engagement Officer with support of a dedicated CSR Department.
• ■Group CSR Department: steering of sustainable development actions hand in hand with the Human Resources, Quality, Real Estate, Purchasing, Operations and Investor Relations functional departments as well as with the network of country ambassadors. Coordination of the monthly Group ESG Steering Committee and mobilisation of all levels of the Group, in particular facilities that maintain close relationships with local stakeholders.
• ■Network of CSR Ambassadors appointed in all Group countries: deployment of the ESG strategy and monitoring of the achievement of objectives, while sharing best practices between countries.

The Group’s ESG strategy is also nourished by the work and opinions of bodies that are linked to its external stakeholders:

• ■Korian Stakeholder Councils, which are being deployed gradually throughout the Group, as in France (since September 2019), the Netherlands and Belgium, and meet regularly;
• ■Korian Foundation for Ageing Well in France (created in September 2017) and the Korian Foundation for Care and Ageing Well in Germany (created in February 2020).

The Board of Directors’ Audit Committee is also responsible for monitoring the Vigilance Plan (Section 3.7 of this Universal Registration Document).

“Our primary responsibility is to ensure excellence in care while respecting the dignity and freedom of choice of fragile people and their loved ones, while promoting the strengthening or maintenance of autonomy. This involves a philosophy of care built around the person and his or her needs, respectful of his or her expectations. This is the meaning of the Positive Care approach:

• ■we guide the people receiving care and caregivers towards the care solution that suits them;
• ■we are gradually developing a diversified range of services and support in local communities;
• ■we are implementing a Customer Care Charter in our network, which formalises the Group’s values, mission and commitments to its residents and patients;
• ■the autonomy of our residents and patients is supported by our Positive Care approach, which values the capabilities and desires of residents and patients, and includes a range of non-drug therapies. All of the Group’s facilities are gradually being equipped with Positive Care equipment and trained in their use, with the aim of covering 100% of medico-social facilities by the end of 2023;
• ■the quality of all our facilities will be guaranteed by the ISO 9001 quality standard (objective of 100% of facilities certified by 2023; first step of 15% certified facilities by the end of 2021, 50% by end 2022 and 100% by the end of 2023). The “360° quality” vision will be supplemented by the integration of quality initiatives and measures for residents, patients, families and employees according to a common approach guaranteeing operational excellence;
• ■we aim for mediation systems to be offered in each of the countries where we operate, in addition to the systems for identifying and processing complaints, to settle disputes that may arise in our facilities with the people we receive in an ethical manner and by favouring dialogue and listening.”

The quality of care and services is at the heart of our “In Caring Hands” corporate project, which emphasises respect for people, their dignity and their wishes within our facilities.

Korian has developed a dedicated therapeutic approach for its residents, in particular those suffering from dementia (neurodegenerative diseases). This approach focuses on the development and maintenance of autonomy, while taking into account the resident’s expectations and desires. This approach differs from care mainly based on drug treatment, which is not adapted to this type of pathology.

Positive Care, developed by the Group, is based on non-drug therapies, which aim to maintain and stimulate the residents’ physical, motor and cognitive capacities, according to their state of health. By preserving residents’ capacities, Positive Care aims to optimise their quality of life and well-being, by enabling them to express their wishes and make their own choices.

In practical terms, each resident undergoes a clinical assessment during his or her first 90 days, in order to determine his or her capacities and needs. At the end of this assessment, an individualised non-drug therapy plan is established, which takes into account the resident’s interests and life history and specifies the cognitive, functional and behavioural exercises adapted to the maintenance of his or her capacities.

This individualised therapeutic strategy is based on experience and clinical evidence. By training the brain one can compensate for some of the lost capacity related to ageing. Positive Care relies on and encourages natural brain plasticity to prevent and treat fragility and psycho-behavioural disorders related to brain ageing.

This scientific approach is based on numerous studies on residual brain plasticity, including:

• ■research by Prof Gerald Maurice Edelman, an American biologist and the 1972 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, who demonstrated the fundamental role of residual brain plasticity in adaptive behaviour;
• ■research by Prof Matthew D Lieberman, Professor of Neuroscience and Director of Social Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), whose approach encourages social distractions to induce engagement and learning, and to capitalise on untapped neurocognitive resources.

Since 2015, Korian’s Medical, Ethics and Quality-of-Service Department has formalised the Positive Care approach in order to define and translate it operationally. This work has enabled:

• ■the design of non-drug therapies together with their integration, exclusion and assessment criteria on the one hand, and the associated protocols (therapeutic sequences and frequency) on the other;
• ■the consolidation of available therapies in the form of a tree diagram;
• ■assessment of the contribution of each business line to this therapeutic project led by multidisciplinary teams.

The European Positive Care Committee, which brings together the healthcare teams of the countries where the Group operates, has also set out the operational tools required to deploy the Positive Care approach and to support the teams in its implementation, across the Group’s European network, namely:

• ■a set of non-drug therapies tailored to national preferences and skills and by selecting only therapies that have been the subject of scientific publications;
• ■a set of training courses related to these therapies to enable both the appropriation of the therapeutic objectives and proper use of the tools made available;
• ■a basic methodology that promotes the resident-centred approach and the understanding of the challenges of the pathology (Hoffman method, Montessori method, Böhm method, etc.).

Deployment is monitored at Group level, in conjunction with the Positive Care Officers in each country.

This implementation is an integral part of the Group’s ESG strategy and objectives, with the aim of deploying Positive Care in all long-term care nursing homes by the end of 2023.

At the end of 2022, Positive Care non-drug therapy equipment, and the associated training courses, had been rolled out in 97% of the Group’s specialised nursing homes.(3)

The Group’s Positive Care approach – initially focused on non-drug therapies – is being redefined more broadly to include the living conditions, the layout of spaces, the organisation of facilities and the training of teams, in order to individualise the care of residents as much as possible, and more particularly of those suffering from dementia, in accordance with their desires and their needs. This re-definition also aims to extend the Positive Care approach to all of the Group’s activities.

Improving support and care through these multiple dimensions is a co-construction project carried out at Group level, with a dedicated European Committee and a quarterly Operational Monitoring Committee, which coordinate and implement the joint work carried out by monthly thematic working groups.

Our mission, of serving elderly or fragile people, requires that we live up to the daily expectations of people who entrust their health and well-being to us. Whatever the occupation of our employees, their professional conduct must, therefore, be reflected in actions carried out with ethics, integrity and transparency, embodying the corporate project and culture.

Our Ethics Charter presents our three values – trust, initiative and responsibility – and breaks them down into both expected and desired attitudes within the Group, as well as attitudes to be avoided.

The Charter also makes the link with the Group’s specific internal procedures and thematic charters (in particular the Responsible Purchasing Charter and the IT Charter). It can be consulted on the Group’s and its subsidiaries’ institutional websites as well as on the Group’s internal networks.

In order to ensure its operational deployment throughout the network, a Values Ambassadors Committee is active at Group level. Every year, this committee organises a “values” week or month, which is an important event for the Company.

Meanwhile, a number of dedicated tools and materials have been created.

For new recruits:

• ■the Ethics Charter is mentioned in employees’ employment contracts. All new employees receive a summary document entitled “Our Values and Ethical Commitments”, which also presents the various whistleblowing channels available. This document is co-signed by the new recruit and his or her manager;
• ■a virtual presentation of our values is viewed during onboarding.

For teams:

• ■a “Let’s Talk Values” card game has been developed around practical cases and the ethical dilemmas they raise, in order to discuss them as a team.

For managers:

• ■the “Eval Ethics” platform will be launched in 2023 to enable managers to self-assess on ethics and to be confronted with practical cases, which will be regularly updated;
• ■during the “s.Keys” training module, Facility Directors drew up a Management Charter which describes the managerial attitudes stemming from the Group’s values;
• ■an e-learning course on our values and our Ethics Charter was also rolled out in 2022.

For all employees:

• ■videos and a specific graphic identity have been created. All content is made available to each country on the intranet and to each facility via posters and a QR code;
• ■a leaflet on our values and the associated attitudes, as well as questions to ask in case of a dilemma, has been developed.

Ethics benefits from a dedicated governance which is organised as follows:

At Group level:

• ■Board of Directors assisted by the Ethics, Quality & CSR Committee: design of the ethics strategy and monitoring of its execution;
• ■Group Risk, Ethics and Compliance Committee, which meets every two months: execution of the ethics strategy and monitoring of actions carried out by the Medical, Ethics and Quality-of-Service Department;
• ■Monthly Values Steering Committee with country ambassadors: coordination of the Group’s network of value ambassadors.

At country level:

At the facility level, the Korian Foundation conducted a research project in 2021 on local ethical reflection spaces (Espaces de réflexion éthique de proximité – EREP) in medico-social facilities in France. The purpose of this project was to draft two specifications: one for the Group, another for external players wishing to use it.

Based on feedback from more than a hundred Group facilities and on existing practices, two committees, comprising a wide range of expertise – ethics and quality, geriatric physicians, a philosopher-ethicist, a forward-looking specialist, a psychologist, a writer, Presidents of the France Alzheimer and Old’Up associations, healthcare executives, etc. – defined the notion of “ethical spaces.“ An ethical space is not limited to a meeting or a committee but is an open space set up according to the needs of each facility. The specifications aimed at providing facilities with tools for the deployment of personalised systems, adapted to their respective contexts and operations, were presented in June 2022.

Korian’s goal is to reach operational excellence combining resident and patient satisfaction and service quality.

The Company’s Quality strategy is led by the Group Quality Department, within the Medical, Ethics and Quality-of-Service Department, and is coordinated by a European Quality Committee.

The Group Quality Management System (QMS) is characterised by a systemic and rigorous approach to quality, based on the human and daily attention that makes the difference. It ensures that the needs of residents and patients are properly considered and that all possible improvements are implemented. It structures, harmonises, controls, prevents risks and guides the entire Company in a process of continuous improvement, in accordance with the applicable regulations. The four pillars of the QMS are the definition of guidelines (in the Korian Standard), risk management, internal controls and operational coordination of the quality strategy.

The implementation of the QMS takes place at three levels for maximum impact:

• ■facility: via strong operational support;
• ■country: via a dedicated team, which is in charge of tailoring the Group’s quality strategy to regulatory requirements and national specificities and manages implementation of the Korian Standard within the country;
• ■Group: via a Quality Department, whose mission is to align all the Group’s countries around the Korian Standard, which brings together both the basic principles and the components of the QMS.

A series of internal and external controls measure the compliance and alignment of practices with Korian requirements, including:

• ■self-checks;
• ■360° audits (see below);
• ■ISO 9001 certification audits;
• ■measuring customer satisfaction via the KSatisfaction barometer and KWelcome transactional analyses (see Section 3.2.3.2 of this Universal Registration Document);
• ■the Group Internal Audit Department controls compliance and verifies the performance of the system.

In parallel, the supervisory authorities regularly audit the Group’s facilities. Korian therefore continually ensures that the assessments carried out internally are aligned with the expectations of the supervisory authorities.

Every year, a process review is led by the Group Quality Department, in particular in order to integrate the innovations implemented within the Group, as well as feedback from stakeholders.

The context of strong growth and diversification of activities, coupled with an accelerated international expansion, in a highly regulated sector that varies from country to country and sometimes from region to region, has increased the need to share best practices, harmonise, and adopt a common language within the Group.

Since 2019, the Group Quality Department has launched an ISO 9001 certification project to structure, strengthen and promote quality as a marker of the Group’s identity. Korian aims for ISO 9001 certification of all its long-term care nursing homes and healthcare facilities by 2023, thus extending the momentum already present in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Korian is the first company in the sector to have undertaken this approach, incorporated into its ESG objectives, for all its activities.

ISO 9001 certification was chosen because it places the resident, the patient and their relatives at the heart of the Group’s concerns. It is fully adapted to the organisation and diversity of the Group’s activities. In addition, it is internationally recognised and enables facilities to be compared by external auditors.

Work to define, harmonise and formalise processes has been carried out by the Group Quality Department. This work has made it possible to draft the Korian Standard, including the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard, which are fully customised to the Group’s activities and organisation, in addition to the Group’s requirements. The Korian Standard consists of a section common to the entire Company and a section dedicated to each activity. Its application is mandatory.

As of 31 December 2022, 67.7% of the Group’s facilities(4) were ISO 9001 certified. This certification is issued by independent certification bodies on the basis of external audits. For all of the Group’s countries (excluding the United Kingdom), the ISO 9001 certification audits represented more than 206 audit man-days by the certifying bodies in 2022.

Every facility must regularly carry out a self-assessment. In addition, every facility is subject to a 360° audit at least once every two years.

These 360° audits aim to:

• ■check that the facility’s operations comply with the regulatory requirements and the Korian Standard;
• ■assess the assimilation of procedures, by verifying that all procedures are established, known, understood and applied within the facility;
• ■monitor the implementation of a continuous practice of detecting and correcting malfunctions (deployment of quality monitoring);
• ■ensure that the expectations expressed by residents, patients and their relatives are taken into account;
• ■consolidate best practices, identify areas for improvement and facilitate the exchange of best practices within the network.

Korian carries out these 360° audits in order to verify the correct appropriation and application of the Group’s standards and to support the teams in the identification and implementation of preventive or corrective actions according to:

• ■the level of risk identified;
• ■strategic ambitions;
• ■the expectations of residents, patients or their loved ones.

Following these assessments, the facilities are rated according to four levels, from A to D.

In 2022, 482 360° audits were carried out in the Group’s seven countries.

As of 31 December 2022, 74% of the Group’s audited facilities were at level A or B.

For facilities classified C or D, the Group requires a follow-up audit to verify that the issues raised during the first audit have been resolved. 

The Group’s Internal Audit Department systematically includes Quality Management System control points in its annual reviews and contributes, through its recommendations, to the continuous improvement of the processes implemented.

In 2022, joint work by the Group’s Quality and Internal Audit Departments was carried out to:

• ■ensure that a common approach – aligned with the requirements and terminology of the ISO 9001 certification – be adopted by these two departments in the conduct of internal audits;
• ■capitalise on the respective expertise in the conduct and coordination of the internal audits carried out by each of these two departments.
•  

Korian subcontracts certain specific controls to external organisations, for example on food safety.

Public authorities supervise healthcare and medico-social facilities. For example, in France, all Korian healthcare facilities are certified by the French National Authority for Health (Haute Autorité de Santé – HAS), which awarded a level A or B certification (with suggestions for improvement) to 100% of the facilities, and a level A certification (with zero breaches or recommendations) to 71% of the facilities. In Germany, the medical service of the Health Insurance Authority (Medizinischer Dienst der Krankenversicherung – MDK) carries out similar audits. 98% of the long-term care nursing homes audited by the MDK received a level A or B assessment.

These audits assess, for example, medical procedures, monitoring procedures, the quality of files and the participation of user representatives. They are sponsored by the public authorities and supervisory bodies.

Korian regularly monitors the satisfaction of residents, patients and their relatives as regards the services provided.

For the facility, the aim is to obtain a detailed analysis of the level of satisfaction of residents, patients and families with the services offered, to identify the strengths and main areas for improvement, to help prioritise improvement projects, and efficiently meet expectations.

For the Group, the measurement and monitoring of the level of satisfaction of residents, patients and their relatives over time make it possible to identify areas for improvement across the network and to detect best practices to be shared.

