The process

To develop a benchmark for the process, the action principles in the Code of Conduct were divided into six stakeholder categories — shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and contractors, business partners and host countries — and then broken down into 87 compliance criteria, known as evidence points, whose front-line application is verified externally by the GoodCorporation team.

The 87 points cover such key topics as human rights (with regard to employees, contractors and host communities), relations with neighbors, health, safety and the environment, fraud and corruption, and free competition.

The head of the unit concerned, which has either been identified by the Ethics Committee or has requested the assessment, appoints an officer to coordinate the process. Information is circulated in advance to enable the unit to prepare for the assessment, which is presented in detail and finalized (schedule, scope, list of people to be interviewed) at a preliminary two-day meeting with GoodCorporation representatives.

The assessment begins six to eight weeks after the meeting. It generally lasts around two weeks and is conducted by a three-person team from GoodCorporation, one of whom is very familiar with the local situation.

To verify processes, documents are reviewed and roughly 100 individual, confidential interviews are conducted with senior management and representatives of the different stakeholder categories (employees, suppliers, customers, partners, host communities, etc.).

• Major non-compliance: There is no policy or criteria, or the system does not work.
• Minor non-compliance: There is a system in place, but it does not always work.
• Observation: The system works, but there is room for improvement.
• Merit: The system works well.
• Commendation: The system is a benchmark for best practice.

The 87 scores obtained make up the unit’s “ethical profile,” providing an outside view of its ethical and corporate responsibility performance.

A report is prepared outlining the existing situation, the assessment results and, if necessary, recommended actions, preferably based on best practices already used in other units.

The Ethics Committee formally presents the assessment process and findings to the unit’s senior management team, which then implements the recommended action plan.

A follow-up assessment is generally carried out two years after the initial assessment to measure the plan’s effectiveness.

A management resource

Ethical assessment gives the unit concerned an accurate overview of how well its operations comply with Total’s principles and how well it is satisfying its internal and external stakeholders.

This means the unit can compare performance with expectations, offering a clearer vision of its practices. In turn, this enables managers to rank compliance priorities, while respecting the distinctive nature of local challenges and requirements.

At Group level, assessment enhances the consistency of corporate social responsibility policies, enabling them to be compared and a database of best practices to be created. This in turn promotes and facilitates the sharing of best practices across Total.

Although situations vary from one country to another, units often face similar dilemmas, which underscores the benefits of having more effective information sharing on these issues. Available on the intranet since early 2006, a database of best practices provides responses for other units that are reviewing their practices and looking for ways to improve.

Assessment Results

Examples of results reported in certain subsidiaries assessed since 2002