IN THE UNITED STATES, INTERNATIONAL CULTURE IS ESSENTIAL
For Sandra Auffray, Arkema Vice President Human Resources for the United States, this is clear: “The international aspect and diversity form an integral part of our culture. This is particularly true in certain business lines such as R&D, where talented people from all backgrounds work side by side.” With a solid grounding in the practices of the US branch, mentoring – which involves a mentor (senior manager) and a mentee, with the former encouraging the latter to develop outside a conventional management relationship – “allows people with potential to grow while also acquiring a more international culture.” Other programs exist such as the Leadership Development Program, which encourages staff to solve problems and push themselves to implement their solutions. “One of the program’s winning teams,” continues Sandra, “is launching an online platform to promote diversity and inclusion, coordinating several groups to document the diversity of employees at all our sites. Three years ago, we also launched a program to promote an international approach in order to reduce certain cultural disparities. It consists of getting one of our business units or departments to work together with its counterparts in other countries on a specific issue or project. This provides an excellent platform for dialogue, which is often the source of great discoveries.”
CHINA ENTHUSIASTICALLY ADOPTS INTERNATIONAL MENTORING
Arkema’s Chinese branch has discovered international mentoring with a great deal of interest. “Our mentees are ultra-motivated. The experience of mentees at head office or in the United States encourages them to look ahead to their future career. It’s also a good way of breaking down cultural barriers and preconceptions,” notes Alan Tan. The Chief Human Resources Officer for Arkema Greater China adds, “It should also be stressed that we have a lot of French and American expats in technical and management positions. They are well integrated into the organization, to the extent that some speak Chinese better than the Chinese themselves!”
“I started out at Arkema working in a plant, first in production, then in health and safety, environment, quality and logistics, before joining the Group’s head office in Colombes in the polyamides supply chain. I’ve been based in China for ten years as product quality manager for Asia and the High Performance Polymers business unit. This broad experience has allowed me to build bridges between various roles, from production to client relations. I’ve always been well supported by Arkema. I’ve had career development coaching, a women’s mentoring program and help with transfers. I needed that reassurance before moving to China as an expat. I had to wait for the planets to be properly aligned and find the right job in the right place at the right time. I wanted to tackle other ways of working, test my limits and break down barriers in order to continue to grow. This is both a breath of fresh air and a way of questioning things that gets you out of the slightly narrow framework of a purely French career path, even though I’d already had the opportunity to work with other cultures in a position in Europe. What I am most proud of today is having put together a solid team that is able to listen, is highly professional and recognized by the entire business unit. I’ve recruited four talented young people, three of whom are young Chinese women. Together, we are pleased to play a part in the recognition of the quality and performance of Arkema’s products in Asia.”
Marianne Barbier, Head of Product Quality and Control, Arkema Asia
“There are lots of different lives in a career. I came to France in 2007 as part of a joint degree between my university in Brazil and the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Montpellier. I was very interested in materials, and went as far as completing a PhD thesis in France at the Institut Français du Pétrole Énergies Nouvelles in Lyon, in the field of ceramic membranes for heterogeneous catalysts. I then turned to specialty polymers and joined Arkema, which is recognized as one of the world’s leading names in this field. In seven years at Cerdato, I’ve never had two years the same. There’s always a new story to write. I love that multidisciplinary aspect just as I love being able to talk to my colleagues all over the world. This wealth of subjects, jobs and cultures is fantastic. I don’t rule out going back to Brazil, as Arkema has industrial and commercial activities there.”
Stefânia Cassiano Gaspar, Research and materials design department engineer, Cerdato, France
