How Saint-Gobain, Capgemini and bioMérieux are Engaging Employees from a Human-Centric Perspective

Engaging employees has always been a priority for organisations wanting to get the best out of their people.

Over the years, there have been many strategies to engage employees, and more recently, organisations have begun to use a human-centric approach. An organisation does not necessarily need to be human-centric to engage its employees but organisations that are human-centric are seeing better engagement levels than those that aren’t.

That was the topic in mind in a recent roundtable we hosted with HR experts from bioMérieux, Capgemini and Saint-Gobain.

These experts included: Regis Blugeon, Director of Social Affairs and HRD for France at Saint-Gobain; Franck Baillet, the EVP of Learning and Development at Capgemini; Pretheshini Moodley, Regional Head of Human Resources for Africa at BioMérieux, and Paola Bottaro, People Director at Top Employers Institute.

These certified Top Employers are embracing a human-centric approach and utilising it to engage their employees. Throughout the article, we will explore how these organisations are making a more holistic approach to employee engagement without ignoring the challenges faced by organisations making this change.

How Does an Organisation Become Human-Centric?

A human-centric organisation, also known as a people-centric or employee-centric organisation, strongly emphasises its employees’ wellbeing, development, and satisfaction. In this type of organisation, employees are considered the most valuable asset, and the entire organisational structure and culture are designed to prioritise their needs, growth, and overall experience.

Some characteristics of a human-centric organisation include:

Prioritising employee wellbeing.
A healthy work-life balance for employees.
Creating a diverse and inclusive culture.
Maintaining open communication across the organisation.
Ensuring that employees feel empowered and have a sense of autonomy.
Allowing employees to have flexible work arrangements.
Cultivating a collaborative environment at work.
Investing in professional development for every employee.

The concept of a human-centric organisation recognises that when employees are valued, supported, and engaged, they are more likely to be motivated, productive, and committed to the organisation’s success.

During Top Employers Inspire 2023, we got an insider’s view of how Top Employers Institute is becoming a human-centric organisation. Paola Bottaro, People Director at Top Employers Institute, talked to Wouter van Ewijk about how the business has adapted to support its employees better while learning to be mindful, empathetic, and purposeful. You can watch that session here.

Assumptions About a Human-Centric Organisation.

The concept of a human-centric organisation is still very new, and as such, many incorrect assumptions come with the term. Some of these assumptions are around how it is easier to implement a human-centric approach depending on some factors like:

The organisation’s industry: there are doubts that some sectors, like investment banking and manufacturing, can become human-centric.
The size of the organisation: there are assumptions that it is easier for smaller organisations to be human-centric than other larger organisations.
Geographical location: it is assumed that organisations that operate where there is a national legal framework find it easier to be human-centric.
Type of employee: there may be an assumption that having a human-centric approach for an organisation with white-collar workers is more effortless.

However, many of these assumptions are incorrect. Organisations that want to become human-centric differ in many ways, yet they can all engage with this approach.

How Top Employers like Saint-Gobain, Capgemini and BioMérieux Understand Human-Centric Organisations

Pretheshini Moodley, Regional Head of Human Resources for Africa at BioMérieux, started this discussion by sharing how BioMérieux sees a human-centric perspective as engaging their people by “considering the individual needs”. This fits into their way of working because, as an organisation, one of their values is centred around belonging – where people can be themselves while feeling like they belong at BioMérieux.

As an organisation, they have prioritised listening to their employees and allowing them to share their genuine feelings and thoughts. In many ways, they are highlighting the diversity of their employees. While BioMérieux engages with their employees in a human-centric approach, they prefer to call it employee-centric as they feel that it allows their employees to feel better represented by the approach that they are taking.

At Capgemini, Franck Baillet, the EVP of Learning and Development, shared how the organisation recognises that one of its significant assets is its people. As such, they see the topic of engagement and human-centric work as “absolutely key”. As a human-centric organisation, one of the things they try to do at all times is to “put the individual at the centre at all times.”

While they see a human-centric approach as the best, Franck notes how it can be challenging at all times, primarily due to their size, but it is still something they enact across their organisation. Similarly to BioMérieux, Capgemini prioritises regularly listening to their employees to understand what is best for them. It helps them test the “temperature” of their employees’ feelings.

As the conversation continued, Regis Blugeon, Director of Social Affairs and HRD for France at Saint-Gobain, shared how Saint-Gobain see themselves first as customer-centric and people-oriented. For them, everything starts with the customer. The engagement of their people is significant for them, and they engage them by prioritising what their customers and their people need.

