ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014 - 18

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By Delphine CHEVALLIER (92)

Entering
a new area
Delphine CHEVALLIER is currently International HR
Development Director for the largest global business law firm DLA Piper.
She explains just below the challenges to build a global HR function.
Globalization of business is already an old story,
and till recently, was still appearing as continuing
forever. However, companies start reporting
that potential of globalization is more difficult to
achieve than planned. Since the 2008 downturn,
it has become evident that business can't continue growing globally without tackling the negative
impacts it generates on people. In this context,
HR directors and their function are «on the spot»,
frequently made responsible not to have done
anything to minimize those impacts.
To evolve
If this can be perceived as a fair judgment, this
does not take into account that like any company's department, the HR function had to dramatically adapt its model to align with the internationalization of business operations. In the initial
phase, priority was given to implement global HR
systems to be able to centralize basic people
information in a consistent way and to report on
headcount to the business.
Internationally developed Learning and Development programs have been from the start identified
by leadership teams as critical vehicle to create a
global company culture, accelerating integration
of cross border teams through common frame of
reference to be able to operate in a seamless way.
On the recruitment side, job vacancies and
applications have been quite heavily centralized
and this is now business as usual to recruit skills
required whatever their location using a globally
consistent employer's brand. Mobility was naturally also high in the agenda in this phase to be
able to move people across locations to develop the business and to up-skill teams around.
However, it worth pointing out that results have
been frequently disappointing because of the tax
and legal constraints of the mobility process and
the costs which go with it. At the same time, the
limit of individual and collective HR management,

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- ESCP Europe Magazine N° 157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014

through performance management process,
career management and compensation & benefits, started to emerge, facing the reality of local
management culture and each jurisdiction labor
law framing employee contracts.
To tackle issues
Building on initial achievements, the key areas
HR teams need to focus as a matter of priority to
tackle issues which have emerged and re build
credibility are:
- Carefully balance centralization with regional
tailoring: even more than any other function,
proximity is critical when managing effectively
the workforce and respect cultural and legal
differences in the way business operations are
led and delivered,
- Clarify with the business what it means to
be consistent: consistency does not mean
uniformity,
- Be the guardian of diversity, beyond processes
in place, when it comes to assess performance,
reward and promote talents,
- Demonstrate cultural sensitivity to act as catalyst, solve conflicts and tensions which naturally
occur within cross borders teams where miscommunication and misunderstanding are so
frequent,
- A good command of the different type of labor
law and how it culturally influences the run of
the business will contribute for all company's
operations to be more efficient and fluid.
To act global
The capability to deliver consistent messages in
a locally tailored way and the ability to develop
trust across all geographies are then key success
factors to act as a globally agile HR team in the
years ahead.
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ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014

Table des matières de la publication ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014