The analysis and consideration of results contribute to a culture of continuous improvement.

A system for recording the satisfaction of residents, patients and their families, called “KSatisfaction” has been rolled out in each of the countries where the Group operates.

Barometers adapted to each activity, the local context and the profile of residents and patients have been developed, while maintaining a common basis for the Group on the measurement of overall satisfaction (average satisfaction score out of 10), the assessment of consideration(5) and the measurement of recommendation (via the Net Promoter Score – NPS(6)). The Group also has an online reporting and transcript analysis tool.

In 2022, Spain (excluding healthcare facilities) and the United Kingdom were added to the scope of this survey. A pilot study was also launched for the home care business.

The survey is conducted once a year within the medico-social network, among families and residents for long-term care nursing homes and among residents for assisted living facilities.

Surveys for short stays in long-term care nursing homes are carried out on an ongoing basis, as for healthcare facilities. Surveys are also conducted continuously, at the time of patient discharge.

The topics covered by the barometers are as follows:

For the medico-social network:

• ■the facility’s environment;
• ■catering;
• ■medical follow-up;
• ■social life;
• ■reception and communication;
• ■accommodation;
• ■the Covid-19 pandemic.

For healthcare facilities:

• ■reception and information;
• ■medical support and monitoring;
• ■accommodation;
• ■living conditions;
• ■catering;
• ■the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2022, almost 79,000 people responded to the Group’s satisfaction surveys, with a return rate for families of 54% for specialised nursing homes. Overall, results improved over the year, slightly up in all areas compared to 2021. In 2022, the Group’s average satisfaction score was 8/10 for the activities in the specialised nursing homes and assisted living facilities (short and long stays) and in the clinics. This satisfaction rating is driven by the satisfaction expressed with the attitude of the staff, with in particular a very strong recognition of the kindness of the teams. The areas for improvement highlighted by respondents are staff availability and, to a lesser extent, greater frequency and diversity of the activities offered to independent residents or patients.

The Group’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) for these same activities was 36 in 2022. Compared to 2021, the NPS increased in all countries except Belgium.

It should be noted that there is no weighting applied when calculating the results and each response has the same weight.

Starting in 2022, the Group has also set up – on a pilot basis in three countries – a survey dedicated to the analysis of the reception of our residents upon their arrival at the facility, which is a key step in the resident’s experience. This study, named KWelcome, is carried out continuously among families and residents at the end of the first six weeks spent in a long-term care nursing home. The survey is associated with an automated alert management system, in order to be able to quickly address reasons for dissatisfaction. KWelcome is being extended to other countries.

As catering is a major satisfaction criterion, it represents a very high expectation of residents and patients. Serving nearly 80 million meals per year in Europe, Korian has made quality catering a priority. The menus are approved by qualified dieticians, in accordance with recommended nutritional intakes. The new recipes are tested by residents and the development of the menus takes their feedback into account. The Group is attentive to ensuring that meals are appreciated, as this allows for better nutrition.

In Italy, a tool has been rolled out allowing residents and their relatives to choose the meals and place orders for ingredients accordingly. This system makes it possible to personalise the menus and ensure that the right proportions are ordered and cooked, which also reduces food waste.

The Group’s Customer Care Charter was defined in 2021 during European workshops and discussions with each country. It reflects the Group’s values, mission and commitments to its residents and patients – particularly in terms of communication, respect for each person, and special attention paid to their lifestyle choices and the preservation of their autonomy – as well as the Group’s expectations of visitors to its facilities. The Customer Care Charter was translated and rolled out in each facility in 2022.

Korian has set up an organisation in every country to detect, process and respond to complaints. To this end, a common European framework, formalised by a Group procedure, has been defined on the basis of workshops aiming at:

• ■identifying all complaints;
• ■ensuring that all complaints are monitored and addressed;
• ■promoting the implementation of action plans to reduce the number of complaints and improve customer satisfaction.

The reporting has also been harmonised to:

• ■optimise management;
• ■support analysis at all levels of the Company;
• ■identify areas for improvement at Group level.

In addition, the Group has set itself the ESG target of deploying mediation systems in each of its various countries of operation by the end of 2023. This objective is part of an increase in mediation Europewide and is in line with the development of European standards. The mediation system is independent, impartial, confidential and neutral.

The goals of mediation are as follows:

• ■to understand and appease difficult relationship situations;
• ■to express the various points of view and solve problems in a humane and equitable manner;
• ■to restore a relationship of trust that is useful for the well-being of all.

In practice, the Group establishes mediation systems as a way of settling disputes that might arise with people it receives at its facilities. Such mediation is conducted in an ethical manner that promotes dialogue and listening, in line with its corporate project “In Caring Hands.” Mediation is a voluntary and personal process, which offers the parties to a dispute an opportunity to reach a voluntary agreement aimed at facilitating their present and future relations.

Mediation systems, financed by Korian and free of charge for its customers, are offered by Korian’s facilities in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. These systems comply with the regulatory framework of each country, the European Code of Ethics and Conduct and the Korian Customer Care Charter. Naturally, they offer the requisite guarantees of independence and confidentiality.

Data protection, cybersecurity, the monitoring and analysis of Serious Adverse Events and the crisis management procedure are essential to ensure the safety and continuity of care.

Due to its core business, which consists of supporting elderly or fragile people, respect for medical confidentiality and, more broadly, privacy, as well as personal data protection are major challenges for the Group. All countries where the Group operates are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Since 2017, audits have been carried out in all Group countries to assess the maturity of the pre-existing compliance programme with the new GDPR, in order to define priority action plans. These action plans resulted in the compliance programme described below.

The dedicated compliance programme consists of guidelines issued at Group level to cover all GDPR topics and ensure consistent application in the various countries where the Group operates. Their implementation in every country is supported by multidisciplinary teams (Data Protection Officer, internal audit and control, legal, IT security, information systems).

The topics covered are as follows:

• ■appointment, duties and responsibilities of the Data Protection Officer;
• ■procedures for preparing the processing register;
• ■information and consent notices;
• ■rules on data retention periods;
• ■security measures;
• ■impact assessments;
• ■standard contractual clauses;
• ■procedures for responding to personal data requests;
• ■procedures to be followed in the event of a data breach.

These guidelines are recalled and put into perspective in all the awareness-raising actions carried out, through face-to-face training or e-learning, in each country. The main points relating to the GDPR have also been incorporated into the Korian Standard, which includes the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard tailored to our activities and our organisation, in addition to the Group’s requirements.

Governance dedicated to managing and monitoring the GDPR has been put in place:

• ■a Data Protection Officer (DPO) has been appointed at Group level, as well as in all of the Group’s countries of operation;
• ■the network of DPOs in each country is led by the Group DPO to discuss projects involving the processing of personal data, such as satisfaction surveys, Group HR tools or training, and projects on cross-functional topics, such as retention periods, to ensure their compliance;
• ■within each country, the country DPO leads committees with representatives of the key functions: medical and operations, human resources, marketing and innovative solutions, which meet regularly to discuss the progress of the compliance programmes, as well as any new projects involving compliance or adaptation of existing documentation;
• ■the review of risks inherent to the GDPR is carried out by a dedicated committee in each country, as well as at Group level on a bimonthly basis.

Since the entry into force of the GDPR, audits have been carried out regularly by the DPO within the facilities and specific control points have been added to the quality audits carried out by the Quality Departments in each country.

Internal GDPR audits make it possible to verify the proper application of the compliance programme in the countries, as well as audits on cybersecurity, are also included in the audit plan of the Group Audit and Internal Control Department. In terms of cybersecurity, prevention and awareness-raising campaigns on phishing are conducted annually, covering a large share of the active email addresses.

A Serious Adverse Event (SAE) is defined as an event (accident, incident or dysfunction) or a situation whose consequences could have been, are, or could become significantly harmful to customers, professionals, visitors, movable or immovable property, the reputation or to any other asset or interest of the Group. 

When a Serious Adverse Event occurs in a facility, it is subject to:

• ■the implementation of immediate actions;
• ■an internal declaration via the system in place in each country;
• ■a declaration to the competent authorities according to local regulations;
• ■an analysis of the root causes which may be accompanied by the implementation of additional actions (preventive or curative).

In 2022, the frequency of serious adverse events (SAEs) relating to the health, safety and security of residents and patients was 0.47 per 10,000 days. Using the same methodology, the frequency was 0.43 for 2021.

The results remain relatively stable across the two years.

At the national level, the compilation of all these events is regularly reviewed by incident committees. The purpose of these committees is to monitor sensitive issues, define and validate appropriate action plans and coordinate actions between departments.

A progress report is regularly shared between the countries and the Group on the most sensitive situations and events. This exchange also aims to analyse major trends and take into account global phenomena.

In order to prevent the occurrence of these adverse events, awareness-raising and prevention campaigns are being rolled out, at the initiative of the Group, around several major themes, such as the proper use of drugs, patient safety, hygiene, prevention of the risk of infection, and good treatment. These campaigns are rolled out and supplemented by each country.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, then in 2022 to the crisis that followed the publication of Les Fossoyeurs, a book on a major operator in the sector, Korian has strengthened its crisis management culture, based on feedback and information sharing, anticipation and adaptation.

The Group has a crisis management procedure, supplemented, if necessary, by each country.

At the same time, the Group is continuing its preparation by organising crisis exercises (on the theme of cybersecurity in 2022), and drafting business continuity plans, such as that dedicated to the risk of electrical load-shedding in France during the winter of 2022-2023.

“Be the employer of choice” is a priority for Korian. Aware of our societal responsibility and contribution, we constantly strive to ensure the physical and mental health, well-being and career development of the Group’s 59,311(7) employees (82% women, 58% in the care business lines). Taking care of our employees is a managerial commitment and a pledge of quality for the services we provide on a daily basis.

With this in mind, the Group has built an ambitious and responsible social foundation, based on trust, initiative and responsibility, the values that drive us.

Through constructive, regular and ongoing dialogue using internal listening tools and engagement surveys, this social foundation aims to:

• ■contribute to continuous improvement of the employee experience;
• ■establish a work framework that is safe, healthy and conducive to quality care; and
• ■promote professional fulfilment and career development for all.

This foundation makes it possible to consistently implement the following tangible commitments:

• ■commitment 4: maintain as a minimum, or increase the average tenure of employees;
• ■commitment 5: invest in qualifying training programmes to enable 10% of employees to join a qualifying training programme;
• ■commitment 6: increase the number of women among Top management to reach a ratio of 50%.

Korian’s human resources policy, based on the Company’s values – trust, initiative and responsibility – is at the heart of the corporate project “In Caring Hands”, dedicated to the service sector for elderly or fragile people and those with loss of autonomy for whom the quality of care and support provided is essential.

The growth of Korian’s activities requires the ability to attract and develop a wide variety of talent across different professions, in particular caregivers, nurses, doctors, cooks, as well as job roles related to the personal services activities Korian offers (home caregivers for elderly people, care providers, reception staff, etc.).

However, despite the increasing jobs created in the sector, the number of long-term care nursing home workers in relation to the number of people over the age of 65 has stagnated in recent years and the number of people enrolled in caregiver training has remained flat. All the countries where the Group operates are facing a shortage of healthcare workers, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and various other European statistical sources, the shortage of caregivers is estimated to reach hundreds of thousands of caregivers per year by 2030.

Developing the attractiveness and appreciation of professions related to elderly and fragile people is, therefore, an essential priority for Korian, to ensure it is able to guarantee excellence and continuity of care for residents and patients.

This attractiveness and appreciation require:

• ■the implementation of an ambitious social foundation for candidates and employees who hold or will occupy these roles, in terms of working conditions, health at work or quality of life at work, and also opportunities for training, to develop their skills and move towards more qualified and better paid positions.
• This social foundation is made possible and supported by a high-quality managerial culture that safeguards the Group’s values and is based on a managerial model driven by our Facility Directors and their teams, the cornerstones of the network;
• ■anticipating the recruitment and skills development needs for our activities. This requires social innovations to secure and expand our external and internal talent base;
• ■an organisation that allows everyone to have a real capacity for action with residents and patients, but also with communities and local stakeholders, in order to support business growth in all the regions where the Group operates.

To meet these various challenges in a context of strong growth, scarcity and volatility of resources, Korian’s Human Resources policy is organised around three priority strategic areas:

• engaging Korian employees around an ambitious social foundation;
• developing skills and talents to ensure quality of care;
• being a committed and responsible social player.

Korian’s human resources policy is based on the Company’s values: trust, initiative and responsibility. These values form a unifying foundation and are the essence of our corporate culture.

To anchor these values in the Company’s social fabric and day-to-day actions, they have been integrated into all of the Group’s HR processes. Since 2019, the annual appraisal and professional development interviews for managers include the prism of values in the assessment of the objectives achieved and situations experienced during the year. In 2021, methodical work was carried out to integrate these values into the onboarding and recruitment processes in all Korian countries. At the same time, the Group’s values-based Ethics Charter is included in the hiring process: each new employee must sign Korian’s ethics commitments.

In line with the Group’s values, the Human Resources Department has formulated an employer promise that aims to ensure the proper integration, development and support of each employee throughout their professional life within our facilities. Taking care of those who take care and creating the conditions of trust and fulfilment at work are absolute priorities. In fact, the quality of care is first and foremost the result of the daily commitment of Korian’s employees.

To promote monitoring and ensure compliance of all facilities with these commitments, they have been incorporated into the Korian Standard, and are therefore part of the ISO 9001 certification.

The Group has received the “Top Employer in 2023” distinction for its four main countries: Germany, France, Belgium and Italy, which together account for 94% of the Group’s workforce.

This distinction was obtained following audits carried out by Top Employer Institute, an independent international body that certifies excellence in HR practices in terms of working conditions. These audits are very comprehensive and cover 400 HR practices divided into six main areas (Steering, Organising, Attracting, Developing, Engaging and Bringing together). A total of 20 themes are addressed, including talent management strategy, work environment, talent acquisition, training and skills development, well-being at work, and diversity and inclusion. A minimum score of 60% is required to be eligible for the Top Employer certification.

In Germany, Korian obtained its third certification, with an overall score of more than 75% and, in particular, better ratings in the training, attracting, developing and engaging commitment categories.

In France, Korian was certified for the second time and this year obtained an overall score of nearly 75%. Results progressed in all six main areas of HR practices.

In Belgium and Italy, Korian was certified Top Employer for the first time, with overall scores of more than 65%.

Alongside its policy of providing high-quality care to its residents and patients, Korian makes preservation of the physical and psychological integrity of each employee a priority. This is all the more crucial given that the medico-social and health sector generally experiences a high number of accidents in Europe. The Group is committed to reducing the number of workplace accidents thanks to its policy of quality and continuous improvement. The aim is not only to forestall accidents and occupational illnesses, but also to establish a true culture of health and safety at work in every country.

The Group's commitment is summarised in an Occupational Health and Safety Charter, signed in 2019 by the Group Management Board, which is available in all countries.

The action principles of this charter include:

• ■spreading a culture of health and safety at work throughout the Group;
• ■promoting working conditions conducive to employee health;
• ■empowering employees to manage their own health at the Company;
• ■regularly assessing occupational risks;
• ■promoting job retention.

