📰​Le Fil I Talent Management : what’s new?

Lire l'article original en français dans le magazine Le Fil #6

Geopolitical upheaval, economic crises, DEI issues, people’s changing relationship to work, the quest to find meaning and engagement, controversy around the uptick in AI usage, teleworking, organizational transformations.... all these changes are taking place at the same time. What is their impact on talent management? What is the take of RH experts? What solutions do they see? An overview with testimonials and some ideas for future action.

There is a great deal happening in the background which influences HR talent management policies in fall 2025. “We are facing a great deal of geopolitical, technological and societal change which is interconnected and accelerating,” points out Virginie Cavalli (PGE90), deputy Group HR VP for Air Liquide which does business in 60 countries.

Marie-Rachel Jacob

emlyon business school

Taking stock of the change afoot

At societal level, “the gamechanger is the overturning of Diversity, Inclusion and Equality policies in the US which also impacts Europe,” explains Marie-Rachel Jacob, Research Professor in Strategic Human Resource Management at emlyon business school. The challenges to these policies, which had helped minorities access leadership positions, are creating tensions and providing justification for an about-turn in the public narrative: “In France, it is being suggested, in certain companies, that gender equality might have gone too far.”

In economic terms, the ramping up of protectionist policies and slower growth in France and Europe combined with a new drive towards rearmament is eroding corporate budgets and government welfare services. “Investment in generous HR policies to support vulnerable employees (disabled workers, seniors) will suffer from this. Employers will stick to the statutory minimum to remain in line with the law,” adds Marie-Rachel. According to Willem Rodier (Msc12), co-founder of Flowbow which specializes in digitizing training, “Training budgets will no longer be a priority.”

The cutback in subsidies has already had an impact on cooperative education programs and collective pay rises will be the next on the list.

Moreover, global tension is hampering mobility. Career opportunities are no longer available in some countries which is discouraging for potential expats and creates difficulties for HR teams. Stéphane Terrier (EMBA14), HR Director in charge of sales and marketing in Europe for Owens Corning (insulation materials): “We had to leave Russia due to the Ukraine conflict.” “The macro context has an influence at so many levels,” observes Lisa Lopez (PGE16), Senior HR manager at Ubisoft. “Covid, for example, prompted a rapid change in people’s relationship with work while geopolitical events are now impacting employees’ mental health; sensitive issues such as the Israel-Palestine conflict are being brought into the workplace.”

Managing change

Each sector has its own specific HR issues. Marie-Rachel proffers the following analysis: “Healthcare has problems with recruitment, retention and mental health. The hospitality industry is no longer attractive. Tech companies need to get more women in the workforce; they are also subject to mergers and acquisitions and are undergoing in-depth internal reorganization.” Since 2020, Ubisoft “has naturally evolved from a family-oriented highly entrepreneurial culture to a better-structured model with a stricter framework and greater prioritization. Resource management has been streamlined; some duplication has been removed and social dialog is adapting to this new context leading to challenges in terms of engagement and retention,” underlines Lisa.

According to Jean-Luc Bermon (PGE00), Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Regional HR Director at Société Générale, HR issues do not only depend on the sector, but also on recent events in the particular organization. He handled the network merger for the Société Générale and Crédit du Nord regional banks which took three years. “Employees needed support during this major transformation to upskill so that everyone found their rightful place.”

Organizing upskilling

Talent development is crucial in response to change. Virginie from Air Liquide: “Our priority is to prepare them to tackle the business challenges of the next ten to fifteen years via our Work Force Planning in parallel with training and skills development. We are deeply committed to energy transition and the development of cutting-edge skills regarding the decarbonization of industrial processes (hydrogen, electrolysis, carbon capture.)”

“Regarding training, the problem is getting buy-in from talents who are skeptical about the training courses offered by HR which are deemed to be redundant, unimaginative, time-consuming or even pointless,” explains Willem, who underlines the positive impact of the Covid period which “challenged the principle of 100% in-person training, boosted innovations (modules, games, on-line platforms) and ensured a faster pace of learning.”

