Q How has the HR function changed in your 35 years as a HR practitioner?
A People issues are seen more and more as the core to business success. Ten years ago people would talk about employee satisfaction, but now we have a better and complete understanding of what motivates people.
Across countries, people want to have choices as an employee and as a customer. As individuals, we want to have choices to choose our employer, and managers need to realise that.
Q How does AXA provide choices?
A First of all, I think it’s a question of how you see the world and how you see people. As a manager, the first thing to do is to respect people working in my department. As a company, you want your people to work for your company because they want to, and not because they have to, therefore you have to put in place systems which allow that to happen.
A keyword to that effect is transparency, making sure you develop management practices and human resources processes which are transparent and fair.
It is true for staffing decisions. When I hire someone, it has to be very transparent. Why did the person get the job? It is, for example, because we seek a clear set of skills for this job and the person is the best possible match.
When there is an opportunity for promotion, people have to feel they have choices – that they are informed. So employees feel responsible for their career and not just dependent on what their manager thinks or what HR decides.
Q Is that transparent culture something that management can implement?
A Research has demonstrated that a company’s culture is largely dependent on its senior management. Different studies may show slightly different numbers or different proportions, but it’s always in the vicinity of 60% to 70% coming from senior management and CEOs.
If you look at the financial crisis the world is experiencing, it’s a crisis of trust. The main currency we need to restore is trust between businesses and customers, as well as employers and employees. A key ingredient of trust is transparency. Therefore as managers we have to promote that, and we have to make our choices clear to people and not because that those in power can decide whatever they want to decide. We have to make things as transparent as possible.
Q You say that transparency is essential in C&B. Why’s that?
A There is a simple belief which is that if I hide my compensation, maybe I don’t deserve it. I think paying well at every level is a must for businesses. Of course you are limited by your economic means so there is a balance.
I don’t know if we have to put everyone’s compensation on the wall, but in our case for our CEO, management board, all the executive committee members, their compensation is published in annual reports and it becomes public information.
Q What else can a company do to become more transparent in its HR processes?
A The first thing to do in fact is to establish a management culture where managers understand that a key part of their role is to communicate with employees in anything they do. Not just communicating one way but also listening to employees. When making decisions, even if they are unpopular ones, they should explain them to employees. That’s the baseline.
In any of our management practices, whether it is issues such as staffing, performance management, promotions, compensation, there are opportunities for managers to explain the basis of their decision and to make it clear.
So if you talk about compensation, it is important for people to feel that they be paid fairly. Hence, you may want to provide them with an understanding of our positioning vis-à-vis the market. It doesn’t mean you want to give them all the details of market surveys because it usually needs to be interpreted by HR people.
But you want to ensure that people understand that the strategy is to pay well compared to the markets and to pay people based on their performance. So managers to start with, have to feel comfortable with all the practices and that they have a good mastery of the different steps in each of the processes so that they can explain it to people.
Alain Rohaut is the group executive vice president human resources for AXA. Based in France, RoHaut’s current emphasis is on AXA’s leadership development. He has been a HR practitioner for 35 years and has also worked in companies such as General Electric.