The adoption of the charter was followed by the signing of an agreement on health and safety at work negotiated with the trade unions in France in May 2021, and at the European level in November 2021 (“Health and safety protocol on the reduction of workplace accidents”).

Considered a true indicator of performance and social responsibility, the prevention, health and safety at work policy is fully integrated into the human resources policy and rolled out via the operational and managerial lines.

To guarantee its consistent implementation in all Korian facilities in Europe, the prevention, health and safety at work policy is included in the Korian quality management standard and is part of the ISO 9001 certification.

The results in terms of health and safety are closely monitored every month by the Group’s various governance bodies, i.e., the Group Management Board and its Risks, Ethics and Compliance Committee, as well as during business reviews by the Management Committees in every country. They are also shared with the employee representative bodies in each country, as well as at the level of the European Company Works Council (ECWC). A committee to monitor implementation of the health and safety protocol signed with the ECWC meets twice a year.

In all of the Group’s countries, processes for managing risks related to health and safety at work are put in place, in accordance with the laws of each country, and also proactively with employee representatives, occupational health, maintenance and safety teams. All of the Group’s countries have tools and committees dedicated to monitoring and analysing the reasons for workplace accidents, in order to implement prevention measures. The Group’s occupational health and safety policy is coordinated with all countries to implement best practices for monitoring and analysis and to ensure the effective implementation of the Group’s policy. Each country has a frequency rate reduction target. These frequency rates and the analysis of the types of occupational accidents are now included in the monthly Business Reviews of each country and are reviewed on this occasion.

The table below shows the frequency and severity of workplace accidents. We have observed a decrease in the frequency rate(8) within the Group, which amounted to 41 in 2022 compared to 48 in 2021. In parallel with this decrease in the frequency rate, the severity rate(9) also improved to 1.54 in 2022 at Group level (compared to 1.97 in 2021).

This decrease is mainly due to actions taken following the Health and Safety at Work Agreement signed in 2021 by all the representative trade unions to improve the process of reporting and accounting for workplace accidents. However, these indicators remain too high, and have increased slightly in other geographical areas (excluding Italy), mainly due to cyclical absenteeism related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Group has set itself the goal of significantly reducing the number of workplace accidents by setting targets and monitoring the measures deployed and the progress made.

Since 2022, the results in terms of health and safety are included as criteria in the variable portion of compensation of Top Management within the composite HR indicator.

• ➤Frequency and severity of workplace accidents by country

(Excluding the United Kingdom)

With the aim of continuously improving the health and safety conditions for its employees, in November 2021 Korian’s Management and the members of the European Works Council (EWC) adopted a European protocol on health and safety at work, aimed at reducing the risk of workplace accidents. This protocol is the result of joint discussions and more than a year of work within the EWC’s Health and Safety working group. This is the first time that such a protocol has been signed in the sector.

The protocol is based on the Group’s Health and Safety at Work Charter and includes 25 measures intended to raise the Group’s standards in all countries. Each of the measures refers to an existing best practice in a country, which was the subject of a detailed presentation at the meetings of the EWC’s Health and Safety working group.

Among the measures, Korian is committed to appointing health and safety officers at all facilities within three years. The measure is based on the definition of the mission of the Health and Safety Officer in France, as defined in the France agreement, which serves as a reference.

Another commitment concerns the definition of targets for the reduction of workplace accidents at the level of each country, combined with the implementation of action plans.

A joint monitoring committee has been set up and will meet every six months to monitor the progress of the approach. Results will also be monitored every two months by the Group’s Risk, Ethics and Compliance Committee as well as in the monthly performance reviews carried out in each country.

In 2022, a roadmap to deploy the 25 commitments of the Protocol was designed jointly with the countries, deployed and shared on a common digital platform, which also makes it possible to monitor the actions and achievement of targets. The monitoring of the roadmap is presented at each joint committee.

First “Occupational Health and Occupational Risk Prevention” agreement in the sector in France

In 2021, Korian France worked with the social partners to negotiate and sign the first Company agreement on “Occupational Health and Occupational Risk Prevention” in the private healthcare and medico-social sector.

This agreement, signed unanimously by the social partners in May 2021, commits the parties for four years and covers four major areas:

• ■understanding on the part of all internal and external players of their roles and interactions;
• ■prevention of physical risks;
• ■prevention of psychosocial risks;
• ■prevention of the risk of incapacity and professional exclusion.

Methodical deployment of an occupational health policy in consultation with the teams in the field

In order to allow for better appropriation of the terms of the agreement by Facility Directors, and taking into account challenges related to the implementation of a real risk prevention management system, Korian wanted to adopt a method that involves local and regional management, enabling everyone to be an agent of change. An operational roadmap for the deployment of the agreement in the field was drawn up by the operational staff and professionals concerned.

After carrying out a test phase on 20 facilities in France, the roadmap has been rolled out to all facilities since December 2021 and is monitored facility by facility by means of a dedicated web application highlighting the concrete actions carried out.

This approach, called “Five Steps” facilitates coordination and management by the regional departments, the operations departments and the France Management Committee.

Among the main points of the agreement

• ■Korian is committed to ensuring that each facility’s Management Committee holds regular discussions with local representatives called the Occupational Health and Safety Steering Committee (OHS Steering Committee) to address accident issues and associated indicators, participate in the update of the professional risk assessment document, and, lastly, develop operational action plans.
• ■In addition, Occupational Health Officers are appointed in the facilities to increase the visibility of the health and safety at work policy. Their mission is to raise awareness and advise employees on the prevention of occupational risks. To this end, they must follow the dedicated SMS training (Sanitaire Medico Social, formerly HAPA), certified by the French National Institute for Research and Security (Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité – INRS) and delivered by the Korian Academy.
• ■To reduce the risks related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), 100% of Facility Health Officers will be trained in Housing and Care for Elderly (Hébergement et accueil des personnes âgées – HAPA). In addition to the certification of Health Officers, they have a handbook, composed of reflex sheets aimed at raising employees’ awareness of recurring work situations that can generate MSDs.
• ■In partnership with the Purchasing Department and the Occupational Health Unit, a list of equipment reducing the risk of accidents is being carried out.

Korian pays particular attention to the assessment of occupational risks and the prevention of psychosocial risks in all the countries where it operates. This issue is all the more important in the care professions, where the mental burden of assignments relating to the support of elderly can be substantial. In addition, the health context related to the Covid-19 pandemic may have worsened these disorders.

The employee satisfaction survey, Kommunity Pulse, carried out in April-May 2021, confirmed the need to strengthen the psychological support for teams in a particularly troubled period for all.

It is in this context that the social working group of the European Works Council chose to negotiate a text addressing this subject. The prevention of psychosocial risks is one of Korian’s commitments, thus reinforced in the “Joint declaration on social commitment and the reduction of absenteeism.” It includes a commitment to conduct diagnostics on the psychosocial risks in all countries.

In Germany, sites have been identified as “pilot” sites for these diagnostics. Analyses are underway, in which management and employee representatives participate.

In France, one area of the health and safety agreement signed with the social partners in 2021 is dedicated to the prevention of psychosocial risks. A diagnostic has therefore been launched with 25 facilities. Face-to-face workshops are organised for the teams. An action plan will be developed in 2023.

In Belgium, in collaboration with occupational medicine, specific programmes dedicated to stress management (meditation, breathing, yoga, etc.) have been rolled out in all facilities. “Trusted persons” are appointed at each site and are attentive to the problems encountered by employees.

In France, the Stimulus help line, accessible 24/7, anonymous and confidential, is available to all employees. It allows them to communicate, be supported and take a step back from the difficulties they are experiencing or witnessing.

Whenever a serious incident or event occurs at a facility, this help line may be supplemented with the organisation of support groups. Such groups are co-facilitated by a Korian psychologist and a social worker trained specifically in this technique.

Korian strives to uphold the values of availability, attentiveness, and closeness to give its employees all the support they need, every day.

In France, a Social Assistance Unit offers employees a confidential, impartial place to obtain information, advice, and guidance, regardless of the problem at hand:

• ■social or family issues: pregnancy, birth, death, separation, domestic violence, caring for a family member losing their autonomy, etc.;
• ■financial worries: help with managing a budget, consumer debt, contacting creditors, etc.;
• ■health problems: sick leave, disability, part-time work on health grounds, incapacity, impairment, etc.;
• ■career status: retirement, promotion or transfer, job retention, etc.;
• ■housing assistance: request for social housing, loan, back-rent, preventing eviction, etc.;
• ■access to rights: family allowance fund (CAF), social security, administrative situation, etc.;
• ■preparation of informational materials: guides for parents and carer fact sheets.

In 2022, the social service in France initiated nearly 2,250 contacts and carried out nearly 230 long-term follow-ups.

In 2022, a transnational working group composed of country human resources managers worked on the development of a country standard for social and psychological support for employees.

In addition to helping with better stress management through training, relaxation tools, assistance with personal development and self-management, the standard aims to make a crisis line available in all countries, similar to the existing line in France operated in partnership with Stimulus. The second component concerns the implementation of a complete service offer that meets the needs and situations encountered: coaching for managers, discussion groups or on-site supervision (as set up by the Korian Academy in Germany), mediation (as deployed in France), referral to expert associations in the event of domestic violence, for example, call on the solidarity fund in the event of an emergency such as a flood or fire.

In Belgium, the PETRA solidarity fund was created in 2020 and is financed by the Company to help families or employees affected by life tragedies who are in an emergency situation. In 2022, the monies granted by this fund concerned medical expenses, aid following the death of a loved one or damage caused to the home by fires or weather, as well as humanitarian support. A new organisation of the fund was established in 2022, with regional ambassadors. This structure also makes it possible to organise activities in facilities, which unites teams together around a cause, in order to raise funds.

• ➤Absenteeism rate by country (permanent workforce)

(Excluding the United Kingdom)

Absenteeism covers several forms of absence: workplace accidents, commuting accidents, simple sick leave and occupational illnesses. The causes are therefore multiple and multifaceted.

In 2022, the absenteeism rate remained stable overall, but at a high level. This rate can have a destabilising effect on the work organisation and day-to-day care services in facilities.

At the European level, a dedicated working group was set up in 2021 in collaboration with the European Works Council to study the reasons and propose areas for improvement.

As a socially responsible company, which is concerned about the physical, mental and social well-being of its teams, and in accordance with the Group’s Values, Korian wished to involve the social partners of the European Works Council in the process of reducing absenteeism.

As part of the social working group set up in 2020, a text was negotiated and signed committing the Korian group to intensify its actions to improve the quality of management and the working environment in all countries, to initiate discussions on the organisation of work in all countries as part of the social dialogue, and to deploy actions to detect psychosocial risks and to support employees through the implementation of a comprehensive range of services and training in the event of stressful situations.

In line with its work on the reduction of workplace accidents and the signature in November 2021 of the Health and Safety Protocol, Korian Management and the European Works Council signed, in November 2022, the “Joint declaration on social commitment and reduction of absenteeism”. Absenteeism data and action plans will be monitored by a joint monitoring committee of the European Works Council and then the European Company Works Council, which will meet twice a year.

Offering career development opportunities for employees makes it possible to retain know-how in-house. Offering new perspectives to employees who want to take a new direction in their careers is also part of our social responsibility. Championing internal promotion is therefore a win-win contract for all stakeholders.

Training is an essential component of Korian’s employer promise. It facilitates the professional transition through specific training courses leading to qualifications, and serves as a vehicle for supporting employees throughout their professional lives. It also serves to attract future Korian employees through initial training.

Led by our training organisation, the Korian Academy, and its network of academies across Europe, the qualifying training programme is a springboard for those who wish to develop professionally. It is also one of the keys to meeting the challenges of recruitment through internal mobility. In 2022, more than one in ten Korian employees was enrolled in a qualifying professional development programme.

All Korian employees in Europe participate in an annual assessment and professional development interview, either via the “TalentsK” platform or on paper. These interviews are a privileged moment of dialogue, which allows an open and constructive exchange about their tasks and the achievement of their individual objectives. It is also a major channel for professional development, by taking into account the professional expectations and aspirations of each employee, by allowing each employee to discuss his or her training and professional development wishes, as well as his or her career development and internal mobility aspirations, whether functional or geographical. In 2022, nearly 7,000 people conducted their annual interview using the shared digital tool.

Talent management is in place via Career Committees to pinpoint the Group’s high-potential employees and emerging talents. The Career Committees also make it possible to propose development plans for high-potential employees, to prepare them for their next positions with defined and personalised qualifying training programmes.

Every year, Career Committees are organised in a structured manner in consultation with all Group countries. This bottom-up process, led by the Human Resources function, begins with local reviews by country followed by consolidation at Group level, which makes it possible to prepare replacement and succession plans to anticipate significant changes in the Company’s key positions.

The occupations at Korian are unlike any other job; they are demanding, profoundly human and marked by powerful values that are based on a strong sense of commitment.

Korian pays particular attention to the well-being and quality of life at work of its teams. In particular, Korian focuses on strengthening the “Korian social contract” and values. Well-being at work, work-life balance, professional equality and respect for diversity, both in terms of compensation and work organisation: all these measures are part of the “social contract” and contribute to creating a healthy and pleasant working environment that promotes the development and commitment of employees.

Work-life balance is an issue for the health and well-being of our employees, and also for the attractiveness of our business lines. This is all the more important in view of the human dimension of care for the elderly.

The gender equality index for 2022 at the level of the Korian French Economic and Social Unit (ESU) was published on 1 March 2023, in accordance with the law. This index, complying with Law No. 2018-771 on the freedom to choose one’s professional future of 5 September 2018 and applicable to companies in France with over 50 employees, is based on the assessment of five indicators to measure where the Company stands in the area of professional equality.

The results obtained on these indicators are as follows:

• elimination of gender pay gaps: 38 points;
• equal chance of getting a raise for women and men: 20 points;
• equal chance of being promoted for women and men: 15 points;
• all salaried staff receiving a raise on their return from maternity leave: 15 points;
• gender parity among the 10 highest paid employees: 5 points.

Out of 100 points in total, in 2022 Korian achieved a score of 93 as in 2021. This is an excellent result, up 5 points compared to the previous index. Korian will continue its actions to improve this score, which will be reassessed every year.

The Korian Women’s Club was created in 2019 to promote diversity within the Company and discuss best practices for the recognition and promotion of women.

The Korian Women’s Club is chaired by Mrs Catia Piantoni, former Director of Operations of Korian Italy, with the support of the Group’s Chief Executive Officer. This club operates as a network of women leaders in all countries. To this end, committees have been set up in every country. The Club’s two priorities for action are the promotion of women’s leadership and combating violence against women. For example, the Women’s Club of Korian Italy has worked to reserve priority places for women who are victims of domestic violence in the new classes of apprentice caregivers launched in Italy in December 2021.

The network currently brings together more than 100 women leaders and managers, on a voluntary basis and has been open to men since 2022.

After launching a survey in 2021 on the obstacles to gender diversity within the Group among senior executives and then among all managers, the Korian Women’s Club worked on solutions in 2022 and set up working groups by country by theme: work-life balance issues, gender stereotypes of women leadership and self-censorship.

In 2022, for the second year, the Korian Women’s Club launched and managed the "Orange The World“ campaign within the Group, in partnership with UN Women France and the OneInThree collective (Fondation Agir Contre l’Exclusion).