One of the ways that they keep themselves accountable for their employees’ feelings around engagement is by measuring their engagement levels regularly. Their regular check-ins with their employees are why they see themselves as people-oriented because this approach to their employees impacts many other aspects of their day-to-day work environment; it is just balanced with the needs of their customers. For Saint-Gobain, this regular assessment is also essential because their organisation is not a monolith, but rather, they have a remarkably diverse set of workers – from blue-collar to white-collar.

How Top Employers Institute is Becoming a Human-Centric Organisation

As the discussion around Top Employers Institute’s shift into becoming a human-centric organisation, Paola Bottaro explained that the company did not decide to become human-centric overnight. Instead, their leadership board undertook the decision, understanding that this approach is complex, especially as there is no such thing as a “typical human experience”.

At first, when the organisation began to think around this issue, they considered calling it an action- or activity-driven approach. Still, they settled on the human-centric approach because it encapsulated their desire to give everyone a fair and equal experience while understanding the differences that make us human.

In a similar vein as the Top Employers in the conversation, Paola stressed the importance of listening to employees, especially as working in a human-centric way is explicitly not a one size fits all approach, and even she recognises that you can never know everything about working in a human-centric way. That is why listening is essential and embracing that you may not always understand, but you should always be open to listening.

What About Engagement?

Franck shifted the conversation to understanding what engagement means. In some ways, the word is quite generic as it can apply to many situations because an employee can be engaged in many different ways. And for each employee, their way of being engaged at work may be completely different.

He thinks organisations must consider “how they can create the best conditions for people to feel engaged?” He sees that engaging employees is in so many different people’s hands, which is part of why engaging employees is more of a complex task than it appears to be on the surface.

Franck sees that employees understanding the “why” of their job is playing a critical role in improving the engagement of employees as it helps to guide the organisation to develop the conditions to support employees – making them feel more engaged.

Adding to Franck’s, Pretheshini explained how at BioMérieux, they launched a project to gauge their employees’ sense of purpose before they even critically thought about engagement. They did this by investigating employee insights, and asking each person how they viewed purpose and “why they were here [at BioMérieux]”. They used this as the start of their engagement journey to create a sense of purpose and better understand each person’s motivations. It made it a lot easier for them to understand the voice of their employees because of this project.

Once they had done this part of the project, they ensured they created a safe environment for their employees to share their thoughts. The environment needed to be a place that empowered employees in a ‘space’ they could trust because, without these safe spaces, they would be unable to have satisfying and enlightening discussions.

Beyond having a survey or a measurement for their employee engagement, BioMérieux has created a game that leans into their desire for honest conversations. In the game, they encourage employees to be courageous and utilise the trust they’ve built with their colleagues. In the game, when an employee wants to be courageous, they show the car to their manager and then say how they would like to share something important. Pretheshini shared that they see “every failure as an opportunity to become better”, and that can only happen when you’re brave enough to try something that may lead to failure. It allows employees to feel engaged because they are given the space to truly try their best, even when it doesn’t work out.

Watch More: Top Employers 2023 – Interview Hunkemöller

How Does Leadership Fit In?

Leaders in an organisation are often the guides that make initiatives work, but that still needs to be completed in a boardroom. Instead, modern organisations require empathetic, emotionally intelligent leaders, good listeners and communicators. These are often considered soft skills and have been undervalued for many years. Still, when it comes to engagement, these skills are crucial to having an authentic connection between leadership and employees.

Here are some key roles that leaders play in promoting employee engagement:

Effective communication: Leaders should foster open and transparent communication with employees.
Recognition and Appreciation: Leaders should recognise and appreciate employees’ contributions and achievements regularly.
Creating a Positive Work Environment: Leaders should foster a positive and inclusive workplace where employees feel safe, respected, and valued.
Aligning with Organisational Values: Leaders should ensure that their actions and decisions align with the organisation’s values and mission to help create a sense of purpose and shared direction.
Leading by Example: Engaged leaders model the behaviours they want to see in their employees.
Empowerment: Empowering employees by giving them autonomy and decision-making authority can increase their sense of ownership and engagement.
Professional Development: Leaders should support employees’ growth and development by providing training, skill-building, and career advancement opportunities.
Conflict Resolution: Addressing conflicts and issues promptly and fairly is essential for maintaining a positive work environment that engages employees.

Final Thoughts on Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a critical factor to many organisations’ success, and a human-centric approach recognises that engaged employees are motivated not only by financial incentives but also by a holistic experience that fulfils their emotional, psychological, and professional needs.

