The first collaborative learning platform is organised around "convexity". A unique concept of which Nicholas Wagner, HRD is the guardian. He was a guest on our podcast The Office x Offishall about the future of work.
Feedback, transparency, a strong culture of writing, banning meetings - these are some of the pillars of 360Learning's HR policy. "When a company grows, there are diminishing returns, i.e. every time you add a person, you lose efficiency," Nicholas Wagner asserts fatalistically. In order to escape this rule, the scale-up has set up a unique corporate culture based on various practices.
Listen to the interview with Nicholas Wagner (43:00)
In order to apply these principles - which are reminiscent of those of the Alan mutual - 360Learning carries out a rigorous onboarding, a key period for new recruits. This flexible organisation requires a great deal of discipline. "When someone arrives at our company, we teach them to use our tools, not to use their email inbox to organise their tasks, to put all their work on Trello, etc."
This is a highly processed working environment, which also allows employees a great deal of freedom. In the fast-growing company, everyone works according to his or her own biorhythm and employees are not under any time pressure.
"Working in an environment of total transparency in HR changes a lot of things," says the man who previously worked for Alstom, Areva and Crédit Agricole. He has been head of human resources at the e-learning scale-up for more than three years and adds, " convexity is not compatible with all profiles.
While this culture is particularly suited to introverts, some people do not identify with its principles. "It's not for everyone, we're not proselytising. Some candidates don't fit in, they feel pressured, they feel they are constantly being judged. The staff have access to the progress of each other's work.
Stress is also a real issue for the HR team. " Combining high performance and employee well-being is a challenge, and we ensure that our employees are in good mental health," in particular through regular requests for feedback and the setting up of a psychological helpline for employees, which is obviously very little used.
Another point of vigilance is the compatibility of the company culture for foreign employees. The company made its very first acquisition when it bought Loom, its British competitor, last January. A few months after raising €200 million in Series B, the edtech company is continuing its deployment abroad. In particular in the Philippines, the United States and Eastern Europe, where "the relationship with authority is different". Especially as these employees - not necessarily familiar with this convexity - have not necessarily chosen to work according to the singular principles. So are convexity and diversity compatible? " There will probably be some adaptations to make", particularly for acquisition situations, for which the employees have not chosen to integrate 360Learning and its unique culture.
Listen to the interview with Nicholas Wagner (43:00)
Offishall is an employee presence management solution that aims to support organizations in the implementation of hybrid work mode - alternating between tele-work and face-to-face work. Every day, the company allows thousands of users to know who is where when and thus to find themselves in the office (better).
Copyright © 2023 Offishall. All rights reserved.