The diversity of its teams, their career paths and their experiences constitutes Korian’s social and human capital. The Group is committed to leading by example in terms of inclusion and fostering an inclusive working environment that enables employees to reach their full potential.

Diversity and inclusion are essential aspects of how we operate and are an integral part of our values. Korian guarantees an inclusive environment, respectful of all forms of diversity, and is committed to the implementation of training and awareness-raising campaigns for managers and teams.

Korian Germany has been a signatory of a diversity Charter since 2019. In Belgium, in early 2020, Korian launched a specific programme dedicated to diversity in the Brussels region, in partnership with the regional organisation, Actiris, in charge of employment policy. This programme consisted in the implementation of diversity management training for Facility Managers and an analysis of the recruitment process in order to ensure objective treatment. Korian was awarded the Diversity Label for its initiatives carried out during these two years. A new action plan was developed as part of a joint working group and will be implemented over the 2023-2025 period. It covers four areas: selection and recruitment, personnel management, awareness-raising and internal communication, and external positioning.

In France, Korian has, since 2018, been a signatory, of the “Autre Cercle” Charter to promote the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In 2022, Korian resigned the charter alongside other major groups, in order to reaffirm its commitment and step up its actions. An e-learning training module has been created and will be recirculated to everyone. Internal awareness-raising through the promotion of role models will be organised. In addition, Korian has an internal Neutrality Officer in charge of providing assistance, if necessary, on issues related to ethnicity and the management of religious issues.

In the United Kingdom, a project on neurodiversity was launched in 2022 with the help of an external firm, with the aim of making Korian a neuroinclusive organisation able to attract, recruit and retain neurodiverse talent. This initiative aims to develop an inclusive and quality working environment for employees with all types of abilities. Some known forms of neurodiversity are, for example, autism, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, dyscalculia, etc.

During the first phase of the project, all HR policies were audited, as were practices and ways of working; a questionnaire was also distributed to employees and more than 100 individual interviews were conducted with employees. This first step made it possible to establish that 10% of employees were diagnosed with some form of neurodiversity and that, in addition, 20% identify as neurodiverse. 40% of employees also have a family member who is neurodiverse. These results demonstrate that neurodiversity is a major topic in the daily lives of employees, reinforcing the importance for Korian of becoming a neuroinclusive company.

At the end of 2022, the Group had 2,306 employees with a disability, or 5% of the Group’s permanent FTE workforce. Integrating people with disabilities is not just about recruiting; it is part of an overall approach toward employee integration, professional development and retention. Korian France stands out for the significant proportion (60%) of disabled people among Korian apprentices at the Apprenticeship Training Centre for Chefs” (Centre de formation des apprentis – CFA) set up in 2020 alongside the Accor, Accor Invest, Sodexo and Adecco groups.

In 2020, Korian renewed its agreement on the employment of disabled workers with its labour partners in France. As part of this agreement, in 2022 Korian organised several awareness-raising and communication operations: webinar for Facility Directors and local representatives, webinars for Disability Officers, and a communication campaign on mental disability as part of the Week for the Employment of People with Disabilities.

In 2022, 104 recruitments were made and 170 new disability situations were declared. A total of 30 apprentice caregivers and cooks were hired.

Korian partners with several vocational rehabilitation centres and works to include interns with a disability as part of their certification programmes. Job dating is organised every year to meet potential candidates.

Seven training sessions were organised for managers to better integrate disability into their daily role as managers. More than 80 Disability Officers were trained during the year.

In Italy, there are regional agreements for the employment of disabled workers. In Spain, at least 2% of our staff are employees with disabilities, in accordance with applicable legislation.

The Korian compensation scheme is a key element in deploying the Company’s strategy. It addresses several challenges:

• attracting and retaining talented employees;
• offering them a stake in the Company’s growth;
• guaranteeing competitive compensation levels;
• ensuring fair compensation.

The compensation policies aim to promote individual commitment and collective performance. The priorities of this compensation package are to offer employees an attractive overall compensation, which recognises their skills and professional commitment, particularly in a context of high competition and a shortage of healthcare workers.

The compensation system is therefore supported by the commitments made to employees included in the Company’s social contract (signing bonus, tutoring bonus, compensation scales at or above the local market). These are part of a global approach of transparency and employee recognition, that includes compensation components and social benefits.

The compensation package in every country consists of a base salary based on the local market and collectively negotiated pay scales in each country, variable compensation for certain managerial staff (modalities vary according to the country and the function), and social benefits consistent with national laws and practices.

In all countries where the Group operates, gender equality systems and objectives are applied.

Korian ensures that salary increases and compensation related to a promotion are evenly distributed in proportion to the Company’s women and men. The “equity ratios”, i.e., the difference between the average or median compensation of employees and those of the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the Board of Directors are also disclosed as part of the compensation report in Section 4.2.2.3 of this Universal Registration Document.

In all countries, the compensation scheme is adapted to local situations (tension on the labour market or local regulations on the refinancing of health expenditure). It is reviewed regularly with labour partners.

In France, the compensation mechanism is supplemented by an employee savings scheme pegged to specific Group objectives.

In 2022, Korian offered its employees in the French ESU, and in all the countries where Korian operates, an employee share ownership plan.

This employee share ownership plan, called Korus 2022, enabled employees to indirectly become shareholders of the Group under preferential conditions, a matching contribution from Korian corresponding to 100% of the amount invested, up to a gross limit of €200, and a guarantee protecting the initial investment. By increasing the share of employees in its capital, Korian wishes to associate them more closely with the results of the transformation and innovation projects carried by the Group over the long term. Nearly 15% of all eligible employees took part in the offer, i.e., more than 9,250 employees. In France and Italy, the operation garnered strong support, with a subscription rate of nearly 25% in each country.

At Korian, each employee is recognised as having a role in the corporate project, and this system helps to enhance their commitment to serving elderly or fragile people, and to strengthen their sense of belonging.

Social dialogue is a core component of the Korian Human Resources approach. Because of the diversity of the teams, the Group’s multiple geographic regions, and the nature of our jobs and the conditions under which we perform them, it is imperative that we maintain an ongoing, substantive social dialogue based on:

• ■the Group’s values;
• ■listening to and supporting teams;
• ■mutual respect;
• ■the quest for pragmatic solutions as close as possible to the field.

Social dialogue takes place at four levels within our Group: European, national, regional and local.

At the European level, in 2022 Korian continued an active social dialogue, in accordance with and beyond the terms of the agreement, signed in 2019, establishing the European Works Council, holding two ordinary plenary meetings and two extraordinary plenary meetings, four Bureau meetings, five working group meetings and two plenary training meetings.

To involve them in the Company’s ESG strategy, the representatives of the European Works Council received one day of awareness training on environmental issues, through an event led by the association “La Fresque du Climat”, and were encouraged to reflect with the CSR Department on Korian’s action priorities and the role of social dialogue.

The representatives also received specific training on the Korus employee share ownership plan before its launch.

Information on the economic, social and financial situation are regularly provided during plenary and Bureau meetings, with the systematic participation of the Group’s Directors and in particular its Chief Executive Officer.

European social dialogue has been conducted for three years:

• ■on the issue of absenteeism and the improvement of the Korian social contract thanks to the meetings of the social working group:
  • ■the meetings of this working group led to the adoption by a majority of the European Works Council of the Joint declaration on social commitment and the reduction of absenteeism (see chapter Absenteeism);
• ■on occupational health and safety:
  • ■several meetings of the dedicated health and safety working group were held, bringing together representatives from all countries and all trade unions, and led to the adoption in 2021 of the European protocol on health and safety.

In addition, as part of the project to transform Korian’s legal status from a public limited company to a European company, adopted by the General Meeting of 22 June 2022, a special negotiation group was set up to arrive at an agreement on employee involvement in the European company.

The representatives of the negotiation group were trained by the Training Institute of the European Trade Union Confederation, then assisted during the negotiations by the European Federation of Public Services. After six negotiation meetings, the agreement relating to the establishment of the Korian SE European Works Council was adopted and signed by all members of the special negotiation group and Korian’s management.

At the European sectoral level, Korian is continuing discussions with European social dialogue players, such as the UNI Care trade union federation, and more specifically the European Federation of Public Services, which is the expert previously appointed to the EWC and now to the European Company Works Council; this in order to jointly seek answers to the challenges of the healthcare sector in Europe through a continuous and strengthened dialogue.

In 2020, Korian also joined the international Global Deal initiative, co-led by the OECD and the International Labour Organization (ILO) and supported in France by the Ministry of Labour, which brings together large companies, trade union federations and institutions, with the aim of promoting international social dialogue.

In 2022, the European Health and Safety Protocol signed by Korian and the European Works Council was highlighted in the Global Deal report and presented at the Global Forum in November in Madrid.

In addition, having participated in 2021 in the work of the Global Deal on the prevention of domestic violence, in 2022 Korian contributed to the study commissioned by the ILO on the policies implemented by certain French companies to address the domestic violence of which employees may be victims.

In all the countries where it operates, the Group promotes open, quality labour relations supported by management and attentive to employee representatives at every level of the company. Its actions in this area adhere strictly to applicable laws and take a proactive stance to further strengthen the Korian social contract. It is further worth noting that 100% of employees are covered by a social dialogue system or collective agreement (excluding the United Kingdom).

In 2020, Germany set up its first central coordination body to harmonise working conditions at the national level.

Seventeen company agreements signed at the European level and in the Group’s various countries cover Korian’s employees on topics such as compensation, health, safety, participation and profit-sharing (in France), and working conditions.

In France, social dialogue goes well beyond legal and regulatory requirements. The elected representatives represent 6% of permanent employees, for a total of 1,256 elected representatives.

The social dialogue agreement signed in 2019 made it possible to set up 896 local representatives, 22 trade union representatives and 2 central trade union representatives per representative trade union organisation, who each have 60 hours of delegation per month. The agreement will be renegotiated in 2023.

In addition to the Central Social and Economic Committee, there are seven Social and Economic Committees in France: four within the long-term care nursing homes business, two within the healthcare facilities business and one for the head office and management scope.

A national seminar on social dialogue bringing together Regional Directors and union representatives is organised every year.

Since 2021, the Group employee satisfaction survey, Kommunity Pulse, is carried out once a year. The survey concerns all Korian employees. Korian is committed to listening to its staff and has conducted internal surveys at the European level since 2015.

Recurring questions are asked to measure job satisfaction, commitment, motivation and the rate employees would recommend Korian to people looking for a job or a service for an elderly person close to them (Net Promoter Score).

Conducted in November 2022 in partnership with IPSOS, the Kommunity Pulse survey revealed an employee commitment rate, that remains high at 78%, up by three points compared to 2019. Employees are 84% satisfied with their work, which is eight points higher than the benchmark established by IPSOS.

These results give rise to a detailed analysis at Group, country, regional and facility level to identify and understand points of satisfaction and improvement as fully as possible. The results are communicated to all Department and Regional Directors and then to the Facility Directors who share the results with their teams.

The expectations expressed in 2021 concerned visibility on professional development paths and psychological support in the event of stress.

To answer the first expectation, a vast project to overhaul the training offer was launched with the aim of simplifying access to training and qualifying training programmes, resulting in an increase in these offerings which today concern one in ten employees.

As regards the second expectation, working groups have been set up in the countries and at Group level, and have led to the development of a country standard to deliver psychological support suited to the needs of employees (see Section 3.3.2.2).

Scores concerning work-life balance and health and safety in the workplace were slightly down in the Pulse 2022 survey compared to Pulse 2021 and require special attention.

The analysis of the quantitative results and the transcribed statements by each Facility Director inspired initiatives adapted to these expectations, sometimes with an immediate effect on the working atmosphere such as the celebration of birthdays, informal meetings around coffee or snacks, and refurbishment of break rooms.

The Pulse 2022 survey revealed the need to work on our employer image, in a context where the sector for services to elderly people was severely affected during 2022.

The care sector in Europe has a massive need for personnel. These needs are linked to overall demographic changes, to the tension on the labour market – aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic health crisis – and to the fact that these professions require State diplomas, the number of which is regulated. Government-approved training institutes do not have sufficient available capacity and are not numerous enough to train the number of staff required in the medium term.

According to the OECD, recruitments of nurses and caregivers in Western Europe are estimated at 1.2 million by 2025: 720,000 positions will need to be filled to replace existing staff and 480,000 new jobs must be created to meet increasing demand for care, given the ageing of the population. However, existing training systems can cover only 60% of needs, leading to a deficit of around 100,000 caregivers per year by 2025. This assessment does not take into account new home care needs. The imbalance is all the more worrying as the growth in care and support services for elderly or fragile people will undoubtedly be strong over the coming years.

In light of this, Korian is moving to prepare for this shift in the sector, relying on its professional communities to develop the skills required for its current activities, and also to anticipate and develop skills related to its new activities.

Belonging to a profession and capitalising on the expertise of a strong professional community one’s professional community to develop and perform one’s job better are one of the eight commitments to our employees. The Group is gradually setting up professional and learning communities in every country where it operates.

Each professional learning community aims to:

• reflect on changes to their jobs and the new skills that will be required for each profession;
• describe the qualifying training programmes specific to each occupation;
• identify the resulting training needs;
• work closely with schools and the training ecosystem in connection with these occupations;
• promote best practices specific to each profession to help improve the skillset of employees who belong to them.

In 2019, the Group defined four main sectors (care, operations, services, support functions) which encompass 30 key professions. This professional reference framework also serves as the foundation for the information system for employee and career development, called “Talent K.”

In 2022, the focus was on four major professional communities: Facility Directors, with the three-year “s.Keys – Skills for share” training programme; nurses, who already benefit from nursing committees in every country; caregivers; and chefs and kitchen staff, who work, particularly in France, as a professional community to coordinate best practices.

In 2022, four business-line committees set up in collaboration with the Korian Academies launched a reflection on skills. The objective of the approach is to move from a traditional approach to providing training to a skills-based approach in order to be able to support employees more effectively. A common skills matrix has been adopted, anchored in the Group’s values. This matrix, divided into hard skills and soft skills, provides a framework while leaving room for the Group's countries to express their specificities.

Training as a vector of attractiveness, development and retention for employees and future employees is one of the Group’s strategic priorities. It is fundamental to ensuring the quality of care and meeting the evolving needs of our activities. At Korian, it focuses on:

• ■attracting and training external populations to join Korian;
• ■training Korian employees to develop their careers within the Company.

To this end, the Group has implemented a training policy, supported by the Korian academies, which mobilises Korian employees and future employees in four ways:

• ■the initial training path: to enable the people concerned to join Korian via training courses leading to qualifications, and in particular apprenticeships to promote the professional integration of young people;
• ■the continuous professional training path: to cultivate internal talent pools and mobilise internal recruitment. The objective is to retain employees by giving them the opportunity to pursue their careers within the Group via continuous professional training;
• ■the validation of acquired experience path: to enable employees to pursue professional development leading to qualifications, while remaining employed;
• ■the professional career conversion retraining path: to diversify the Group’s recruitment channels, focusing on social innovation by recruiting differently and in innovative ways.

Qualifying training is one of the pillars of Korian’s ESG commitment, with a target raised to 10% of the workforce enrolled in a qualifying training programme by 2023. This makes it possible to meet recruitment challenges through internal mobility and social promotion, while addressing the increasing requirements of residents and families regarding quality of care and satisfaction.

