The network encourages companies to put work on the same level as other economic components such as products, markets, and technologies. It fosters the participation of all corporate stakeholders (managers, executives, employees) in development projects. Its aim is to help businesses to conceive, promote and implement public incentive policies, tools and innovative methods.  

1 - Organisation

ANACT’s head office is in Lyon and relies on a network of 26 regional associations or ARACTs (Agence Régionale pour l’Amélioration des Conditions de Travail).

The ANACT network gathers 287 employees in Lyon and in French regions.

Administrators

• It is a public office reporting to the Ministry of Labour
• It is governed by a tripartite council. The board brings together representatives from employer and employee organisations, State authorities, and experts. It deliberates on the budget and the agency’s programme of actions.
• A scientific committee contributes to the follow-up and assessment of actions conducted by the agency.

Funding

Network activities are financed by public subsidies from the French Labour Ministry and by other resources such as the Social European Fund, Regional Development Agencies, or the Directorate for Labour, Employment and Vocational Training.

2009 Key figures

• 287 employees within the ANACT network: 80 at the head office in Lyon and 204 in ARACTs
• 155 specialist project leaders work with companies. They may be psychologists, sociologists, ergonomists, administrators or economists.
• 2328 missions in companies. 71% in companies with less than 250 employees.

2 - ANACT-ARACT relations

ARACT or regional associations

• There are 26 regional associations.
• ARACTs are managed by joint boards, with representatives from employer and employee organisations. They jointly validate and monitor the programme of actions and manage each association.
• ARACTs are private structures and funded jointly by the State and the Region.

ANACT-ARACT relations

• ANACT provides ARACT regional associations with technical support and coordinates the network.
• ANACT-ARACT relations are set out in a Network Charter which defines mutual commitments. This charter reasserts the nature of the joint mission and specifies its modus operandi in relation to companies, employer and employee organisations as well as to public finance organisations.

3 - Activities

The ANACT network’s work themes are determined by a progress contract signed with the State for 4 years (2009-2012 for the Fourth contract). The projects structure the activity and fuel discussion on priority themes.

Until 2012, the network will strive to:

• Reinforcing transfer actions towards small and very small businesses
• Fostering a horizontal approach for innovative projects
• Giving social partners better tools for the implementation of actions
• Promoting better integration of the European and international dimensions within the network

1 - Monitoring of changes to working conditions

Information is collected on:

Evolving working conditions

Innovative experiences and methodologies/practices concerning technological, organisational and social changes

Policies implemented and roles of various stakeholders

New questions raised during projects

2 - Consulting: supporting companies and organisations

Multidisciplinary teams work closely with experts and researchers. They work with companies, associations or administrative offices.

• Short-term missions (diagnosis) mainly aimed at SMEs (free-of-charge five-day programmes)
• Support to companies through tools and methods for project steering, follow-up working groups
• Collective action: collective territorial, branch or inter professional actions aimed at small and very small businesses. These actions involve field investigations, capitalization and transfer actions
• Long-term missions to try out best practices as part of project support and to measure their impact (mainly aimed at large organisations)
• Training designed for company stakeholders, consultants, prevention stakeholders, etc

3 - Capitalizing and transferring experience

The diversity of actions managed by the ANACT network means that a specific approach is adapted for each case. Each experience provides a series of lessons which are used to build consistent, innovative and homogeneous actions. The dissemination of the experience built up and capitalized by the ANACT network is a major part of the transfer strategy. It provides network users (companies, social partners, consultants, experts, etc) with support in terms of knowledge, methods and practices allowing them to further improve the quality of their working conditions.

ANACT products

The ANACT network publishes products useful to companies’ stakeholders such as managers, human resources managers, employee representatives, consultants, etc

• A bimonthly periodic “Travail & Changement”
• Monthly regional electronic newsletters
• Free and thematic studies, guides and brochures
• Books on methodologies/practices
• Conferences and events
• A week on the theme of “The quality of life at work” organised each year in June. In 2009, the theme was “Prevent stress and psychosocial risks at work” and in 2010, “Musculoskeletal disorders: knowing them to prevent them”.

In order to face new challenges such as population ageing, worldwide competition or adaptation to new technologies, the European Union has decided to renew the foundations of its competitiveness and to reinforce its social cohesion.
Thus, two strategies guide ANACT’s activity at an international level:

• developing a more open relationship with other countries: finding sources of inspiration in other countries’ experiences helps evolution at a regional or national level (e.g. risks evaluation, lifelong learning or stress)
• social cohesion: improving working conditions in Europe is the basis for coherence and social cohesion.

ANACT has relations with the three European agencies:

• EUROFOUND (European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions - Dublin)- Dublin Foundation leads projects and research to contribute to the development of European policy in terms of working conditions.
ANACT has been the national correspondent for Eurofound.
• EU-OSHA (European Agency for health and safety at work - Bilbao) - “Bilbao”, founded in 1996, is managed by a tripartite council. It is in charge of collecting and disseminating information on health and safety at work. It has developed an information network with national correspondents, cooperation and partnerships.
• CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training - Thessaloniki) - Cedefop is the European Agency to promote the development of vocational education and training in the European Union.

