France: Equans (Bouygues Group) encourages its employees to join the National Guard Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty On 11 January 2023, the energy and industry services group Equans, which employs almost 27,000 employees in France, signed an agreement with the National Guard,…
United Kingdom: Santander lowers university grade requirement for graduate applicants Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty The UK business of Spanish banking giant Santander, which employs some 25,000 people in the country, has announced that it will no longer require applicants to its graduate scheme to have achieved a 2:1 grade (upper second-class honours) or higher at university, and will consider candidates with lower marks. The aim of this change of policy, announced by Santander on 3 January, is to attract a broader pool of candidates in terms of their socio-economic background.
Great Britain: younger retirees return to work in the face of inflation Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty On 13 December, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that between August-October 2022, the number of economically inactive fell 0.2% to 21.5% compared to the previous three months.…
Interview Fanny Barbier (Orpea HR head): “we are launching a three-year refoundation process” Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty In November 2022, Orpea presented a three-year restructuring plan, as the French private services provider (elderly, nursing, psychiatric, and ongoing health treatment), struggles to deal with the serious difficulties that the publication in January 2022 of Les Fossoyeurs (The Gravediggers) brought to light and most notably as regards how elderly nursing home residents were reported as being mistreated. During her meeting with mind RH, Fanny Barbier, Orpea’s freshly appointed HR head (October 2022), provides details about her priorities going forward, namely as regards structuring the HR department, restoring social dialogue, recruitment, training, etc. After discovering and understanding the scale of the task ahead, the HR head is giving herself time to restore the group's image as an employer (72,000 employees).
Germany: growing shortage of tech and science experts (study) Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty The renowned German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne has published its annual study on the situation for so-called “MINT” – mathematics, information technology, natural sciences and technology – professions. The report’s first finding is that,…
Great Britain: in the face of record inflation, Tesco is offering advance salary payments of up to 25% Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty Having already increased its basic pay across its shop network twice this year, making a total increase of 8%, UK supermarket giant Tesco is now offering its employees advance payments from their salaries.…
France: BPCE banking group’s corporate project, the ‘Well’ programme, focuses on re-imagining office spaces Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty By the start of 2023, 9,000 employees of the Banque Populaire - Caisse d'Epargne* Paris region banking group will have moved into two brand new office towers. In addition to this commercial property programme, the banking group has also sought to take advantage of this opportunity to renew its working environment by way of flex office functioning, an understated modest approach and new services for employees.
United States: Walmart to extend staff health coverage to include IVF Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty US retail giant Walmart is to bolster its healthcare offering to staff with effect from 1 November, with a commitment to provide up to $20,000 in financial support for prospective parents pursuing in vitro fertilisation. The retail group had not been known for the quality of its health coverage until now, but efforts to attract and retain talent are necessary against the current recruitment backdrop in the sector.
Free Italy: data from H1 2022 confirms the ‘great resignation’ in what has been a dynamic labour market Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty More than one million employees resigned their jobs in the first half of 2022, almost 32% more than in the first six months of 2021.…
France: RATP harnesses apprenticeships in bus driver recruitment push Recruitment/Employer branding/employee loyalty Amid major difficulties in recruiting bus drivers, the RATP, the state-owned operator of the Paris public transport system, is leveraging co-option and increasing the level of recruitment via apprenticeships. Furthermore, to broaden its pool of candidates, the operator has also decided to lower the age at which people can join its career development path, from 21 at present to 18. This year, out of the 1,500 bus driver positions open for the Ile-de-France network, 800 are yet to be filled.