In 2022, 6,808 Korian employees in Europe were involved in a qualifying training programme, i.e., 11.8% of FTEs, a significant increase compared to 2021 (9.7%) and almost three times as many as in 2019 (4%).

The training courses run by the Korian Academy are numerous and diverse. A large portion are dedicated to the care professions, but hospitality and catering are also featured.

Korian is supported by the Korian Academies, which are the Group’s training organisations in each country. The Korian Academies work with internal and external educational partners to develop employee skills and meet the growing and constantly evolving needs of the care and service professions.

Every year, the Korian Academies offer a large number of training and development paths based on business needs. These pathways cover all of Korian’s business lines and are intended for all employees at all levels of the organisation. In 2022, 40,476 employees completed at least one training course and 716,429 hours of training were completed in all.

The Group continues to strengthen the role of the Korian Academies (internal training organisations) in order to support the Company’s operational challenges. As a result, the mission of the academies was broadened and enhanced in 2021, thanks to a major project involving the Human Resources and training teams, for implementation in 2022. The Korian Academy teams have been strengthened in all countries through dedicated recruitment. Their main duties are as follows:

• ■support business lines and operations with mandatory training on the Group’s fundamentals: values, “Positive Care” policies, safety of residents, patients and employees;
• ■design, monitor and maintain qualifying training programmes within each business line;
• ■produce innovative educational content on the fundamentals of Korian’s healthcare offering;
• ■manage partnerships with schools and educational institutions;
• ■organise the onboarding of all new employees;
• ■implement bespoke coaching and psychological support, on request.

In addition, the Korian Academies play a significant role in coordinating training via networks of internal trainers. These internal trainers, who are experts in their fields, share their know-how and expertise with the teams, through mandatory training and professional development programmes.

In 2021, to support training in all Korian facilities, it was decided to gradually appoint training ambassadors at all sites. These ambassadors have been specially trained for this role and are, under the responsibility of the Facility Director, responsible for developing and monitoring training plans for the facility.

To adapt its training offer according to the changing needs of the Group’s activities, the training offer was refocused in 2021 around five main areas:

• ■onboarding programmes;
• ■the 10 mandatory Korian training courses;
• ■on-site training;
• ■development of qualifying training programmes.
• ■development pathways.

The 10 mandatory Korian training courses include values, Positive Care, health and safety of residents and patients, hygiene, safety and medication.

The catalogues of all Korian Academies in the various countries were revised according to a common structure and methodology.

Korian has also chosen to train via apprenticeships in its main occupations, with a focus on caregivers and chefs. At the end of 2022, the Group had 3,001 apprentices, including 1,953 in Germany and 1,037 in France. In total, the number of apprentices within the Group represented 5% of the FTEs at the end of December 2022.

Apprenticeships allow us to recruit and retain the employees of the future, cultivating a pool of potential diploma and certificate holders steeped in Korian’s values and supported by a community of mentors. The “Generalistik” programme in Germany and the strong acceleration of apprenticeship training for caregivers in France make the Group a pioneering player committed to apprenticeships, in particular with the creation in France of a real apprenticeship channel for caregivers, which did not exist before 2017.

The Group also participates in the French government’s PAQTE programme to develop training, apprenticeships and “career introduction” internships for young people entering the workforce, along with inclusive purchasing. Thanks to these actions to promote inclusion in the various local communities, 26% of work-study recruitments carried out in 2022 benefited people living in priority urban neighbourhoods.

In Germany – where apprenticeship is already highly developed – a new apprenticeship system called “Generalistik” came into force in 2020. It made sweeping reforms to the training of apprentices, in particular by requiring 1 mentor for every 10 apprentices. In a context of increased competition for the same positions, the Generalistik programme not only makes it possible to forge strengthened partnerships with healthcare schools and universities close to our facilities, but above all to strengthen the quality of the relationship and training with apprentices, in order to improve the conversion rate of apprentices to open-ended contracts, through pre-recruitment and better retention of young people in training.

Following the creation of an Apprentice Training Centre (Centre de formation des apprentis – CFA) for cooks, created with four other companies in 2019, Korian was the first Group in France to launch its own Apprentice Training Centre for the care professions, led by the Korian Academy.

The CFA for care professions provides apprenticeship training for the state caregiver diploma. Their 18-month training includes theoretical teaching time with on-the-job training, half of which is carried out in a long-term care nursing home or a Korian post-acute and rehabilitation care facility, located in the Paris region. At the end of their training and upon obtaining their diploma, they may be offered a position as a caregiver within the network of Korian facilities.

The Group also offers its employees on open-ended contracts, who meet the age criterion and who wish to follow a caregiver training course, to suspend their open-ended contracts for the duration of the training and sign an open-ended apprenticeship contract. This status guarantees that their salary will be maintained, that they will be able to become a caregiver once they have obtained their diploma, and, in the event of failure, that they will be able to return to their former position.

Launched with a first cohort of 19 apprentice caregivers on 4 January 2021, the Apprentice Training Centre had 300 apprentice caregivers in 2022. The Apprentice Training Centre for the care professions also innovated this year, by setting up a course dedicated to the nursing and in September 2022 was thrilled for its first apprentices in their second and third years of training to become state-accredited nurses.

One significant driver of social promotion within Korian, the Validation of Acquired Experience (VAE), allows employees to pursue a qualifying career path, while remaining employed at the same time.

In France, this system allows employees with two years of professional experience to obtain a diploma related to their profession, without returning to school. In 2022, Korian opened access to the system for staff working as caregivers (including on fixed-term contracts) and today has more than 1,000 employees engaged in a VAE pathway with the support of the Korian Academy.

The success rate for obtaining these diplomas is 78% and specifically 68% for the caregiver diploma, that is to say, double the national average (30%). This rate is achieved thanks to the individualised support and the role of Korian’s training tutors.

The Group communicates regularly about its employment and career opportunities through different channels, including social media. In addition, initiatives were put in place in 2021 to expand recruitment channels, diversify talent pools and attract new talent. These initiatives are an illustration of the social innovation carried out by the Group to develop win-win solutions and reduce the risk of excessive exposure to external recruitment, in a context of persistent high staff turnover.

Officially launched in April 2021, the Passerelles initiative is based on the French State’s “Transitions Collectives” system. This system is aimed at companies that have to adjust their workforce within the framework of employment and career path management agreements. For example, this system allows employees from the service sector – today Derichebourg Multiservices and Monoprix – to retrain via a 14-month qualifying training programme, leading to a caregiver diploma.

This professional retraining path by immersion in one of our facilities allows employees who have reached the second half of their career to move into a new profession. At the end of their training and upon graduation, they will be hired at Korian on permanent contracts, with the aim of 150 people benefiting from the Passerelles programme by 2023. This project also enabled the teams of Korian Académie France to review the qualifying training programme for becoming a caregiver, as part of the State diploma, by integrating digital modules and educational innovations related to the Korian care policy and to Korian’s Positive Care approach. The first people to graduate were recruited at the end of 2022 as healthcare caregivers. This retraining project oriented towards care professions, including for non-caregivers, illustrates Korian’s desire to work in a committed and responsible manner for employment in France. It also provides an innovative educational pathway that is motivating for employees affected by restructuring plans in their original company, while allowing them to join engaging, caring professions.

Retraining courses to become a caregiver are also offered by Korian in Italy (Operatore Socio Sanitario – OSS) in collaboration with Adecco in the Milan region and with the placement association D.i.Re, a long-standing partner of Korian, making it possible to reserve some open positions for women who are victims of domestic violence.

In 2020, the Group updated its managerial training offer. In association with the IFG Executive Education management training group, Korian offered the first European training programme for Facility Directors. Named s.Keys – Skills for Share, this qualifying training programme targets all Facility Directors and aims to establish a single and common framework for action across Europe.

The programme runs for three years. It focuses on the development of leadership and the role of Facility Directors in a multi-stakeholder management environment. The programme starts with a personality test, the “CliftonStrengths Finder,” followed by an interview with a specialised coach, to better understand the person’s strengths. Then begins the “blended” training of approximately 50 hours per year, including online training modules, virtual workshops and collective co-development sessions.

A quarterly newsletter, s.Keys – Skills for Share, is distributed to all Facility Directors in Europe, making it possible to monitor the programme’s progress and strengthen the Directors’ community, which also has a dedicated website, bringing together peer communities and offering master classes.

Launched on 16 September 2020, the programme currently brings together 720 Facility Directors in six countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands). In October 2022, a third cohort was launched with 190 employees.

The programme has also been opened to teams headquarters, at broadening exchanges between teams headquarters and promoting cross-functional collaboration.

Promoting a management culture that is specific to Korian, structured around the Group’s values and its corporate project, is a priority objective of the Group, as a responsible social player whose success is grounded in the commitment, cohesion and retention of its teams.

Korian wants to develop the Korian Management Way across the Group. Regardless of the country in which they are located, any person in a management position will share and embody the same management principles, based on the values of trust, initiative and responsibility. This Korian Management Way is an integral part of Korian’s corporate identity.

One of the key contributions to the construction of the Korian Management Way in 2021 was the development of a new “Korian Management Charter.” This charter, developed jointly by 700 Facility Directors as part of the s.Keys – Skills for Share training programme, serves as a managerial foundation and commitment to the teams, and translates the Company’s three values into practice on the ground, with tangible attitudes and behaviours.

The Group has also incorporated a management framework based on management rituals into the ISO 9001 Standard that is applicable to all sites.

Locally rooted in all the countries where it operates, the Group plays an essential role in community cohesion and inclusion. The growth of Korian’s activities is closely linked to its regional reach and its social involvement for the benefit of all local stakeholders.

Aware of its social responsibility, Korian is committed to supporting social integration, the return to work, social cohesion and the inclusion of fragile populations. This is a Korian hallmark wherever the Group is present.

The Group is particularly sensitive to the prevention of violence against women, insofar as 82% of our employees are women.

In 2022 in France, our social services strengthened its communication with the teams in order to publicise key contacts in case of need: the 3919 hotline, contact information for social service, and a QR code for information centres on the rights of women.

It has been estimated that 21% of the long-term support provided by our social services in France concerns employees who are victims of intra-family violence. 100% are women. Social services provided them with rehousing assistance, financial aid and legal assistance.

Information campaigns were continued in 2022 to support female victims of violence, in partnership with expert associations in the field, such as FACE and UN Women France.

Korian is a co-founding member with Fondation agir contre l’exclusion (FACE) of the first network of European companies committed to combating violence against women. Known as “One in Three Women”, this network includes Kering, Carrefour, SNCF, OuiCare and L’Oréal.

As part of this network, Korian Académie France has developed an e-learning training module, to inform and raise awareness of managers and employees on the topic of domestic violence. The Orange the World campaign, to which Korian committed itself in 2021 and again in 2022, was an opportunity to promote this training widely in all countries.

In 2022 Korian continued its partnership with La Maison des Femmes, in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis. This structure is a place of refuge that welcomes women who are vulnerable or victims of violence, and provides a multidisciplinary team (doctors, nurses, social workers, lawyers, police officers, etc.). Facilities were informed of the role of La Maison des Femmes, and solidarity workshops were organised by the Korian Foundation for Ageing Well.

In Italy, a partnership was established with the professional reintegration association D.i.Re in Milan, to test prevention measures with specialist associations. In 2021, Korian Italy launched a qualifying training programme to become a caregiver, reserving a certain number of spots for women who are victims of domestic violence. In 2022, in conjunction with D.i.Re, training courses were launched for Facility and Region Directors to raise their awareness and help them identify signs of violence.

In Spain, the Group is also working to provide apartments in one of its residences for women who are victims of violence. In 2022, Korian Spain launched a major survey of its managers to assess the teams’ knowledge of issues of violence and their assumptions regarding the behaviour to adopt.

Under the leadership of the Korian Women’s Club, Korian mobilised its teams for the second consecutive year on behalf of the “Orange the World” campaign. Supported by the UN since 1991, the campaign began on 25 November 2022, and consisted of 16 days of action to combat violence against women around the world. The awareness-raising campaign was relayed in all the countries where the Group operates, with the aim of creating a climate of benevolence and listening to encourage victims to speak up and give advice on how to support them.

As in 2021, orange masks were ordered and delivered to all facilities and head offices, to support the cause and stimulate discussions within the teams. All employees, symbolically wearing an orange mask during the campaign, were invited to be ambassadors for this cause among their colleagues, patients, residents and their relatives.

Communication tools were created to support discussions on the subject of violence in all facilities: a brochure explaining Korian’s commitments and a guide to supporting women who are victims of violence.

In France, an explanatory sheet on the duties of social workers has been widely distributed, as well as the “violence meter”, a tool intended for women to help them better identify violent behaviour, particularly in the case of economic or verbal abuse. The “violence meter,” has been translated and distributed in all countries.

Events were organised at the initiative of Facility Directors in partnership with local associations, in Carcassonne, at the Korian Bastion facility with the collective “11 du droit des femmes”. A dedicated “instant Kfé” was organised at the head office, with the participation of the social service and the Korian Foundation in France.

Lastly, a webinar in which the Group Chief Executive Officer and Dr Ghada Hatem of La Maison des femmes participated was organised by the Group and French management. On this occasion, 325 people benefited from Dr Hatem’s advice. In Italy, a webinar was also organised in partnership with the D.i.Re association and the Onda Foundation, with the participation of the Executive Director of Korian Italy.

In Germany, all members of the Management Committee have chosen to get involved, by relaying its support massively on social networks and internally.

In Belgium, for the second year, the facilities organised a relay walk in which employees, residents, relatives and neighbours were invited to participate. Theatre sessions took place in four facilities. A podcast with testimonials from female victims and caregiver managers was recorded and widely distributed.

Since 2018, Korian has been part of the Business Collective for a More Inclusive Economy, which was created as a joint initiative of several major French companies to improve their’ contribution to an inclusive economy. Three working groups were created on apprenticeships and training, the offering of goods and services to disadvantaged persons, and inclusive purchasing. In 2021, Mrs Sophie Boissard took over duties as co-chairwoman of this group with Mr Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer of AXA. In 2022, a fourth working group was created specifically to promote mentoring.

Our expertise in the field of care for elderly or fragile persons entrusts us with a unique role in society and in caregiving services. The Group, through its foundations in France and Germany and its Medical and Research Departments in these countries, carries out clinical research projects and societal studies, in conjunction with a network of university partners and scientists, focused on four workstreams:

• ■1. age-related diseases and management of loss of autonomy;
• ■2. prevention and care for chronic diseases;
• ■3. the working conditions of caregivers;
• ■4. the usefulness and social role of elderly people.

In each country, solidarity actions are also carried to promote the professional integration of young people and disadvantaged women. In this context, Korian is actively involved in various programmes and initiatives:

• ■in France, the Collective of companies for a more inclusive economy, is committed via a joint programme to the professional integration of young people through apprenticeships and continuous training, as well as integration services;
• ■the Orange the World campaign supported by the United Nations, to combat violence against women (see Section 3.3.4.1 “Committing to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion” in this Universal Registration Document).

Concretely, in the coming years:

• ■we wish to continue to support and participate in scientific research programmes and our goal is to publish at least five scientific papers, notably through our network of foundations;
• ■we commit to setting up a Stakeholder Council in each country outside France;
• ■we pledge to dedicate at least 1% of our annual net profit for research and philanthropic initiatives.