Engagement is also not a topic that rests solely in the hands of HR professionals; instead, it is a companywide task, and when an organisation is human-centric, it can better allow everyone to achieve these engagement goals. When employees are engaged, they become more committed, innovative, and motivated to contribute their best efforts to the organisation’s success.

While this is only a snippet of their conversation, it highlights some of the challenges and successes Top Employers are making in creating the conditions to support employee engagement.

To find out more, get in touch today for free and find out how to engage employee by becoming an employers of choice!

Winning the Battles for Talent

I think it’s time that we stop saying we’re in a war for talent. Not because the fight is cooling off, but rather, because it is intensifying. It is worth changing our perspective on the concept itself; its real form is not that of a war, but of continuous battles for talent. Organisation’s ability to attract, engage and stay committed to and excited about the talent they need is not something we win or lose at once. It is a process of continuous improvement – a thrilling one at that – in which the areas of people management play a decisive role.

Maximising the Employer Brand Strategy

88% of companies worldwide certified as Top Employers have an employer brand strategy that incorporates their employee value proposition as a core element. Naturally, all organisations offer some kind of value proposition to their employees.if they didn’t, it would be difficult to attract anyone, or keep them in the company for that matter – but here we are talking about effectively addressing the challenge of identifying, developing and communicating what you can offer to the talent you require, both during the hiring process and once they are in the company. A value propositon is something that makes the organisation unique, makes it a company that professionals want to belong to, where they want to work and thrive. That, undoubtedly, is a competitive advantage that sweeps away any competition.

Optimising the Candidate’s Journey

The best companies want to make sure they deliver on what they promise, and they achieve it by embarking on a process of listening and continuous improvement. That is why 89% of Top Employers design and review the key stages of their talent acquisition process so that they are aligned with the pillars or key characteristics of their employer brand. What’s more, 70% of Top Employers systematically measure their employer reputation among their potential candidates – their target market for talent – while 70% also map their candidate’s journey, allowing them to optimise it. They outline what the experience will be like, both from their perspective and that of the candidate, and work with the information they collect from surveys to implement a process of continuous improvement at each focal point. The aim of this is to improve the candidate’s experience so that the hiring process is agile and reflects the pillars of the employer’s brand, making the company more attractive.

Measuring the Experience of Newcomers

These steps are not limited to candidates; they are also aimed at employees, both existing and new. 79% of certified Top Employers measure the experience of new employees, but it is interesting to note that 40% also focus on discovering whether the perception of the employer brand the employee had before joining the organisation has matched their actual experience in their first few weeks of company life. This is very insightful information. It reflects the fact that they are companies with a daring attitude, that are very committed to people, and that thrive in the spirit of continuous improvement. The results they capture inevitably lead to action, and either they change the experience or they will have to change the employer brand.

The best companies will need to work to build trust in their employer brand with the aim of maintaining their commitment to their promise of value throughout the talent life cycle of the organisation. 85% of companies certified as Top Employers ensure that there is a clear alignment between the employer brand and the perception and experience that employees have. They are consistent and coherent brands that work to ensure that no disparity arises between how they consider themselves to be and how they really are in the day-to-day life of the company.

The EVP at the Core of the Employer Brand

An employer brand strategy should have the employee value proposition (EVP) at its core. This is, after all, what gives it consistency, because it brings together the tangible and intangible benefits offered to employees and is aligned with the pillars of the employer brand, related especially with the current and aspirational values of the company.

80% of Top Employers are clear on the fact that, for an employee, a good value proposition must include an effective listening process. For this reason, they actively involve representatives from different groups of employees in defining their value proposition, evaluating their needs, aspirations, and current work experiences. Best practices in this respect shows us the relevance of segmenting employee samples and analysing whether there is a gap between the company’s vision and that of the employee – something which is usually the joint work of management and human resources.

Mapping the Employee Experience

Of course, the EVP, the heart of the employer brand strategy, is certainly not the result of a one-off exercise; the best companies – 72% of Top Employers – increase their value by regularly assessing it, and they continue the systematic exercise of listening to employees. 46% of them use effective tools like employee experience mapping, which details the employee’s perception at every touch point of their journey in their relationship with the company.

Final Thoughts

Talent battles are continually being fought. Socrates, with very good judgment, left us with this reflection: “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear”. Consistency between what we say we are and what we really are is what builds trust in the employer brand. The best companies invest time, resources, and enthusiasm, as they embark on a process of continuous improvement to achieve what they promise.