Lifelong learning is now a must. “We need to stop focusing on a linear career path and think more in terms of skills,” points out Stéphane, who believes that companies will start to concentrate on their core business skills and seek other competencies from outside, from freelancers.

Virginie Cavalli (PGE90)

Air Liquide

Willem Rodier (Msc12)

Flowbow

Getting to grips with diversity

Despite the battering it has received from Donald Trump, diversity - a source of performance - remains at the top of employers’ agendas. Stéphane: “Diversity is essential for us, in all its forms. We have already worked extensively on gender diversity, but we also promote diversity in terms of culture, frame of reference, personality and generation: HR policies have to adapt to different needs.” 

Lisa adds: “Young people have a different relationship to work to that of their elders,” which leads to misunderstandings. Some managers who have been loyal to Ubisoft since they joined the company are floored by the questions candidates ask during interviews: “They want answers about working hours, flexibility, the mobility policy and career opportunities, whereas the people interviewing them, when they arrived, didn’t worry about such things; they just wanted to work for the company of their dreams!”

Air Liquide has set itself the target of achieving 35% female engineers and executives. “We run promotion and mobility campaigns in lots of countries, making sure there are always female applicants for vacancies,” explains Virginie. Personal protective equipment which fits women properly is now available on our industrial facilities, “which wasn’t by any means a given,” she adds.

Bringing employees on board

At times of uncertainty when people are under pressure, motivating staff remains quite a challenge. In response to budgetary restrictions and staff shortages, Flowbow advises its HR customers to make use of expert employees as ad-hoc trainers who can pass on their know-how to their colleagues: It’s a valuable and inspiring role,” underlines Willem.

“At a time when we need to optimize resources, we are focusing more on internal redeployment. There are fewer external hires but this facilitates clearer career paths and boosts the cross-over between teams,” notes Lisa. For Stéphane, “many of the answers lie in the hands of the employees. Our matrix organization lays down a general framework and gives them the necessary resources to make decisions locally in line with our slogan ‘Global in Scope Human in Scale’.”

Another crucial point is preserving the mental health of teams and giving them a sense of purpose [see box]. Jean-Luc: “All our managers are made aware of psychosocial risks and trained to detect weak signals and keep an eye on employees who are struggling. Société Générale provides a fulfilling work environment for its employees while making everyone aware of the contribution they make to corporate performance.” A sense of purpose is a hallmark of the Group which underlines the role played by its customer advisors in the lives of their customers. Jean-Luc emphasizes that “helping someone buy a house, advising them on managing their estate or supporting an entrepreneur with their project generates motivation and engagement.” In the same way, the activities of Air Liquide (in particular contributing to the decarbonization of the planet and to better health) and the mission of Danone (bringing health through food for all) contribute to making its employees work more meaningful.

Setting rules for teleworking

In response to the apparent demotivation of employees, some see a return to the office as the solution. Marie-Rachel: “It is hardly surprising that Elon Musk is putting his foot down and demanding that Tesla, X and Space X employees work from the office, given the type of guy that he is. But it is more surprising that other companies, which had a more nuanced approach to collective management, are backpedaling.”

It is all a matter of balance. “Some groups, who went to extremes, are having difficulty going back on them. Air Liquide does not have this problem: we were reasonable when it came to the time worked from home by our office employees. In line with our Group’s continued improvement mindset, we are looking into how to modify the model which has already been in existence for five years,” explains Virginie.

Ubisoft was one of the companies which went all out for teleworking in 2020. “Ubisoft was among the companies who were very open to working from home after 2020 with a high level of flexibility. The new agreement, which lays down two days of teleworking a week, is intended to strike a balance between individual freedom and team cohesion,” explains Lisa.

Stéphane Terrier (EMBA14)

Owens Corning 

Lisa Lopez (PGE16)

Ubisoft

Jean-Luc Bermon (PGE00)

Société Générale

Factoring in different geographies

On the old continent, the economic slowdown is becoming perceptible. Owens Corning’s staff turnover is quite low in Europe standing at less than 3%. “We have a good employer positioning. But there are fewer vacancies too: not many employees are prepared to take the risk of changing jobs given the current context.” Jean-Luc from Société Générale agrees: “The number of people resigning increased in 2023-24, now we have returned to the normal level. The market is more favorable for employers.”