 
ANACT participates to the following European projects:
RACINE projects
ANACT is the Lead organisation for two transnational projects within ESF (European Social Fund) Programs. The French ESF national-level Managing Authority delegates the management of the transnational measures at national level to an Intermediary Body: RACINE.

• Transferring Experiential Knowledge : At a time when the working population is ageing, companies are faced with a dual challenge: maintaining older people (over 55) in employment and, developing and sustaining experiential knowledge. These issues impact performance and the ability to improve working conditions. The aim of this project is first to provide tools and methods to small and very small businesses and intermediaries, and then to transfer them at national and transnational levels. The transnational partner is FTU (Fondation Travail Université) in Belgium.
• Work simulation tools and methods for SMEs : It was acknowledged that, during their organisational change, SMEs do not usually take into account employees working conditions. Thus, the project aims at giving them practices and simulation tools already tested in Europe (Denmark, Netherlands and France). The transnational partners are TNO (Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) in Netherlands and DNI (Danish Technological Institute) in Denmark.

HIRES Project (Health In REStructuring)
Enterprise restructuring puts the physical and psychosocial health of all organizational members at risk (laid-off members and survivors of the restructuring). With 14 other European countries, ANACT has taken part in a study on the link between health and restructuring. The results of the HIRES project are based on the interdisciplinary expertises from these 15 European project partners and 12 external experts. The report, published in 2007, suggests an evaluation of enterprise restructuring and the social frameworks and change procedures that should be considered for “healthier restructuring”.
The 2009 project HIRES Plus plans to implement in each European country ideas developed with HIRES, and develop knowledge networks. In the Rhône-Alpes region, ANACT has taken part in a seminar gathering experts, social partners, administrations and practioners to:study the relevance of HIRES’ statements, give an inventory of the situation in France, exchange on initiatives taken or to be taken and exchange on French and European points of view.

MOVE Europe
The campaign “Work. In tune with life. Move Europe” is an ENWHP initiative within 18 European countries to help promote mental health in workplaces. Its aim is first to make companies, social partners and institutional stakeholders, aware of stress and psychosocial risks, and then to encourage them to prevent these risks.
In France, ANACT leads and coordinates this campaign, and updates a website ("mieuxvivreautravail") providing information and tools to prevent psychosocial risks.

The OiRA project (Online Interactive Risk Assessment)
Along with other European organisations, ANACT works for the OiRA project. Its aim is to encourage European micro and small enterprises to assess their risks by putting at their disposal an online risk assessment tool. The official launch of the tool is planned for September 2011. This web application is based on software developed by TNO. In France, the 2001 decree asks companies to write a “Document Unique” (Single Document) with the list of occupational risks and a plan for actions. The DGT (Direction Générale du Travail) was also interested by the TNO software (adapted to French specificities) to help companies with their Document Unique. In that context, the show business branch, with important needs (one “Document Unique” per show) asked the help of the ANACT network.

French-speaking research group on Musculoskeletal disorders
The French-speaking research group on Musculoskeletal Disorders is an informal association composed of about 30 researchers from Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland, France and North Africa, and working in various fields. The aim of the group is to discuss scientific issues and to make known and support the research on musculoskeletal disorders. The decompartmentalization of scientific fields and between researchers and project managers is necessary when faced with the complexity of MSDs’ origins and the necessary renewing of strategies. Congresses are organised in that perspective.
The aim of the 2011 Congress - co-organised by ANACT and PACTE (research unit of CNRS and Grenoble University) - is to answer the question: what is the place to be given to psychosocial risks and to the tools necessary to prevent MSDs?
It is organised around two themes:

• Links between musculoskeletal disorders and psychosocial risks
• Tools and methods mobilised by prevention stakeholders.


 ANACT participates to European networks:

• EANPC: European Agency of National Productivity Centres. Its purpose is "to facilitate and increase exchanges of information and experiences, and arrange co-operation among participating bodies". Exchanges are focussed on questions of socio-economic changes such as productivity, innovation, employment and work quality.
• ENWHP: European Network for Workplace Health Promotion. It “promotes good practice in workplace health promotion and advocates the adoption of such practice in all European workplaces”. This is an informal network involving occupational health and safety institutes, social security institutes, social insurances and public health organisations.
• EWON: European Work Organisation Network. This network was created by the European Commission in order to foster competitiveness, employment and quality of working life. Its aim is to build new forms of work organisation within the European Union.
• WIN:  Work-In-Net . Its aim is to set up sustainable communication and cooperation in Europe between national and regional research activities in the area of work-related innovation issues. ANACT is an associated partner.

 
ANACT works too with national institutions:

• INRS (Institut National de Recherche et Sécurité – France)
• IRSST (Institut de Recherche en Santé et Sécurité du Travail – Québec) - IRSST is financed by the State of Quebec and carries out studies, missions or collective actions in order to improve working conditions in companies.