Why Developing an Effective (Remote) Offboarding Process is Important

Remotely onboarding and offboarding employees are becoming the norm across organisations globally. These practices are revealing new challenges and opportunities in these new and established practices. While we explored some of these opportunities in our past article about onboarding, this article is focused on current practices around remote offboarding. The article will explore how people practices around offboarding are being adapted to meet the virtual digital landscape many employees are currently navigating.

What is Offboarding and Why is it Important?

Offboarding, which is the process when an employee parts ways with the organisation they have worked for, is often overlooked as much of the focus usually falls on onboarding processes. But offboarding should not be forgotten.

Offboarding is likely neglected because many often see offboarding as a necessary process for returning company equipment and deactivating company access to various systems. They forget the way the process of offboarding affects the transferring of responsibilities and knowledge, feedback from employees and the last impression they have of the company.

Let’s take a moment to look at some of the reasons why having a good offboarding process is important and should be on the HR agenda

Past employees can become future employees – The reason that employees leave companies is not always because they do not enjoy working at the company. There is a multitude of reasons why employees leave. They might leave for personal family reasons, because they are relocating, or because they feel that they may be challenged more at another organisation. In the future, it could become advantageous for both parties to work together. When employees leave on a sour note this possibility is diminished.

Past employees impact a company’s employer brand – The impressions of an organisation that an employee leaves with are built over the length of their employee journey. And the final days of their employment can cement their feelings about the organisation. While they may not work for the organisation anymore, if asked, they will likely report positive feelings. And as employer branding moves higher on the agenda, this good feeling can funnel into social posts and other word of mouth stories that help the business attract new employees.

Past employees can aid in assisting new employees – One of the more pertinent reasons for properly offboarding staff is the need for a smooth handover process between them and the new employee. When there is a well organised and empathetic offboarding process former employees are more likely to be willing to smooth the transition of knowledge and expertise to the next person.

How Offboarding has Gone Remote

While the larger shift to remote offboarding, like remote onboarding, was increased due to the global pandemic and with many jobs continuing to operate remotely it is sure to be a practice that not only stays but innovates to better suit the needs of the organisation and its workforce.

To create seamless and effective remote offboarding processes HR departments need to work closely with their Digital and IT departments to find the right digital process that helps to create an empathetic work environment that leaves employees feeling empowered and included in making their steps out of the organisation. The support of digital systems can lead to the creation of a well-thought-out dashboard or portal that can make the transitionary process seamless.

The portal could include a guide to how employees can return their equipment to the employer, best practices for virtually handing off responsibilities and other tasks that aid the offboarding process. The HR department leads in the knowledge and experience around what is needed in the process and the IT department aid in making this process a digital reality. Working together to tackle the challenges of offboarding remotely is eased when these two departments work together.

One of the best ways to make the offboarding process an easier procedure is to have it operate in an environment that is already adaptable and empathetic to its workforce. While how a business can do this work cannot be covered, even briefly in this article, we have many other articles on our insights page that can lead you in understanding how that environment.

Companies and leaders that are more kneen to listen to employee insights and are open to it empathetically will be able to make sure that as their former employees leave on happier notes.

Concluding Thoughts on Offboarding

The need to have a successful offboarding process is supported by HR and IT departments. As remote work becomes the standard, or at least an option, in many organisations creating processes that support these workers is integral.

Are you curious of Offboarding best practise? By joining Top Employers Insitute programme you will have access to an immense library of best practise that will help your company grow.

Get in touch today for free to become an employer of choice!

People Strategy: dalla gestione dei talenti alla pianificazione strategica della forza lavoro

Che cosa devono considerare i responsabili delle risorse umane quando creano, o ricreano, la loro strategia per le persone?

Le organizzazioni leader in tutto il mondo sono costrette a trasformarsi rapidamente – e continuamente – per rimanere con uno scopo, una rilevanza e un vantaggio sulla concorrenza. Ciò significa che la definizione stessa di strategia per le persone si sta evolvendo a ritmo sostenuto. Anche il ruolo dei leader delle risorse umane sta cambiando e il numero di sfide che sono chiamati a risolvere è in aumento. Molto probabilmente, quando si troveranno le risposte, le domande stesse cambieranno.

Nonostante queste complessità, vale la pena di analizzare un po’ meglio il concetto di strategia delle persone in termini di definizioni, ruoli e sfide.

Strategia per le persone: tre definizioni da tenere in considerazione

La strategia delle persone ha una miriade di definizioni diverse: dipende da cosa si legge e da dove si guarda. Gli esperti e i revisori delle risorse umane del Top Employers Institute propongono tre definizioni generali

1. Investire nel talento

Guardiamo innanzitutto alla strategia delle persone attraverso una lente di investimento. In questo senso, è vista come una battaglia per i talenti. Se un’organizzazione fa coincidere l’investimento nel talento con gli obiettivi aziendali, è più probabile che le persone giuste con le competenze giuste si concentrino sulle iniziative giuste. Il ritorno sull’investimento che ne deriva farà progredire l’azienda e accelererà i risultati.