Korian has created two legally independent foundations:

• ■the Korian Foundation, a corporate foundation created in France in September 2017;
• ■the Korian Foundation for Care and Ageing Well, created in Germany in early 2020.

These two foundations carry out actions aiming to:

• ■support and participate in scientific research programmes to advance scientific knowledge and also to tangibly improve the support of residents and patients, the quality of care and the working conditions of caregivers;
• ■conduct societal studies to change views on ageing and contribute to thinking about and inventing a longevity society. This means changing our perspective on ageing and promoting and supporting care occupations and those that support the most fragile, including by inspiring new vocations;
• ■support solidarity actions to combat the isolation of elderly people, promote the professional integration of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, improve access to legal rights and care for caregivers and women in difficulty. The Boards of Directors of the foundations are composed of figures who are internal and external to Korian, divided into three colleges: representatives from the Group, Group employees and representatives of the foundations’ Scientific Boards.

In addition, the foundations benefit from the input and leadership of the members of their Scientific Boards: researchers and academics, practitioners, caregivers, designers, association managers, etc.

The foundations also surround themselves with partners who are both recognised in the field of clinical research and in human and social sciences, along with industrialists and actors from the social and solidarity economy, to galvanise genuine scientific cooperation.

To these two foundations is added the FITA foundation created in 2002 by Ita Salud Mental, a mental health specialist in Spain acquired by the Korian group in 2021.

Taking a research, action and training approach, the professionals of the Korian facilities (medical, paramedical and caregivers) are involved in the development and implementation of scientific protocols in order to ensure their relevance and their feasibility in terms of expertise and needs.

The research also involves residents and patients of Korian facilities (long-term care nursing homes and healthcare facilities) who volunteer to participate.

Created in 2017 for a first five-year cycle, the French Foundation of the Korian group had set itself the objective of contributing to the reflection on Ageing Well, by conducting a series of studies with the IPSOS institute on how people view ageing, by supporting initiatives to promote the social inclusion of elderly people and to promote oral archives, and more broadly by encouraging various applied medical research projects aimed at improving the physical and psychological support provided to elderly people and their families and caregivers, at home and in medico-social or healthcare facilities.

In five years, 15 research projects have been completed, resulting in 30 publications; three prizes have been awarded to associations particularly involved in these themes, while 29 platforms and 21 morning sessions have been organised in Paris and 16 cities in the regions, bringing together a total of nearly 5,200 representatives of associations and professionals in the field of ageing for face-to-face discussions.

In 2022, the Foundation continued its actions to transmit and promote the voice of elderly people through two emblematic projects:

“Territoires et mémoires de vie” (Territories and Memories of Life) – Part 2: One of the missions of the Korian Foundation for Ageing Well is to give a voice to elderly people and carry their voices, their life stories, sharing and promoting their experiences. In this book entitled “Territoires et mémoires de vie”, the Korian Foundation gives the floor to residents who live in nursing homes. For the past two years, the Foundation has been studying local communities and the impact that living spaces can have on our history. After Marseille, the biographer Régine Zohar turned to Bordeaux, collecting the life stories of residents at the Villa Gabriel, Villa Louisa, Villa Bontemps and Clos Serena long-term care nursing homes.

Season 4 of the “La Voix des Aînés” podcast, entitled “Ecology once upon a time”: As the climate and environmental emergency forces us to rethink our lifestyles and consumption, the Foundation wished to let elderly people speak about this topic and share their memories of a time when people were inventive and thrifty out of necessity.

In addition to the projects carried out in favour of Ageing Well, the Foundation supports solidarity actions for four target audiences:

• ■isolated elderly people;
• ■caregivers;
• ■women in difficulty;
• ■young people in priority education areas.

In 2021, the Foundation, together with Fondation Agir Contre l’Exclusion (FACE), launched solidarity workshops to improve employees’ access to rights in healthcare and medico-social facilities. Designed with the support of Korian’s social services and organised by the Korian Foundation, they are led by FACE clubs and structures in the regions. In 2021 and 2022, 47 Group healthcare facilities and long-term care nursing homes and 900 participants benefited from these workshops.

The partnership with the Alliance for Education, aimed at introducing middle-school and high-school students in priority education areas to the elderly care professions, also continued, through the participation of Group employees in five job forums and the hosting of 15 interns under the programme.

The Foundation supports the mobile campaign of the Bus du Coeur, which is led by the Agir Pour le Cœur des Femmes Foundation, which aims to inform, raise awareness and prevent cardiovascular diseases in women. In 2022, the Bus du Cœur campaign enabled 5,000 women to be screened in 14 cities in France.

As part of the Group’s support for the fight against violence against women, the Foundation has a partnership with the Maison des Femmes in Saint-Denis, enabling victims (Korian employees or not) to access social, medical and legal support. The Foundation provides funds for two night nurses.

At the end of this first five-year cycle, the Foundation decided to devote its new cycle of work starting in 2023 to the theme: “Loving to care”. It intends to dedicate its actions to caregivers, care professions and healthcare organisations. The Korian Foundation has identified three key areas for reflection:

• ■the physical and moral health of caregivers: prevention and support, fight against burnout, social inclusion and work-life balance, etc.;
• ■the attractiveness of the care professions: professional recognition, social representation of caregivers, diversity of professions and profiles, new generations and new expectations, etc.;
• ■the meaning of the job: organisational ethics, new forms of management, teamwork and time management, etc.

The well-being of caregivers and more generally of people active in the care sector is a key focus of the Korian Foundation’s actions in Germany. In 2022, stress reduction was at the heart of the Foundation’s work through the distribution of healthy recipes that take into account the pace of work in facilities and aromatherapy training. The Foundation has also published a guide for professionals in the care sector on the topic of end-of-life support, death and bereavement. It aims to offer them tools to support the people concerned and their families and support them in managing the emotional burden associated with this mission.

In December 2022, the German Foundation, in partnership with Korian Germany, the University of Bremen and the Fraunhofer IIS research institute, also launched the “Care 2030” (Pflege 2030) project. The Korian Haus Curanum facility in Karlsfeld was selected to pilot this three-year project, supported by a €3.1 million grant from the Bavarian Ministry of Health and Care, which aims to project itself into the near future of the healthcare sector. The contributions of new technologies and innovative planning methods to the quality of care and working conditions will be studied through their experimentation at the Karlsfeld site.

In Spain, Ita Salud Mental, a mental health specialist acquired by the Korian group in 2021, created the FITA foundation in 2002. Its mission is to contribute to the prevention, awareness and understanding of mental health problems. More specifically, its programmes aim to:

• ■promote emotional well-being;
• ■facilitate the early detection of mental disorders;
• ■contribute to the reduction of their stigma;
• ■support and guide affected people and their families in accessing treatment.

The FITA foundation mainly carries out three types of actions:

• ■care and rehabilitation programmes dedicated to supporting people suffering from or having suffered from mental disorders and helping them towards autonomy and social inclusion. The Foundation’s objective is to be able to meet the diversity of needs through these programmes: accommodation in transitional housing, psychological support, support in day-to-day management, academic guidance, professional integration, financing assistance for treatment. In 2021, 179 people were supported through these programmes, mostly at the end of or after treatment, and 89 relatives and/or education and social action professionals were advised by the Foundation’s teams;
• ■prevention and training programmes: workshops for the general public, continuing training for education and social action professionals. In 2021, 1,300 people took part in prevention workshops and 320 professionals were trained;
• ■awareness-raising actions based on the testimonials of people who have experienced mental health problems, through interventions in schools or the publication of novels written based on these testimonials.

In order to contribute to public debate and to advance ideas and knowledge, the Medical Departments, the Research Departments and the Group’s Foundations conduct scientific research or support programmes implemented as part of scientific collaborations with their academic partners.

Key figures: 109 scientific communications

• ■21 scientific articles published in indexed journals.
• The main themes of these articles are respiratory rehabilitation and psychiatry.
• ■49 oral communications (Conference presentations, face-to-face or online).
• ■39 posters at conferences.

In January 2022, the Group created a Medical Strategy and Health Innovation Department, whose aim is to meet the expectations of residents and patients, as well as those of our business lines, by developing a differentiated care offer for each activity, which incorporates the latest advances in medical research.

The Group is developing a “5 Ps” approach to medicine (preventive, personalised, predictive, participatory, pertinent) within its facilities, by mobilising its medical community around three areas:

• ■diagnostics and therapy: non-drug treatments, new technologies - artificial Intelligence, digital therapies;
• ■organisation of pathways: telemedicine, e-courses, mobile teams, new activities (sleep, pain, etc.);
• ■research and training: clinical studies and data collection.

The Medical Strategy and Health Innovation Department brings together an internal and external ecosystem using three modes of action:

• ■identify innovative organisational, technological or research projects that can be deployed more widely;
• ■support project leaders from piloting a solution to Group deployment;
• ■establishment and monitoring of institutional medical-scientific partnerships.

The Group’s ambition is to develop collaborative research with academic partners around priority themes in mental health, rehabilitation and geriatrics:

• ■brain stimulation;
• ■fall prevention;
• ■stroke management;
• ■psychiatry for the elderly.

An interdisciplinary Group Medical Innovation Committee, which meets quarterly, was created in November 2022 to oversee the implementation of this strategy.

Within the countries, the Research and Medical Departments directly support and develop research work in the facilities to tangibly improve the relevance and quality of care.

At the end of 2022, 36 clinical studies were underway within the Group. This research concerns pulmonology, exercise physiology, nutrition, health psychology, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation. They aim to:

• ■better understand the underlying determinants and mechanisms of chronic diseases and ageing;
• ■improve our diagnostic and assessment tools;
• ■adapt our care methods to the specific needs of patients and residents.

The Group also conducts research projects related to new technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence:

This project aims to develop and field test an innovative multi-stakeholder platform:

• ■an activity centre;
• ■a virtual community;
• ■a caregiver;
• ■a robotic system;
• ■connected objects;
• ■home automation sensors.

The resulting ecosystem aims to provide support, follow up on and offer the elderly person the opportunity to participate in cognitive and physical activities at home, preferably with peers, through a comprehensive, modular and tailored approach. With this system, the person is not obliged to wear a particular device or to change their habits.

Since 2020, the Korian group has supported the Fondation Pour la Recherche Médicale, with funds used for three research projects:

• ■identification of antiviral molecules effective against Covid-19;
• ■clinical trial on the efficacy of injecting plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients into hospitalised but non-ventilated patients;
• ■development of new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Digital Transformation Department aims to provide innovative technological responses to the Group’s main social, societal and environmental challenges.

Through the implementation of new digital services, its main objectives are to:

• ■strengthen and personalise the care and services provided to residents, patients and their families;
• ■enable employees to carry out their assignments under the best possible conditions;
• ■improve the comfort and safety of everyone;
• ■reduce the Group’s environmental footprint.

The department works closely with the business line communities to identify needs and select or design and deploy solutions in line with these objectives. The various stakeholders are involved in the preliminary phases of projects aimed at confirming the added value of the new product or service.

The department also contributes to the development of a culture of innovation within the Group, in particular through the coordination of a collaborative platform that allows everyone to be a source of innovation by submitting innovative solutions proposed by start-ups. With this desire to develop its culture of innovation, in 2022 Korian took part for the first time in VivaTech, the largest European event dedicated to startups and technology. The event was an opportunity for Korian to showcase some of the solutions tested or deployed in its facilities, and to announce its partnership, aimed at jointly imagining and building innovative digital solutions to improve the management of chronic disease, with Kamet Ventures, recognised in particular for its expertise in innovation.

The projects described below illustrate the contribution of technological solutions to the achievement of the Group’s social, societal and environmental objectives.

In partnership with Omedys, a start-up in which Korian has acquired a majority stake, the Group is helping to develop access to telemedicine in France in order to facilitate access to primary care in medical deserts, avoid unnecessary visits to the emergency room, and support doctors working in isolated practices.

• ■In medical deserts, Omedys supports the establishment of remote consultation rooms for local general practitioners who dedicate part of their time to such consultations. These doctors respond to requests from the network of remote consultation rooms located in the region, in pharmacies, nursing offices or nursing homes. Patients are assisted by a healthcare professional during the remote consultation (pharmacist, nurse). Doctors carry out the diagnosis remotely, in accordance with the patient’s coordinated care pathway and using the coordination tools necessary for medical monitoring. As a result, patients can avoid long journeys and waiting times when consulting a general practitioner and can, if needed, be redirected to a local specialised doctor.
• ■In nursing homes, the development of telemedicine makes it possible to improve the medical follow-up of residents by reducing the time needed to receive care, in particular for the growing number of residents who do not have an attending physician. It also contributes to improving the working conditions of caregivers in facilities, while strengthening the collaboration between doctors and caregivers. Within Korian’s French network, since 2020, 120 long-term care nursing homes have been equipped with remote consultation carts to facilitate the use of remote consultations. All nursing homes are equipped with tablets to access the Omedys service. The solution is this quickly being adopted on average, 700 remote consultations are carried out every month in the network; more than 12,000 have been conducted in total since the implementation of the solution.

• ■In France, following a successful trial in 2021, the deployment of a system for detection, analysis and prevention of falls began in 2022. This technology, which is non-intrusive because it does not display an image, presents the outline of the room in the form of a cloud of points, and alerts caregivers in the event of a fall or an abnormally long absence from bed by the resident concerned, which may indicate a possible fall.
• ■In Germany, the Lindera falls prevention application is used by around 100 facilities (i.e. approximately half of the network) and its deployment is continuing. Based on a video recording to study the resident’s movements and responses to a questionnaire covering the main psychosocial factors of falls, the application assesses the resident’s risk of falls and generates personalised recommendations for preventive measures.
• ■In Italy, the RistoCloud application offers many functionalities related to meal management. By centralising all information related to the menus (recipes, ingredients, allergens, nutritional composition, etc.), it facilitates the monitoring of individual diets by automatically integrating food-related data from the medical file. It allows patients or residents to order their meals when several menus are available and permits families to consult the menus. The application is also used by the facilities to simplify the management of food stocks and to limit waste.

• ■e-lio, a product of the Technosens startup, in which Korian holds a majority stake, is a connected box designed specifically to foster social ties between residents and their loved ones (videotelephony, messages, photos, etc.) and the sharing of information among facilities, residents and families, through the Korian Familles application. The application, accessible to all family members, makes it possible to generate a paper newsletter containing the photos and messages sent to the resident during the week. The entire French network of nursing homes has also been equipped with connected televisions making it possible to broadcast the facility’s news in shared spaces and to organise video calls with families. The gradual roll-out of individual boxes in rooms is continuing.

• ■In France, the Koala application, a mobile digital companion for employees in facilities, was developed in 2022. Its objective is to simplify daily and administrative tasks and reduce the associated workload by facilitating the sharing of information in real time, the digitisation of procedures and the centralisation and interconnection of existing tools. The app will be tested in pilot facilities in 2023.
• ■In Belgium, the Korian Konnect corporate social network was rolled out in 2021 and training to facilitate its adoption continued in 2022. The application has been set up to facilitate communication within facilities, between facilities, and between facilities and the head office. Home care employees also have access to the app. Employees can access their schedules via Korian Konnect, request leave or overtime, and access benefits reserved to employees. In 2022, 7,095 accounts were active.
• ■In the United Kingdom, employee satisfaction is measured continuously via an app accessible on mobile devices and tablets in facilities. The aim is to encourage employees to express themselves, quickly detect trends and respond to them in a proactive and personalised manner. A short questionnaire is sent to the employee each week, who answers it anonymously. The manager can answer questions, difficulties or suggestions raised by employees directly in the application. Lastly, on-board artificial intelligence makes it possible to personalise the questionnaire by adapting it to the employee’s previous responses.

