The turnover rate among Delta-Neu’s sales staff hit 9.15% in 2018, affecting total sales across the NEU-JKF group. Eight people left over the course of the year. Only five were replaced.
With all the complex industrial projects in which Delta-Neu gets involved, talent recruitment constitutes a major investment. Subsidiary directors, for instance, must generally allocate recruits a six to nine month-long integration and support period lasting.
In December 2018, the Human Resource (HR) Department had a staff of two: the Director; and an HR employee on a professionalisation contract. This wasn’t enough to support subsidiary directors in their recruitment efforts. Help needed to be brought in from a recruitment agency and coordinating this strand of work also took a lot of time.
The end result was that as of 31 December 2018, 15 of the 80 positions in Delta Neu’s France Sales division – out of a total group staff of 156 – were still unfilled.
Facing these challenges and driven by its long-term strategic vision, the Sales Director for France organized, together with subsidiary heads and the HR Department, a seminar entitled “Improving recruitment to increase retention”.
Colleagues spent three days discussing the problems they faced and thinking about the recruitment process and how it was run. New consideration was given to recruits’ integration process and training modules. The new practices that concretized at the end of the exercise were then formalized in a new management guide.
The seminar allowed the HR Department to advance its understanding of different group professions and missions. Partner recruitment agencies helped to re-assess needs and requirements formulated within the France Sales Department, with the seminar creating a new link between the HR function and other corporate staff.
This shared moment in time typifies the kind of entrepreneurial agility that managers must manifest in a fast-moving environment. Participants have gone on to demonstrate a high level of mobilization, serving as the main contact points during the recruitment process. In three months, 14 out of the 15 positions got filled! Delta-Neu has had its first “graduating class”, tightening the bonds between new colleagues all across France.
