Purpose: good start, but how can we go beyond that?

What is the PACTE law and how was it received?

Promulgated in 2019, the Law on the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation (PACTE) proposes to “redefine the raison d'être of businesses”, in three steps.

These three steps represent a gradual commitment on the part of businesses: from a taken into consideration social and environmental issues, to a involvement potentially enshrined in the statutes (the reason for being), then to a statute of a company with a mission that involves the establishment of a body of tracking.

These measures are not only beneficial to society and the environment, but also to businesses that choose to apply them. Indeed, they represent a strong guarantee of transparency and stability, which will not fail to resonate positively on the markets and with investors. And while the positive impact on the company's image, whether with future candidates or customers, is obvious... it also raises distrust.

The PACTE garnered a lot of attention. In short, and While these measures are only in their first steps, the State is already being blamed for not having sufficiently designed the stick with which to beat those who abuse them. The term of Purpose Washing appears: how to prevent companies from using this raison d'être, which is ultimately not very engaging, only as a fine communication campaign? What is the point of giving the intermediate option of raison d'être, before the status of a company with a mission, which finally makes it possible to monitor the commitments made? And beyond monitoring these commitments, how can companies that do not respect them be sanctioned? What means of pressure, sanction, punishment will be put in place, what jurisprudence?...

The raison d'être provides an ideal “starter step”

The PACTE law represents a decisive step in the way we see the economy in France (Great Britain with profit-with-purpose business, the United States with B-Corp or even Italy having already beaten us in this aspect). It is now enshrined in the law that the raison d'être of businesses no longer only includes a concept of profit, but also a respect for social and environmental issues. On the official website of the PACTE law, you can read:

Businesses are not limited to the pursuit of profit. The company must be the place where its value is created and shared. The PACTE makes it possible to redefine the raison d'être of companies and to strengthen the consideration of social and environmental issues related to their activity.

Here, the government has chosen to take a stand, and urges each company to do the same. It is true that for the time being, the PACTE law leaves companies with grey areas and a lot of margin. The terms “take into consideration”, for example, imply an obligation of means, not results. And it's true that an unscrupulous board of directors could quite easily turn it into a marketing stunt.

But the criticisms against these new measures have been a bit harsh, and a bit quick. The ultimate challenge is indeed the transition to action (at Fifty, we would never say the opposite). And precisely the law, as it exists today, is ideally formulated: it represents an ideal first step in a context where many companies have a long way to go.

The principle of the starter step, which Léonie Messmer talks about very effectively in this article, is to put your foot on the ladder by starting with an easier action, in order to launch the dynamic of transition to action. Do you want to start exercising? We won't tell you to register for the Paris Marathon right away, but rather to start by going for a 20-minute run. In the same way, asking companies to immediately make commitments, enshrined in their statutes and potentially subject to sanctions, represents too much of a step to take. Let's not forget that it is not that far away, that time when we considered that the only end of a business was to make a profit...

Asking companies to first ask themselves about their social and environmental issues is an essential prerequisite, especially for companies for whom these considerations were absolutely not on the agenda. Going so far as to include them in their raison d'être places these issues at the heart of their strategic decisions and management — a second key step, since it sends a strong message to employees, investors, customers, customers, future recruits...

But between the starter step and the achievement of the objective, there is still a long way to go!

As essential as a starter step is, the trap is to leave it at that, instead of continuing to climb the next few steps.. That is to say, once a commitment has been made, the next step is to make it a reality, by making concrete and measurable actions.

On the one hand, these actions must be defined by the company's management, at the level macro : here, it is the company as a social entity that acts. Take the example of the Yves Rocher group, which has already taken the plunge to become a company with a mission, with the mission of “Reconnecting its communities to nature”. In concrete terms, the management has already committed itself to carrying out several actions, such as creating an observatory within the sustainable ecosystem in La Gacilly.

On the other hand, these macro actions must be complemented by micro actions, which can be carried out by each of the collaborators, in order to make them actors of the raison d'être. Thus, it is the operational activities that give concrete expression, day after day, to the raison d'être of the company.

And This is the challenge that Fifty answers : our eDoing solution recommends, every week, micro-actions translating the raison d'être through the prism of the daily life of employees. These micro-actions are personalized, and above all, they are measurable: they thus represent the concrete and very real guarantee that the company as a whole embodies its raison d'être or its mission. For example, a company committed to diversity and inclusion will see its employees perform micro-actions such as “Make your next presentation accessible to the visually impaired” or “In your next 3 emails, write inclusively”.

To learn more about Fifty and our solution, download our white paper: “Our job: the transition to action” !