We are committed to ongoing dialogue with stakeholders to allow us to more effectively meet their expectations, address issues related to our activities, and drive a mutual process of continuous improvement.

Strong employee and shareholder relations

Our long-standing dialogue with employees and shareholders takes a variety of forms.

The two primary resources for listening to the concerns of our employees are dialogue and a satisfaction survey introduced in 2000. Since 2005, the survey has been conducted every two years. In 2007, more than 51,000 employees from 238 units in 80 countries were surveyed, with a response rate of 61%. The overall satisfaction level is 74%. In addition, 73% of our employees report that their work gives them a sense of personal accomplishment.

Close relations are maintained with individual shareholders, notably through the regular publication of the Shareholders' Newsletter , dedicated events that foster interaction and discussion, such as the Annual Shareholders' Meeting and the Shareholders' Club, and special seminars organized by the Shareholders' Club to help members understand financial statements.
We also maintain close, ongoing relations with institutional shareholders, in particular through twice-annual roadshows and numerous meetings held throughout the year.
To learn more, go to Investor Relations on our Web site .

Other stakeholders: improving the process

We are committed to expanding and improving dialogue with all of our external stakeholders, including neighboring communities, NGOs, and local authorities and institutions. That entails:

1. Organizing dialogue more effectively. To help us with this, we introduced a process in 2005 to map stakeholders around our main industrial facilities. The process, known as SRM+, is being extended across our organization. To learn more about SRM +, go to the Development/Community Involvement section .

2. More accurately identify their expectations. To help us do this, in 2005 we asked a consultant to conduct a survey to assess public perception of Total and our corporate social responsibility policies. Respondents were well known figures such as NGO members and academics with a special interest in social responsibility issues. Its principal findings were that the public recognizes Total's efforts, especially our clear commitments and goals, our support for major reference documents and our willingness to listen when it comes to sensitive issues such as Myanmar and Sudan .

However, there is continued criticism on subjects that include our presence in Myanmar, a formal community involvement policy and financial transparency .