Human resource issues entailed by the take-over of Credit du Nord by Society General (2004)

The French banking system has met several restructurings since the 90’s. Banking networks have now to propose, diversify and evolve services to their customers. Besides, these companies are in a more open market which entails international competition and the mergers phenomenon. Several examples show that this tendency affects the French banking system: the BNP and Paribas merger in 1999, the take over of Credit Lyonnais by Credit Agricole in 2003… Besides, the advent of single currency in 1999 accelerated the settlement of a Single European Banking Market; in fact, euro eases capital movements between member countries by making easier the financial products homogeneity and prices transparency. International comparisons bring forward the fact that French Banking System has an excellent rank. In fact, according to their assets or statements of account, French Major Banks are in the top first: Credit Agricole is ranked 5th with $46 billion of assets, BNP-Paribas is ranked 10th with $24 billion, Society General is 26th with $16 billion and Credit Mutuel is 35th with $13 billion…

[...] Here, in the case of Crédit du Nord, the characteristics of the banking sector and the values defended by the Directions allowed a kind of stability in the change. Indeed, many workers were made redundant, many others were reshuffled among subsidiaries. But those who stayed proved their performance and made the current success of the firm. A strong team was actually built around solid potentials and dialogue as well as regular competencies checking were put forward. Yet one drawback of the change has to be highlighted. [...]

[...] In general, lots of tools have been tested, discussed and reviewed by the directors and the trade unions. One of the biggest difficulties in appraisal lies in its subjectivity. Anytime, people can mention unfairness nay discrimination. There are several methods to appraise: the simple ranking which is a normed- referenced technique, the pair-wise comparison, the rating method with a scaling from 1 to 5 for example, the behavioral checklist, the critical incidents, and the comparison with objectives, the interview and even the 360° feed-back. [...]

[...] In fact, a gap between the historical corporate values and the new employees’ beliefs would entail a loss cohesion and performance Manpower planning : the optimum use of available human resources After the issue of corporate culture, another one is manpower planning in the new area, determined by both Société Générale, the buyer, and Crédit du Nord, the acquired. Indeed, that HRM process aims at recruiting a sufficient number of qualified personnel, on a timely basis, in order to ensure the provision of the required services. [...]