Up Group : A unique culture and identity!
Up Group is indeed unique, because it defends the strong values which are the pillars of its everyday culture.
To enable all of its employees worldwide to take ownership of these values, an innovative process was deployed by the Human Resources Department.
The transformation undertaken by Up Group will only succeed if it builds on common values shared by all its employees. Initially, these values were defined in 2015 and 2016 as part of a collegial effort involving 40 employees from various subsidiaries. 5 major values that constitute the foundation of Up culture and its management were identified and explained:
- fairness,
- commitment,
- entrepreneurship,
- solidarity
- and innovation.
Instead of being satisfied with just circulating these values, the Group then developed an original deployment process designed to enable each of the 3 396 Group employees to own them so as to bring them to life in their daily professional activity. Workshops in small groups of 10 employees were held in six initial countries: Spain, Italy, Romania, Poland, Morocco and France. During each workshop, participants were invited to hold a three hour discussion on how they perceive these values and how they could be practically applied in their work. One-third of the Group’s employees have already participated in these workshops, which will continue in 2017 in the Czech Republic, in Slovakia, Mexico and Brazil, and later on in other countries. Once deployment is finalized, the Human Resources Department will conduct a census of interesting and shareable practices that will have been suggested and revealed during the workshops.
Thus by fostering employee expression and empowerment, this program is contributing to building a culture and a common identity, beyond diversity of origins and which, moreover, will feed into the subsidiaries’ HR systems.
Values workshops as seen by employees
«Beyond defining each of the Group's values, we carried out a practical and hands-on team exercise to think about how they can take concrete form. This took place in a very relaxed atmosphere, we were able to exchange with colleagues from different departments and services. An excellent initiative of the Up Group » Gabriela, Up Spain
« The workshop I attended in Warsaw was very interesting. Instead of classical training, we were able to discover the values of the Group on our own through small working groups. I realized that some of them were already very near to me and that they were in line with the actions of our Up subsidiary. They also show that the Group is interested not only in the economics of our work but also in our personal development. » Katarzyna, Up Bonus, Poland
« The Group HRD visit to Up Morocco was appreciated, as was the Arabic language version of the document "Our values build us", an attentiveness that was very much appreciated by our employees and which strengthens their sense of belonging to the Group. This event illustrates the Group’s commitment to living and sharing our values, our practices and our DNA. This should take place in all our subsidiaries! » Hassan, Up Morocco
« It's a smoothly conducted, rich workshop with room for a lot of friendly exchange. I found it interesting to share the values and culture of the Group through concrete examples from our daily professional life. » Serge, Up France