Can well-being at work also be valued on the stock market?

Table football is not enough! A nap room either. To be a good place to live, you need a lot more. And it is not human resource managers who say so, but financial managers, those who are responsible for selecting successful companies that will reward investors in the stock market. Some have decided to invest specifically in companies where it is pleasant to work, because "human capital" is, for them, one of the factors of the economic performance of companies ... " Well-being at work makes it possible to have committed employees, to attract and retain talent, especially in the younger generations ”,underlines Cyril Charlot, co-founder of Sycomore AM. This asset manager is so convinced of the importance of quality of life in the office that he has created a specific fund on this subject, called Sycomore Happy @ work.

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" Providing a pleasant working life fosters innovation, also makes it possible to differentiate oneself from competitors and retain customers " adds Marie Fromaget, ESG analyst at Axa IM, a manager who has also offered - for 15 years - a focused fund on human capital.

But how do these financiers manage to gauge the development and happiness of the collaborators of this or that company on which they think to set their sights? "First, you have to look for information ," says Cyril Charlot. Listen to the representatives of the company, of course, but also contact former employees and the unions to get their bell. Sites like Glassdoor can also be a source of inspiration for asking the right questions to the director of human resources, but the comments found there do not provide relevant lighting unless they are numerous, ”underlines the manager.

The information collected is used to feed its analytical grid, called Sacre (Sense, Autonomy, Skills, Relations, Equity). Because a good place to work is first of all a meaningful business. " It has set itself a mission, it has values, it provides a framework for its employees " he specifies. In the autonomy chapter, he sifted through the organization of the company and the management of personnel. Objective: assess whether managers trust their employees and leave them room to maneuver. “ In France, companies often have very hierarchical structures and exercise a lot of control over employees. However, to be happy, they need freedom, ”he adds. To assess skills management, he lets the numbers speak. The budget devoted to training in relation to the wage bill and other companies in the sector, for example, is an indicator.

Statistic data

The quality of human relationships (the R of the Sacred method) is more abstract. "But we can form an idea by seeing if the company celebrates events, for example contracts won or lost , how it is expected that managers give feedback to employees on their work or the development of their business " , Testifies Cyril Charlot.

The last criterion, equity, is measured in terms of career development, pay gaps - justified or not - between employees, or employee share ownership plans, sometimes too unbalanced in favor of managers.

Axa IM, for its part, relies first on statistical data, before refining by talking to companies. " The good quality of working conditions can be assessed, for example, from indicators such as absenteeism or turnover ", underlines Marie Fromaget. Investments in training, the organization of social dialogue, the evolution of the accident rate at work are also scrutinized.

In general, these managers are mainly interested in medium-sized companies, where well-being at work can make the difference more and which are less often scrutinized than large groups. Among those he had in his portfolio, Sycomore cites for example Lululemon (yoga outfit) and his very marked corporate culture, or TD Bank, a young Canadian bank which stood out for its humorous and a strong slogan: "Unexpectedly human" . “ They want smiling employees because it can be heard on the phone. With them, variable compensation depends solely on customer satisfaction and not on the number of products sold, ”says Cyril Charlot.

But, even concerned about well-being at work, managers remain financiers. When a company where it is decidedly very good to live has already gone up too much on the stock market, it can be taken out of the fund to give way to another which will offer better upside potential… but where it will also make “good living”.