In Japan, the situation is radically different due to a negative demographic trend: “The population is shrinking by roughly 1 million a year which is not offset by immigration. The population is forecast to drop from 125 to 85 million by 2065. With around 40% of the population over 60, Japan is one of the nations which is aging the fastest,” explains Jean-Renaud Humblot (PGE06), VP HR at Danone Japan, whose headcount is made up of 89% Japanese and 11% foreigners. The outcome: an unemployment rate below 2.5% and huge difficulties recruiting staff, especially for a “Gaishi” or foreign-held company. “The Japanese tend to prefer working for Japanese companies which follow a traditional model: a lifelong job, promotion based on seniority with a rigid hierarchy where consensus and harmony are of the essence.”

There are no stepping stones between Japanese and Gaishi businesses. “Talented staff with a good command of English who want to work for Gaishi are few and far between. Large non-Japanese groups fight hard to attract talent: the Tokyo labor market must be amongst the most competitive in the world.”

Jean-Renaud’s two main concerns are therefore attracting and retaining staff: “We offer an alternative to those who are looking for a more open environment than the traditional workplace with a managerial model encouraging autonomy and empowerment.”

Danone offers an attractive package in terms of compensation (more of a priority now than in the past due to inflation), employee benefits, diversity and inclusion. For example, they offer longer parental leave than the market standard, equal pay for men and women (which is not the norm in Japan) and transparent career management with plenty of opportunities including jobs abroad: “One of our marketers has just taken a job at head office in Paris and when he returns, he will be in an even better position.” Flexibility is also a key benefit: “Tokyo is a huge city with a population of 38 million and commuting times are getting longer. Employees at head office are entitled to two days of home office whereas Japanese employers expect their staff to come in.”

Jean-Renaud Humblot (PGE06)

Danone Japan

Aurélien Baillon

Professeur emlyon business school

HR, a changing profession

“HR covers a very different scope depending on the country, the type of organization and the corporate culture,” continues Jean-Renaud. “In Japan, it is less prestigious than in France. At Danone, I’m lucky because HR is considered to be a strategic business partner for historic reasons, whereas elsewhere it is still restricted to a more transactional role: payroll, etc.,” Nonetheless, “HR directors are increasingly called upon to contribute to corporate strategy by supporting individual and collective performance,” points out Stéphane, “and AI will increasingly take over the transactional side of things.”

The HR function remains under pressure. Marie-Rachel: “We are in a period of flux: budget restrictions mean extra work. AI will eventually automate certain tasks but it’s not ready yet.” At a time when change is coming from all directions, a good HR manager needs to be “versatile, agile, prepared to challenge themselves and attentive to the teams,” says Jean-Luc.

For Willem, training managers need to develop a marketing mindset in order to make the content they offer employees more attractive: “Today, the skills required are closer to project management; it goes beyond simply following a training plan.” As Lisa points out, “the current trend is to make HR recommendations more tangible by associating them with KPIs (engagement survey findings, turnover monitoring etc.).”

To deal with the many facets of their function, Air Liquide HR is organized into three streams. Virginie describes them: “The first covers HR employees who are business partners; they ensure employee engagement for a given activity in collaboration with the managers. The second brings together HR experts who run specific programs (compensation, talent development etc.) across the entire group. The third encompasses shared services dealing with large-scale RH transactions: payroll, employment compliance etc.”

Talent management – mission: impossible? Maybe, but it is definitely a valued mission. Jean-Luc emphasizes that “employees are clearly attached to their HR contacts: they ask for support and advice.” Lisa: “I act as a coach to leaders and managers for all HR topics, helping them take stock; they appreciate our discussions. I only deal directly with employees when a manager does not have time or when the manager-managee dialog has broken down. In any case, the value of my function is fully recognized. Our job is becoming more and more stimulating: the success of a company depends on people,” she concludes.