When delocalising a site with over 600 employees, this large state-owned company wanted to encourage and facilitate geographical mobility. Transfers, career development, change of establishment, redundancy or business creation - when the choice had to be made, BPI was there to support all the employees.

Context
Kick-off
In a state-owned company context, how to organise the transfer to the provinces of an activity that employs 630 people? In this case, the solution was built over a three year period. BPI participated in the operation by supporting the social aspect - steering, communication and implementation. The support measures negotiated with the works council planned the setting up of a Mobility Info Space run by a BPI team with the participation of internal consultants.

Task
Development and Transfers
The objective was to bring the maximum number of employees to think about the question of being transferred. The needs linked to the new industrial project encouraged this development, though other possibilities were also open and supported - mobility to another site, external redeployment or business creation. Once an employee was led to think over their professional development, their family situation (partner, housing, etc.) was really taken into account with the aim of lifting the resistance to geographical mobility. Visits to the site were organised. Once there, a local partner firm took over in terms of welcoming the employees and searches for accommodation. Outplacement services were available to spouses who wished to use them. Solutions to facilitate residence in two different locations were set up. The operation resulted in a first wave of transfers carried out over the summer, then a second wave the following year. At the end of the second year, 300 employees had accepted the transfer, 234 had moved to other establishments, and 16 had left the group to take a position elsewhere.

Hard Core
80 employees stayed on the site - for most of them the situation became complicated. The very status of the company meant that a restrictive arrangement could not be set up. The positive reports from those who had moved to the new site, likely to motivate new volunteers, gradually lost their impact. As time went on, the most recalcitrant elements became convinced that they could still avoid having to leave. They had held on to positions that were more or less justified in terms of the workload and developed a feeling of incompetence which slowed down perspectives for positive development.

Perspectives
The Need to Reach a Solution
In parallel, the context that led to the site transfer became tougher still - privatisation and splitting into subsidiaries were on the agenda. Expectations vis à vis the different entities were rapidly to become firmer in terms of management, and surplus personnel situations were no longer acceptable. To drive the final stage of the project, BPI proposed a new, firmer approach which should, while creating a new field of restrictions, enable the employees that stayed on the site to rebuild their lost confidence.