Director of Human Resources

 

(*) As a measure of confidentiality, the identity of the interim manager and the client are changed

 

1. BACKGROUND

We are in 2018 in a French municipality in the Basel conurbation.

This Swiss global pharmaceutical group has a fast-growing site. Located on the Swiss border, it produces active ingredients for cosmetic products sold by the Group and employs 550 people.

When the site’s HR Director announced her departure in the context of the NAO election and renegotiation, the General Management called on WAYDEN, an interim management firm. Our objective: to provide interim management. To alleviate the urgency of the situation, we are recruiting a site HR Director to ensure the transition, pending the arrival of the next incumbent, a German transferred as part of an internal mobility.

For these 6 months of critical period for his organization, the General Manager of the site must ensure as soon as possible the continuity of the management of the human resources department. For this HR interim management mission, he provides us with specifications that are as clear as they are demanding: that it be a person experienced in the HR challenges of industrial sites and perfectly autonomous to manage the transition.

 

2. DISPOSITION

Faced with the responsiveness required by this HR transition mission, Benoît DURAND-TISNES, Associate Director at WAYDEN, benefits from an advantage: a group of experienced interim managers validated by WAYDEN for their leadership and expertise in crisis management.

Among these candidates, he must select at short notice an expert in Human Resources for industrial sites capable of managing and organizing the HR function in its entirety (personnel and career management, development, training, recruitment, legal, etc.). And this while making the transition to the future HR Director.

To succeed in this mission, he chose Virginie NOPEO, whose operational and managerial skills were right to convince him.

Focus on the Manager journey

A graduate of ESCP and a Master’s degree in psycho-sociology from Dauphine, Virginie NOPEO quickly rose through the ranks to the position of Director of Human Resources for the AVENANCE group’s school division, where she led a major project to organize the local authority market. Her professional development continued as she later became HR Director France of GEODIS LOGISTICS following the merger of two companies of the group. Then HR Director France of the Christian SALVESEN Group to bring the new HR policy to life in a context of turnaround.

After 4 years of experience at BRINK’S France where she held the position of HR Development Director, Virginie NOPEO moved towards interim management where she successfully carried out several missions.

Her efficiency, benevolence, flexibility, interpersonal skills, adaptability and sense of righteousness make her a highly sought-after and appreciated professional.

Because of this exemplary professional career, we chose him to lead the crisis situation facing the pharmaceutical group. She thus ensures the transition in the group’s HR management through a series of missions.

 

 

3. MISSION

Virginie NOPEO effectively operates three concurrent interim management missions:

• Organize the social agenda for the first quarter of 2019 in a context of ongoing negotiations and pre-election planning
• Lead change management by giving meaning to the HR function among employees, whose image has been severely damaged. The objective is then to improve social relations between the different levels (top manager / employee)
• Prepare for the arrival of the incumbent HR Director, a German who knows very little about the social specificities of HR in France (employment contracts, recruitment process, wage portage, temporary work, etc.), train him and ensure the transfer of power

For its part, WAYDEN automates its reporting so that the client can closely monitor the progress of the mission.

 

4. ASSESSMENT

After 6 months, WAYDEN is proud of the success of the mission. On the site, the NAOs were voted on, the elections took place as well as possible. Only the training plan for the next human resources director took longer than expected, and the management mission was consequently extended by a few weeks. It is not easy to adapt to the complexity of French social law!