2. Allineare la strategia HR alla strategia aziendale

Il secondo obiettivo definisce la strategia delle persone in relazione al suo allineamento con la strategia aziendale. Pensare in termini di allineamento ci permette di porre domande importanti, come “Di quali capacità abbiamo bisogno?” e “Dove ne abbiamo bisogno?” Questo semplice approccio ci permette di capire quali sono le lacune (o le sovrapposizioni) nell’allineare la pianificazione strategica della forza lavoro e le altre strategie HR alle esigenze aziendali.

La nostra ricerca mostra che il 97% dei Top Employers dimostra l’importanza di allineare la propria strategia del personale alla strategia aziendale. Tuttavia, vale la pena notare che solo il 77% dei Top Employer traduce la propria strategia sulle persone in metriche HR chiave e relativi obiettivi.

3. La strategia per le persone è la strategia aziendale

L’obiettivo finale va oltre l’allineamento, fino alla completa integrazione della strategia per le persone all’interno dell’azienda. Secondo questa definizione, la strategia per le persone è la strategia aziendale. In questo caso, i team di leadership lungimiranti rifiutano esplicitamente di considerare le persone come beni.

Sono piuttosto i dipendenti a essere gli “investitori”: sono loro a decidere e a scegliere di investire il loro prezioso tempo, energia e talento. È l’organizzazione che deve lavorare sodo per tenerli impegnati e motivati.

La leadership non può dare per scontato il duro lavoro e l’impegno dei propri dipendenti di talento.

Un ruolo strategico per il leader delle risorse umane

La definizione di strategia per le persone varia notevolmente nelle organizzazioni di diversa forma e dimensione, ma la ricerca del Top Employers Institute mostra che i leader delle risorse umane stanno assumendo un ruolo più strategico. In passato, la strategia aziendale è stata guidata principalmente dal CEO e dal CFO. Questo perché i due motori del successo organizzativo erano saldamente radicati nella strategia e nella finanza.

Ora, però, le organizzazioni stanno passando sempre più da questo “Duo dinamico” a un “Trio trasformativo”. Secondo l’Harvard Business Review (HBR), il CEO e il CFO sono sempre più spesso affiancati da un CHRO, che insieme devono “fondere le questioni strategiche, finanziarie e umane nella strategia aziendale”.

Sfide e priorità nella strategia delle persone

Per svolgere appieno il proprio ruolo nell’alleanza triangolare con CEO e CFO, il CHRO deve affrontare quattro sfide:

Essere in grado di guardare avanti e identificare le sfide strategiche per la forza lavoro che si presenteranno in seguito al cambiamento del mondo aziendale.
Creare catene di approvvigionamento di talenti in grado di sostenere l’innovazione e la crescita.
Sviluppare le competenze di gestione dei talenti dei leader aziendali.
Fornire approfondimenti attraverso un maggiore uso di metriche e analisi per dimostrare l’efficacia della strategia delle persone.

I dati di Significat, ottenuti da 1.679 organizzazioni certificate Top Employers a livello globale, ricordano molto da vicino le sfide indicate dall’HBR. Alla richiesta di classificare le loro principali priorità in materia di risorse umane, la maggioranza dei Top Employers ha indicato:

Sostenere il cambiamento culturale e organizzativo;
Lo sviluppo di una strategia del talento
Sviluppo della leadership;

E il ruolo della tecnologia nel fornire metriche e analisi all’interno di tutte le discipline HR è, secondo una ricerca del Top Employers Institute, in cima alla lista delle priorità dei leader HR, come modo per sostenere i cambiamenti significativi nella strategia delle persone che stiamo vedendo in molte delle nostre organizzazioni Top Employer. In un panorama HR in continua evoluzione, è evidente la necessità e il conseguente spostamento verso un ambito più ampio e olistico della strategia delle persone.

Non si tratta più di qualcosa che si concentra solo sulla gestione dei talenti, ma comprende la pianificazione strategica della forza lavoro, per colmare le lacune in termini di competenze e capacità, ed è supportata da metriche concrete e da strumenti di analisi predittiva.

Di conseguenza, i leader delle risorse umane sono tenuti a ideare ed eseguire strategie per le persone che siano in linea con le esigenze aziendali attuali e future.