• ■Connected indoor air quality sensors have been deployed throughout the portfolio in Europe. They record the CO2, temperature and humidity levels and alert staff if the established thresholds are exceeded. The individual apartments of assisted living facilities in France have also been equipped with connected smoke detectors, in addition to the audible alarm, to alert the manager and indicate the apartment concerned.
• ■Remote control of heating levels is also the subject of a project on the European scale, in order to optimise comfort and the associated energy consumption. Several solutions are in the testing phase.
• ■The Alexa voice assistant, which is being tested on several sites (post-acute and rehabilitation care clinics, assisted living facilities, long-term care nursing homes), enables patients and residents to voice control the lighting and shutters of the room, and to view the menu and the day’s activities.

In order to listen closely to its internal and external stakeholders, and to take their expectations into account when defining and implementing its strategy, Korian aims to set up Stakeholder Councils in all of the countries where it operates. These independent councils are a forum for discussion and reflection, whose mission is to inform Korian on the issues related to the Company’s activity and societal issues of ageing and fragility.

The Group’s ESG objective is to have a Stakeholder Council in place in all its countries of operation by 2023.

On 17 October 2019, Korian created a Stakeholder Council in France, the first in its sector of activity. It is composed of around ten members from Korian’s main stakeholders (associations of elderly people and retirees, patient representatives, healthcare professionals, qualified experts in ageing and loss of autonomy, etc.), and chaired by Dr Françoise Weber, former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the French National Agency for Food, Environment and Labour Safety (Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’Alimentation, de l’Environnement et du Travail – ANSES), now retired.

In 2022, following the publication of Les Fossoyeurs by Victor Castanet, a dedicated information and explanation session, and regular updates on the situation by the Group’s General Management and the Executive Management in France, were organised for the Stakeholder Council.

An assessment of the working group, launched by Korian in 2020, on the activity and strengthening of the Social Life Committees in long-term care nursing homes was presented to the Board following the recommendations it had formulated in 2021 after reviewing the proposals of the working group.

To broaden its field of expertise to include new Korian activities, in 2023 the Stakeholder Council has integrated new members, particularly for mental health and to further represent patients.

The Stakeholder Council was created in December 2022, with Dr Stefan Arend as Chairman. The members of the body have been selected and a first meeting will be held in the first quarter of 2023.

A Stakeholder Council (Advisory Board) was set up in 2020. It is made up of a philosophy professor at the University of Ghent and an expert in ethics, a doctor specialising in health economics, a representative of one of the leading temporary employment agencies in Belgium, a doctor from the University of Louvain specialising in the care of neurodegenerative diseases and, lastly, the manager of an alternative housing centre in Brussels.

The Belgian Advisory Board interacts with the management of Korian Belgium in order to provide external insight on the Group’s activity and its societal challenges.

In 2022, it met three times to discuss the future of the healthcare offer, intergenerational cohabitation and the combination of healthcare activities in the same region.

In addition to the Stakeholder Council, a Young Elderly Council was also set up in 2022. It comprises five new generation elderly persons who have different expectations from those of the current residents. The objective is to better understand how Korian can evolve to meet the expectations of the generation that is becoming elderly. The care provided to elderly people and the incentives for moving to a facility, as well as the type of facility desired, are discussed in this body.

The Stakeholder Council, created in 2022, is chaired by Prof. Francesco Longo, Associate Professor in Health Management at Bocconi University, Milan. The body is composed of representatives of employees, patients or residents, as well as their relatives, academics – including a neurologist and a psychiatrist – as well as members of associations, with the Presidents of the ONDA and D.i.Re foundations, which support gender-sensitive health practices, combat violence against women and support women who are victims of violence.

The first meeting was held in December 2022 and the work programme defined for 2023 will cover scientific research and the challenges of sustainability and anticipation of future needs in human resources and the value chain.

In Italy, the Group is very active in professional organisations and specific technical committees dealing with long-term care nursing homes, post-acute and rehabilitation care and integrated care approaches. During these meetings, Korian’s representatives have the opportunity to interact with stakeholders.

In accordance with the applicable legislation, the Stakeholder Council (National Customer Council) is composed of relatives of residents, who meet regularly with the Group’s Management in the Netherlands. Depending on the subject, the National Customer Council has co-decision power, as for instance for the appointment of management members, Regional and Facility Directors, or issues advisory opinions. 

In 2022, the National Customer Council took part in the appointment of the Director of the Netherlands, and notably issued opinions on the volunteering policy, the annual quality plan and the nutrition policy. The National Clients Council is also very involved in the implementation of the Care and Compulsion Act, participates in the personalisation of care working group and is part of the national crisis management team.

Each facility also has a Customer Council, which is made up of residents or their relatives.

Furthermore, in France, Germany and Spain, the Group works with foundations whose governance bodies include representatives of the main stakeholders.

Our expertise in the field of caring for ageing or fragile persons entrusts us with a unique role within the local communities where we operate. We occupy a central role in regions, both as creators of stable, long-term and inclusive jobs and also as active contributors to local public health policies.

Our facilities are cover a broad societal range due to our occupations, fixed or mobile healthcare teams and local intergenerational outreach they generate. The facilities are very often involved in the life of their communities through associations and tangible projects and also through the Social Life Committee set up to promote dialogue between the community, the facility and families. Our facilities also contribute to the local economies.

In this context, by 2023, we commit to having:

• ■at least 70% of our goods and services purchases made in the countries in which we operate and at least 20% from SMEs;
• ■100% of facilities engaged in a project for an association or for their community;
• ■100% of facilities with a Social Life Committee or equivalent.

Korian plays an active role in the economic and social development of the communities in which it operates. The Group has more than 1,200 facilities located as close as possible to local communities and employment areas, often close to priority urban areas, but also in rural areas and in “medical deserts”.

A new facility boosts the local economy. For example, in France, a long-term care nursing home or a specialised clinic with around 100 residents and patients represent respectively between 60 and 120 direct jobs that cannot be relocated. In addition to creating stable jobs that cannot be relocated, the opening of a facility contributes to the local economy, both through the building’s maintenance and the purchase of goods and services necessary for its operations.

Ages & Vie shared housing also contributes to regional integration in rural areas. These homes are inclusive solutions located in the heart of small towns and neighbourhoods, near healthcare centres, local shops, schools and associations. Elderly people thus remain in their home environment. Welcoming to relatives and friends, they facilitate exchanges with residents' families. The homes are connected to their communities and welcome multiple generations under one roof (in some facilities, caregivers live with their families in staff accommodation on the first floor). They thus offer an intergenerational environment to elderly residents. From the start, the Ages & Vie concept was designed and developed in partnership with municipalities. It closely matches the needs of mayors looking for an innovative solution that creates jobs, in line with the expectations of their constituents.

By their very nature, our services aim to be local services with a strong commitment to an economy of social inclusion and solidarity.

In order to explore and qualify the mechanisms and actions through which the Company contributes to the common good and to generating economic and societal value in the regions where it operates, the Korian group created the ICP-ESSEC Companies and the Common Good Chair in 2021 in partnership with ICP, ESSEC and six other partner companies (Saint-Gobain, Bayard, Grant Thornton France, Meridiam, Eurazeo and Kea & Partners). The aim of the Chair is to develop multidisciplinary research around the notion of the common good applied to companies. In particular, it has created a “Company and Common Good” university diploma as an initial degree and continuing education, in which two Korian group employees participate every year. In 2022, the Chair began a research programme on the contribution of companies to the common good through their local presence, which runs until 2024. The research areas are as follows: studying the conditions for a successful regional anchoring policy and measuring the impact of companies at the level of local communities.

The aim of the Purchasing Department is to guarantee the highest possible level of quality and efficiency in purchasing for all of the Group’s business lines, contributing to value creation and ensuring the control of operational risks. The objective is to obtain the best quality/price/service ratio according to the principle of neutrality, by selecting proposals adapted to the Group’s functional and technical needs, on the basis of a process that guarantees objectivity, fairness and transparency.

The main missions of the Purchasing Department are to:

• ■support all countries (including employees from the network and headquarters) in the various stages of the purchasing process;
• ■list solutions that meet needs;
• ■implement long-term strategies aimed at increasing performance and efficiency to deal with external risks (inflation, competition, etc.);
• ■improve the entire purchasing process in collaboration with the business lines and control the associated risks;
• ■ensure that the purchasing policy is consistent with the Group’s ESG strategy;
• ■manage and secure commercial relationships with all service providers and suppliers.

The purchasing policy is driven by the Group’s Purchasing Department and is then rolled out in all its subsidiaries. The purchasing team is made up of 40 people in all the countries where the Group operates.

The provision of products or services is an important component in the quality of the care and services provided to residents and patients, as well as to the Group’s employees. The ecosystem is made up of more than 30,000 suppliers covering various purchasing categories (catering, medical devices, maintenance, laundry, etc.).

Purchases of products and services are made directly by each facility from suppliers that have been referenced by the Purchasing Department, following calls for tenders, or from other suppliers. The facilities are the suppliers’ end customers. There is no obligation for facilities to use preferred suppliers exclusively, although it is recommended as the preferred suppliers have followed a selection process to ensure that they meet the Group’s requirements:

• ■quality standard defined by the business lines;
• ■involvement of operational staff in the selection process (users group);
• ■limiting risks related to supply, safety, hygiene, etc.;
• ■qualification of suppliers (supplier dependency rate, financial monitoring, etc.);
• ■ESG commitments.

All supplier listings are carried out under a rigorous call for tenders with a multi-criteria rating in which the “price” criterion represents on average 25% of the overall score. Referencing decisions are made at the level of the Purchasing Committee of the country concerned and at the level of the Group’s Investment Committee.

Korian regularly discusses the collaboration and performance of its suppliers through performance reviews. For several years now, Korian has been informing and mobilising its suppliers around the Group’s commitments, sharing with them a summary of its commitments as well as its achievements, at least once a year.

In 2022, the Purchasing Department implemented a digital tool aimed at improving monitoring and dialogue with suppliers, facilitating the purchasing process, the control of contractual commitments and the traceability of purchases made, as well as the deployment and proper implementation of the Group purchasing policy. This tool is available in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and will be rolled out in France in 2023. The Group is also deploying its policy of assessing third parties as regards the risks of corruption, influence peddling, breach of probity and the duty of vigilance.

Responsible purchasing is at the heart of the Group’s purchasing policy and actively contributes to Korian’s ESG performance by striving to achieve the following three objectives:

• ■developing balanced relationships with suppliers, based on the notions of trust and sustainability of the commercial relationship;
• ■managing ESG risks and opportunities related to purchasing and the supply chain;
• ■providing the Group with the know-how of innovative and efficient suppliers.

To contribute to achieving the Group’s ESG objectives, social and environmental performance criteria are integrated into the supplier selection and assessment process.

The ESG and quality criteria included in the specifications represent on average 75% of the overall rating awarded internally to the suppliers. These criteria are reflected in the commitments made by the suppliers.

The Group’s Responsible Purchasing Charter defines the reciprocal social, ethical and environmental commitments between the Group and its suppliers. Korian asks its preferred suppliers to commit to compliance with this charter. In 2022, joint work by the CSR, Purchasing and Legal Departments was undertaken to update the Responsible Purchasing Charter and the contractual CSR clauses in order to strengthen the Group’s commitments to its suppliers as well as those expected by the Group from its suppliers.

The Group strives to select suppliers committed to ESG issues.

For example, the data centre supplier for France aims to become negative in terms of carbon emissions by 2030 and the supplier for the leasing and maintenance of laundry has committed to the following targets by 2025:

• ■have 80% recycled textiles;
• ■-20% CO2 emissions (compared with 2010);
• ■-45% in detergent consumption (compared with 2010);
• ■-35% in energy consumption (compared with 2010);
• ■-50% accidents with work stoppage.

As part of its responsibility and duty of vigilance, the Korian group requires that all preferred suppliers be assessed on their CSR policies, and more specifically those related to the UN Global Compact, of which Korian is a signatory.

At the end of December 2022, 304 preferred suppliers (excluding the United Kingdom) had been assessed through the EcoVadis platform, representing 44% of the Group’s preferred suppliers. The average score of the assessed suppliers was 54.7 out of 100. Conversely, Korian also has its own CSR policy assessed by EcoVadis.

As a company that supports the social and economic development of the regions where the Group operates, Korian is committed to:

Local purchases are defined as purchases of products or services made within the country where the purchasing facility is located. Precise criteria have been established according to the type of purchases, in order to contribute to local employment and to promote national supplies, including short circuits, whenever possible.

The Group favours local purchases in order to reduce its environmental impact, but also to contribute to the economic momentum of the regions in which it operates. All the Group’s countries therefore monitor a local sourcing indicator, which is included in the ESG objectives. In 2022, Korian made 80% of its purchases (excluding the United Kingdom) from companies based in the country of the purchasing facility, thus exceeding its target of 70%.

In 2022, for the Group’s French facilities, 82% of the food purchases from preferred suppliers were made in France, 36% of the fruit and vegetable purchases came from a radius of less than 150 km (200 km in the Île-de-France region) of the fruit and vegetable warehouse in charge of supplying the site, and 15.6% of the products purchased were manufactured in the same administrative region as the facility.

By way of illustration, a partnership between all facilities in the Hauts-de-France region and La Ferme de Gally has enabled the delivery of strawberries from the Phalempin market to residents, for consumption as part of their menus, or for activities such as making jam. At the end of 2021, Korian committed to purchasing volumes from potato and wine producers in order to support local producers, within the framework of tripartite agreements.

In addition to local purchases, the Group has set itself the target of making at least 20% of its purchasing by spending from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In 2022, 43% of purchases were made from SMEs at Group level (excluding the United Kingdom).

The other area covered by inclusive purchasing at Korian is the use of suppliers employing workers with disabilities or who are undergoing socioprofessional integration. The Group is a member of the Business Collective for a More Inclusive Economy in France and its Chief Financial Officer is a sponsor of the working group on purchasing, which, at Korian, has led to:

• ■introduction of an inclusive purchasing clause in all calls for tender and, where possible, a selection criterion based on the supplier’s commitment to inclusion;
• ■integration of inclusion in performance reviews with our main suppliers;
• ■subscription to a database of inclusive suppliers, so that they are included in calls for tender.

The Group participates in professional events in order to meet and establish contact with these suppliers, such as the fifth session of the TOP AFEP, the Impacting Purchasing Tour (as part of the PAQTE – Pacte avec les quartiers pour toutes les entreprises – described in Section 3.5.5) or Inclusiv’Day, which brings together social innovations and inclusive businesses.

(See Section 3.6.4.1 on the decarbonisation of the Group’s purchases).

The Responsible Purchasing Charter signed by suppliers includes the commitment to fight against global warming.

For example, a new company vehicle policy has been rolled out in France, which references electric and hybrid vehicles and sets a maximum level of CO2 emissions per km for each category of vehicle.

