The HR function: strategic pillar of value creation
Editorial by Thomas Lesort, Executive VP, Human Resources, LACROIX Group

In the most active companies, HR is evolving and becoming a strategic pillar of value creation. The challenge is not simple: it is about creating the best collective dynamic to achieve the objectives while also responding to the aspirations of our employees, who are seeing major transformations.

In this context, my role as Human Resources Executive VP is to contribute to strategic decisions and support transformations. For me, the last five years at LACROIX have been the testing ground for these developments and their implementation. The Group has rediscovered itself internally and has opened up about its ecosystem, profoundly transforming collaborative working relationships.

Any transformation, whether digital, organisational or managerial, has a human impact. The role of managers and HR teams is to contribute to ensuring that transformations are properly understood, and by doing so to help ensure the commitment of our teams and the meaning that each person gives to their work. The human aspects are well understood by LACROIX, which seeks in its decisions to draw on the strength of our human capital and the resulting positive impact seen in all activities by establishing a genuine entrepreneurial culture.

In my opinion, the most striking example has been the implementation of employee shareholding: the approach was a success in France and internationally. This success shows the attachment and trust that employees place in the Group. This initiative also allows us to recognise the importance of the role that each individual plays, at all levels of the organisation.

To promote the growth of this managerial culture and support the upskilling of our managers, we have developed dedicated, benchmarked and certified training courses. We were keen to strengthen LACROIX’s managerial culture, which is imbued with the company’s values: team spirit, commitment, respect, openness and a culture of boldness. These values are the strength of the Group’s teams and we must continue to cultivate them.

If we were to retain a challenge from the last five years, I would say that we can do even more to free up energies, empower our employees and encourage initiative-taking. It is a challenge that is profoundly helping the Group to move forward.