Forward planning of skills and workforce (French GPEC)

    To remain competitive, companies must be able to identify the skills they have, those they need to develop and the skills they lack and need to acquire to secure their growth. This key exercise, known as GPEC in France, requires expertise, resources and availability.

    French labour legislation encourages the conclusion of GPEC agreements, which can meet various objectives, including:

    • Mitigate job losses in a context of restructuring
    • Anticipate future skills needs
    • Develop skills and professional mobility
    • Facilitate skills transfer
    • Address recruitment challenges or overstaffing situations
    • Manage consequences of technological and economic changes
    • Optimise workforce management and planning
    • Maintain your competitive advantage

    We have developed a structured method and practical tools to assist you with implementing an effective GPEC.
    Don’t hesitate to contact us, we can provide assistance at any or all stages of the process.

    Some GPEC tools

    PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEWS

    Under the French Labour Code, companies are required to conduct professional interviews with employees.
    Professional interviews are different from annual appraisals which objective is to assess individual performance. The main objective of professional interviews is to discuss employees’ development opportunities and assess qualification and training needs.

    Professional interviews should be held every 2 years, as well as when an employee returns from maternity or adoption leave, carer’s leave (before and after), parental leave, more than 6 months’ sick leave and sabbatical leave.  They should also be conducted at the end of a union mandate, a temporary part-time period to raise a child or a secured voluntary geographical mobility.
    There is no legal requirement but this is clearly the responsibility of first line managers to identify the skills and career path expectations of their team members, and plan resources accordingly.
    HR should make sure that managers have a clear understanding of what they can get out of professional interviews and how they can get it.
    Employees and staff representatives should be informed prior to launching the interviews process.

    We have developed a package including guidelines, checklists, information notes, interview templates and PowerPoint presentations for employees and managers. This package is available in English and in French: Get in touch

    JOB DESCRIPTIONS

    Job descriptions are a key component of people management.
    • They’re the first step of a recruitment process, to define clearly what is expected from the role and attract suitable candidates
    • They clarify roles and responsibilities and therefore facilitate induction and performance
    • They support the definition of skills needs and facilitate workforce planning
    • They help HR assessing where jobs fall within any existing pay structure
    • They help identifying and staying compliant with positions’ regulatory requirements

    However, jobs change very quickly and jobs descriptions are outdated before being finalised.
    In addition, companies need flexible job descriptions to reflect the fact that people with the same job title may be doing different jobs.

    This is why we’ve developed a partnership with Jobdesign, an automated solution which helps producing permanently up-to-date and flexible job descriptions, ready for use in daily people management.

    You need assistance to draw-up or update your job-descriptions?
    Get in touch