Joelle L
About Joelle
Currently an Interim HR Director at Boost'RH.
I am an international HR Director specialising in organisational transformation on a global scale. I support general management teams in merger, acquisition and rapid growth situations, aligning HR strategy with business priorities and building lasting cultures of engagement and performance.
I built my career at Nielsen, an American market research company of 40,000 people across around a hundred countries, with a turnover of 4 billion dollars.
My career is marked by a dual business and HR culture: I started in operational and sales roles where I managed a P&L and large operational and international teams, and learned client relationship management, before becoming an HR strategic partner to the Executive Committee, able to translate a company vision into concrete people levers.
I began my career as an HR Director in France, in a context of serious industrial unrest caused by the announcement of a strategy to offshore operations to India, and I carried out 2 successive redundancy plans covering around 100 positions in total, while preserving the social climate, and integrated two acquisitions.
In my next role as HR Director Europe, I led the set-up of a 700-position hub in Poland and managed the concurrent impact on 250 positions closed in Western Europe, while guaranteeing the continuity of client deliveries.
In my following roles, I supported the transformation of the sales structures, in particular the culture change needed to move consultant roles towards sales and customer success jobs and the adoption of a new selling mindset, with the introduction of commission plans. I also co-built an organisation by business unit, before moving back the following year to an organisation by market.
In 2021, I carried out the spin off of the company's retail business for Europe, and in my last two roles I first drew up the integration strategy for GfK, a German company of 9,000 people across around sixty countries, then carried out the integration across the EMEA region, also handling the carve out of the Consumer Panel business.
I am now looking to take on a role supporting the international transformation of a company facing internal or external growth, organisational change, restructuring, an LBO or an IPO. Currently in professional transition
Previous professional background
Regional Human Resources Director NielsenIQ - Paris, Geneva 2023 - 2025
Scope: 6,500 employees | 15 countries | Team of 30 HR staff | Member of the Executive Committee.
Steering the European HR strategy in a context of major transformation and organic growth.
- Support for directors and managers in implementing the business strategy and the organisational transformations: review of roles, matching of profiles to positions, reorganisation proposals.
- Management and coordination of HR Business Partner teams in a multicultural environment.
- Steering of the key HR processes: performance management, talent reviews, leadership development, talent retention.
- Active contribution to the cultural transformation following the integration of GfK: analysis of the social climate and of weak signals (engagement, attrition risks), managerial alignment and structuring of HR practices.
- Analysis of the HR KPIs and operational recommendations to improve engagement and performance.
- Roll-out of a Group HR information system (Workday) and steering of the HR KPIs to support strategic decision-making.
- Guarantee of legal and employment compliance in 15 countries; structuring of HR governance (processes, framework, standards) together with the local and central legal teams.
- Steering of social dialogue and of negotiations with the employee representatives in transformation contexts; management of sensitive messages and securing of HR practices.
Impact : Improvement in employee engagement (+0.5 pt out of 5). Support for 5{36f0dec4b9fbd9f67b4115dd61856eabeff964d41f64e5ec1fece95af04ad0ce} revenue growth in the region ($1.3 bn).
Global Human Resources, Transformation lead 2022 - 2023
Drawing up the pre-acquisition integration strategy for GfK (9,000 employees across 67 countries).
- Support for the directors on defining the talent strategy, organisational effectiveness and integration, ensuring compliance and the management of legal and employment risks.
- Upstream design of the target organisational structures and of the global HR policies.
- Development of a retention strategy for critical talent and reduction of skills gaps.
- Introduction of a communication and engagement strategy on an international scale.
Human Resources Director, International 2021 - 2022
Scope: 15,000 employees | 84 countries | Team of 68 HR staff | Member of the Executive Committee.
Defining the HR strategy in support of the sales transformation, in a context of moving to an organisation by market.
- Support for directors and managers in transforming the sales organisations.
- Creation of operational hubs (China, Philippines) with the roll-out of workforce planning tools
- Roll-out of commission plans for 2500 sales staff, steering of a Small & Medium Business entity across 6 countries.
- Development of training programmes (Customer Success & Sales Academies) and career paths, and overhaul of the sales recruitment processes.
- Close collaboration with the Talent, Learning and Compensation & Benefits teams.
Impact: Professionalisation of the sales force. +2{36f0dec4b9fbd9f67b4115dd61856eabeff964d41f64e5ec1fece95af04ad0ce} revenue. Improvement in attractiveness and internal mobility.
Human Resources Director Nielsen - Paris, France 2021
BU scope: 15,600 employees | Team of 65 HR staff | Member of the Executive Committee.
Steering the HR strategy while supporting engagement and growth, in a context of spin-off preparation.
- Support for the NIQ spin-off: creation of legal entities, transfer of employees in 23 countries
- Running of 13 employee consultations (WC/Unions/EWC), negotiation of the transition agreements and management of sensitive messages with the employee representatives.
- Definition and steering of an internal communication plan, support for the necessary departures and introduction of a retention plan for key talent.
- Management of the health crisis: COVID-19: communication, safety, operational continuity.
Impact: spin-off completed with compliance and risks kept under control. Retention of key talent and engagement maintained.
Human Resources Director, Europe 2017 - 2019
Scope: 12,000 employees | 33 countries | Team of 50 HR staff | Member of the Executive Committee.
Defining and rolling out the HR strategy in a context of a sales organisation by Business Unit.
- Adjustment of the organisations to management by BU and alignment of the talent acquisition and retention strategy.
- Steering of the sales transformation: specialisation of the consultants in Sales and Customer Success roles,
- Management of local HR teams and coordination with the country HRBPs.
- Roll-out of the key HR processes: salary reviews, performance, talent management, employment compliance.
- Change management and securing of the social climate: handling of complex individual situations, monitoring of weak signals and maintaining engagement.
Human Resources Director, Global Ops & Tech 2015 - 2017
Scope: 6,000 employees | 103 countries | Team of 15 HR staff | European Executive Committee.
Rolling out the global HR strategy for the transformation of the operations and product teams in an offshoring context.
- Major « nearshoring » restructuring covering 250 roles and creation of an operational hub of 700 employees in Poland.
- Integration of the Product teams into the Operations teams, with the steering of an associated savings plan.
- Promotion of intercultural collaboration through workshops and training.
- M&A: acquisition and integration of Gracenote & VisualIQ in Europe and disposal of Arbitron Finland.
Impact: Strengthening of operational efficiency and of resource management, $20M savings programme delivered.
Human Resources Director, FR & BNL 2011 - 2015
Scope: France (1,000 employees - 9 HR staff) | Benelux (700 employees - 4 HR staff) | France & Benelux Executive Committee.
Taking up the HR role in a crisis context, then extension of the role to Benelux.
- HR support for the operational managers in a context of transformation and growth.
- Management of employee relations, negotiation with the employee representative bodies, running of reorganisations and handling of sensitive individual situations.
- Contribution to improving operational efficiency and team engagement
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Development of business development strategies for B2B markets, coordination of client projects and cross-functional collaboration with the operational teams. Management of operations and product teams at local then regional level, process optimisation, improvement of the products and of customer satisfaction.
Roles in Operations and Sales Management | Nielsen, Paris, France
Business development | Sodexo, Lyon, France
Lean Project Manager | Auchan, Avignon, France
Areas of expertise
No areas listed.
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