In addition to the Responsible Purchasing Charter, a specific charter relating to ESG commitments for renovation projects has been signed by 12 of the main French suppliers working on these projects. As part of the Boost renovation programme in France, these 12 Korian service providers on renovation sites have made social and environmental commitments that will be applied and deployed during the renovation of Korian facilities:

• ■10% of the contract amount via a local integration organisation;
• ■use of referenced products and suppliers (especially those with local roots);
• ■packaging of furniture with recycled and recyclable materials;
• ■recycling of all furniture replaced;
• ■proof of an 80% waste recycling rate by 2022 and a search for a reuse solution for the remaining 20%;
• ■mandatory ESG assessment via the EcoVadis platform with a minimum score of 55.

In line with these commitments, Korian wished to favour the local economic fabric in the choice of suppliers producing bedroom equipment for the renovation concept. Currently, 87% of the Boost bedrooms under renovation are produced in France (flooring, furniture, fittings, paint, curtain making, etc.).

Numerous associations work in the Group’s long-term care nursing homes. They provide assistance, offer activities and provide entertainment, making them highly appreciated by both residents and their families. These organisations encourage socialisation, communication and the sharing of personal experiences among residents, help maintain their mental and physical capabilities, and also provide information, training and support to families. They are very varied and representative of the local life and culture: organisation of sports and cultural activities, beauty treatments, intergenerational exchanges, support groups for caregivers, etc.

The survey of more than 900 facilities conducted at the end of 2021 by the Group, revealed that 99% of sites have a local partnership, compared with 97% in 2020. The analysis of the results highlights the varied typology of the organisations and activities within the Group’s facilities: on-site interventions, donations or volunteering in connection with associations, NGOs, academic, cultural or intergenerational institutions, or discussions with local and/or national authorities. More than 2,000 volunteers are welcomed every year within Korian facilities and the facilities benefit from an average of eight different partnerships with local associations, schools, public organisations, etc. By way of illustration, in 2021 a national partnership was established with the France AVC association, making it possible to host information meetings with doctors specialising in stroke in our facilities.

In Germany, for example, nearly 40% of the facilities indicated that they had activities with kindergartens, and this was also the case in Italy, with primary schools. Of the responding sites, 28% indicated that they had links with cultural associations for activities such as card games, chess, dance, music or singing. More than a third of facilities that responded took part in the actions of the international One in Three Women campaign to combat violence against women.

Bodies are set up within the facilities with the representatives of residents or patients, as well as their relatives, in order to include them in the life and operation of the facilities. These bodies make it possible to inform the representatives, and to involve them and let them express themselves on the projects and the life of the facility. These bodies ensure that users’ rights are respected. They are one of the channels used to reinforce dialogue and to contribute to include stakeholders’ expectations in the decisions and life of the facilities, on topics such as care, food, entertainment, administrative issues and the buildings. Through their opinions and proposals, these bodies contribute to the quality of care provided to residents and patients.

In some countries where the Group operates, these bodies – which in France are called Social Life Committees (Conseils de vie sociale – CVS) for long-term care nursing homes and User Commissions (Commission des usagers – CDU) for healthcare facilities – are mandatory.

In 2022, 94% of Korian’s facilities in Europe had such bodies, compared with 89% in 2021.

Korian has more than 1,200 facilities located as close as possible to local communities and employment areas. Establishments are often close to priority urban areas, but also in rural areas, as close as possible to local needs. By their very nature, they provide local services with a strong commitment to an economy of social inclusion and solidarity. Korian is thus active in supporting participants in local job integration programmes and also carries out healthcare job discovery initiatives, as well as supporting initiatives to finding employment.

In 2017, Korian France set up a structured partnership with local initiatives to introduce young people to our occupations. This partnership has since been strengthened with the Second Chance Schools network and many other local players.

Since 2018, Korian has been part of the Business Collective for a More Inclusive Economy, which was created as a joint initiative of several major French companies to improve their contribution to an inclusive economy. In 2021, Sophie Boissard, the Group’s Chief Executive Officer, took over the duties as co-chairwoman with Thomas Buberl, AXA’s Chief Executive Officer. Three working groups were created on apprenticeship and training, the offering of goods and services to disadvantaged persons, and inclusive purchasing. In 2022, a fourth working group was set up, specifically dedicated to mentoring.

Korian is also a member of the United Way (Alliance for Education) association and participates in its flagship “Youth Challenge” programme, which is rolled out in priority education establishments, with the aim of combating school dropout and supporting students from the sixth grade to their final year in their professional orientation and integration.

The Group also participates in the French government’s PAQTE programme (Pacte avec les quartiers pour toutes les entreprises), which promotes and develops discovery internships, apprenticeships, training and inclusive local purchasing with SMEs/VSEs, in particular through regional speed dating days.

Our network is very supportive of interns. In France, it supports nearly 5,000 interns every year in France, both through internships related to career guidance for secondary school students or for job seekers, and through internships within the framework of degree courses.

It should be noted that out of the 889 apprentices recruited in France in 2022, 26% lived in priority urban neighbourhoods.

The Group condemns all forms of passive or active corruption and influence peddling. To meet its legal obligations under the so-called “Sapin 2” Law of 9 December 2016, Korian has developed an ethics and compliance programme consisting of the following:

• ■corruption risk mapping: based on the mapping of the Group’s processes, the various risk scenarios were identified and assessed for criticality in terms of impact and probability of occurrence, after taking into account the control systems in place. This mapping was updated in 2021;
• ■Group Ethics Charter and internal policies: the Group Ethics Charter (see Section 3.2.2) presents our three values – trust, initiative and responsibility – and translates them into both expected attitudes within the Group, and attitudes to be avoided. It is supplemented by internal policies specifying the rules and aimed at governing practices in terms of gifts and invitations, conflicts of interest and sponsorship and patronage;
• ■corruption prevention guide: distributed in 2022, this document brings together the Group’s compliance policies and procedures. A version for the Group’s third parties outlining the behaviours expected by the Group from its third parties, particularly suppliers, will be rolled out in 2023;
• ■whistleblowing system: the Group has set up a whistleblowing system common to all Group entities, allowing all employees, candidates for a position, Group co-contractors, shareholders, Group customers and their relatives to ask a question or file an alert, in their local language. This involves reporting any violation – suspected or proven – as regards the principles set out in the Ethics Charter or any other Group internal policy, a breach of the regulations in force, a conflict of interest, an act of corruption or influence peddling, a threat or harm to the common good, serious harm to the environment or to the health or safety of people, or a serious violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This system guarantees the anonymity of the person making the alert and to risk confidentiality in the handling of each alert. This system fulfils the requirements of Articles 6 and 17 of the Sapin 2 Law and the Duty of Vigilance Law. It was supplemented by Group procedures, applicable from 1 January 2022, on the processing of alerts and the conduct of internal investigations. These procedures make it possible to define a clear governance for the monitoring of alerts, and plan for the appointment of “investigation officers”, who will be trained on how to conduct internal investigations;
• ■training: the Group has set up a specific training plan on corruption and influence peddling. This training plan includes a common core for all Group employees in the form of e-learning, webinars and face-to-face workshops. This common core is supplemented by specific training for populations particularly exposed. At the end of 2022, 83.2% of Top Management had completed the anti-corruption e-learning module;
• ■accounting control procedures: the internal control framework has been expanded to incorporate all the corruption prevention measures introduced by the Group;
• ■assessment of third parties: the Group has adopted a procedure for assessing third parties, both for anti-corruption and influence peddling for aspects related to its duty of vigilance. This procedure specifies the assessment of the entity or partner to be carried out upstream, on the basis of research and documentation collection as well as the action to be taken in the event of a risk. In the context of mergers and acquisitions, a compliance and reputation audit is also systematically carried out;
• ■assessment of the system: the Compliance Department draws up a system control plan which specifies the departments in charge of control and the control points determined. The Group’s Audit and Internal Control Department is in charge of level 3 control and includes issues relating to corruption or fraud in its audit plan.

The Group has a central tax function within the Group Finance team. This department coordinates the tax policies of the various countries where the Group operates and ensures compliance with tax laws and the payment of fair taxes on the basis of the taxable income generated by the Group.

The purpose of the Group’s tax approach is to support the Group’s operational activity and its mission to serve elderly or fragile people. The tax positions are therefore realistic and based on a reasonable interpretation of the applicable laws; they are also closely linked to the economic substance of the activities carried out locally.

Korian does not use tax structures that would enable it to avoid paying tax, nor does it invest in companies or structures located in tax havens. The Group refrains from taking advantage of any tax situation that does not comply with its Ethics Charter and expects its partners to comply with an equivalent level of ethics.

The difference between the tax expense and the cash out amount is primarily attributable to:

• ■the recognition of deferred taxes on all tax items giving rise to temporary differences;
• ■the legal gap between recognition of the tax expense and its final payment with a balance of corporate tax in 2021 and, as a result, particularly significant advances in France for 2022 due to exceptional transactions.

We operate over 1,200 facilities in Europe, with a very dense regional network in urban and rural areas. It is therefore essential that we manage the environmental footprint of our buildings. Our first actions have targeted the optimisation of energy consumption, as well as waste reduction. Then, on the basis of a full carbon footprint audit carried out in 2019, we prepared a first roadmap to reduce the carbon footprint of our real-estate portfolio by 2030 and set ourselves the following three main objectives in 2019:

• ■reduce the carbon footprint related to the energy consumption of the Group’s real estate portfolio by 40% by 2030;
• ■reduce residual waste by 5% by 2023;
• ■engage all new Greenfield buildings in an HQE or equivalent certification process.

Beyond these objectives, Korian is also working towards a more comprehensive decarbonisation of its activities, mainly in its purchases for catering, goods and services, as well as for employee transport. The Group has also joined an initiative to preserve and restore biodiversity in urban environments (the Biodiversity Impulsion Group).

Regulation (EU) 2020/852, known as the European Taxonomy Regulation, is a key element of the European Commission’s action plan to redirect capital flows towards a more sustainable economy. To this end, the European Taxonomy sets a classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities.

As a non-financial company, below Korian presents the share of the Group’s revenue, capital expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx) for the 2022 financial year which are associated with taxonomy eligible activities under the first two environmental objectives (mitigation of climate change and adaptation to climate change), in accordance with Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation and Article 10 (2) of the Delegated Act supplementing Article 8. The analysis covers all Group entities (scope of fully consolidated entities).

The Korian group has identified among its various activities (see Section 1.1 of the Universal Registration Document for the presentation of the Group’s activities) those covered by the European Taxonomy Regulation with regard to the two climate objectives:

• ■mitigation of climate change;
• ■adaptation to climate change.

These activities are presented in the table below:

The Group’s long-term care nursing home activities are part of Objective 2, adaptation to climate change, Section 12.1 “Residential care activities”. Due to the similarity of the services (extended accommodation and medical care) of post-acute and rehabilitation care clinics and mental health clinics (excluding outpatient solutions), the latter are also considered to be relevant to Section 12.1.

The share of revenue associated with activities eligible for the European Taxonomy was determined based on the segmentation of revenue by activity in the Group’s information systems and reconciled to the line “Revenue and other income” of the consolidated financial statements as at 31 December 2022 (see Chapter 6, Section 6.1 of this document).

Pursuant to Delegated Regulation 2021/4987 published by the European Commission on 6 July 2021 (Appendix I 1.1.1), the revenue from long-term care nursing home and healthcare facility activities meeting Objective 2 “Adaptation to climate change” was excluded due to the non-qualifying nature of the activity.

Only revenue corresponding to rents received from residential solutions (Activity 7.7 “Acquisition and ownership of buildings”) and sales of furnished apartments for non-professional leasing (Activity 7.1 “Construction of new buildings”) is considered eligible.

This resulted in a percentage of Group eligible revenue of 1% for the 2022 financial year. This percentage stems directly from the classification of the Group’s activities as established by the current texts, which do not consider the medico-social housing business, Korian’s main activity, as qualifying under adaptation criteria. This figure does not in any way reflect the Group’s commitment to reducing its carbon emissions. However, these activities are included in the basis for calculating the eligibility ratios for CapEx.

Given the insignificant amount of eligible revenue related to Activity 7.1 “Construction of new buildings” and 7.7 “Acquisition and ownership of buildings”, the Group has not carried out any alignment analysis concerning the revenue generated by these activities.

The breakdown of revenue eligibility and alignment is presented below:

The share of CapEx associated with the eligible activities was calculated on the basis of the amounts paid for the acquisition of tangible and intangible assets and increases in rights of use, including those resulting from business combinations, associated with the eligible activities of the Group.

The CapEx segmentation by activity was carried out on the basis of the right-of-use assets broken down by entity and the Group’s capital expenditure reporting and reconciled to the consolidated financial statements as at 31 December 2022 (see Chapter 6, Note 5 “Goodwill, intangible assets and property, plant and equipment”). The CapEx of small amounts (amounts of less than €1 million) or that cannot be allocated to a single activity (for example headquarters CapEx, IT CapEx, maintenance CapEx not detailed) as well as increases in rights of use were excluded.

At 31 December 2022, the share of eligible and aligned CapEx amounted to 29% and 12% respectively, details of which are presented in the table below.

Given the absence of CapEx related to Activity 7.1 “Construction of new buildings”, the Group focused on Activity 7.7 “Acquisition and ownership of buildings”.

As summarised in the previous analysis table, all of the Group’s CapEx for Activity 7.7 “Acquisition and ownership of buildings” are considered eligible.

In order to analyse the alignment of Activity 7.7 “Acquisition and ownership of buildings” as part of the climate change mitigation objective, the Group focused on investments related to Ages & Vie (which is its alternative housing offering in France) and applied the criteria of substantial contribution and the DNSH prescribed by Appendix 1 to the regulations.

For buildings with a building permit dated after 31 December 2020, the analysis was carried out on the basis of the “NZEB minus 10%” thresholds, i.e. “RT 2012 minus 10%” for buildings with building permits filed under the 2012 Thermal Regulation or “RE 2020” for buildings with a building permit filed under the 2020 Environmental Regulation.

For buildings with a building permit dated prior to 31 December 2020, the analysis was based on the energy performance certificates and the primary energy consumption thresholds of the top 15% established, in France, by the Sustainable Real Estate Observatory (Observatoire de l’Immobilier Durable);

As the Group is located in Europe, Korian has considered as material the climate risks related to heat waves, drought, soil degradation, severe weather and coastal erosion for its centres close to the sea.

To carry out the physical climate risk analyses, Korian based itself on the pessimistic projections of the IPCC on the lifespan of its buildings (Scenario 8.5). These analyses were carried out on all Ages & Vie sites under construction in 2022.

When a building was particularly exposed to a risk given its geographical position, a plan identifying actions for adapting the asset to the climate risk in question as well as the actions to be implemented was decided.

Concerning Activity 12.1 “Residential care activities”, as it concerns an adaptation activity within the meaning of the taxonomy, an analysis of the physical climate risks (as described in the previous paragraph) and the implementation and definition of an adaptation plan are required in order to consider the CapEx as eligible. Such analyses were carried out during the 2022 financial year for a selection of assets in France and Europe in order to assess whether their CapEx related to new construction of facilities, property buybacks and external growth were eligible. No extrapolation was carried out for assets that were not analysed for physical climate risks, which were therefore considered ineligible.