Eric Asselin, Keolis - New trends for HR

The structural effects of the crisis are not over. The trend in company integration (mergers and acquisitions) will continue in many industries. HR departments must anticipate having to manage this trend in the coming years. This integration will affect everyone from industry to services. As Mr. Chambon highlighted, the crisis serves to accelerate existing trends. One item seemed especially critical in this regard: the aging of workforce. How will we manage this trend? How will we broach the question of job-related hardships and the need to prolong peoples' careers? Today this issue is side-stepped. It will be difficult to side-step it in the future. Another trend is the growing distance between employees and companies, a trend that should grow even stronger We are in a culture where people quickly move from one job to the next. Employee turn-over should increase. The end of the crisis should further boost such movements. We have seen a drop in turn-over drop almost across-the-board. The crisis will leave its mark, even in companies that benefit from a strong corporate culture. We must not kid ourselves. The French economy--like the economy of the entire Western World-- has a productivity issue. It's not recovering as quickly as it did before. Therefore, we must keep finding areas in which we can economize in order to survive, otherwise, industry could disappear, or move elsewhere. France will be home to corporate headquarters and research centers. Increased efforts to boost productivity will, unfortunately, be a part of our day-to-day work over the next five years.