Révillon, the career enchanter

A company more than a century old, Révillon has recently been recognized for its commitment to offering its employees one of the best qualities of life at work. Always keen to surround itself with skills in tune with its family and human values, Révillon - "chocolatier enchanteur", as it still likes to define itself - reveals the secrets of its longevity. Meeting with Aude Pieret, its HR Director.

In your opinion, what makes Révillon a special company?

For over one hundred and twenty years, Révillon has been growing steadily. It's a company recognized in the Roannaise region for its family values, know-how and manufacturing quality. As such, we were recently certified as a "Living Heritage Company". For the first year, we were also awarded the title of "Great place to work", as well as the Loire societal innovation trophy, for our innovative managerial model.

Can you describe this managerial model for us?

For the past ten years or so, we have been committed to a managerial policy aimed at giving motivation and meaning to the mission of each of our employees. To do this, we have reduced the hierarchical levels. We'vegiven responsibility back to the right level, so our employees have plenty of scope to develop personal initiatives, share experiences... So, for example, between our industrial manager and a driver, there's only one hierarchical level. We take a career support and employee development approach.

Do you have any plans in terms of recruitment, in the medium term?

Révillon is still growing. We count 250 employees hired on permanent contracts, and at least as many on seasonal fixed-term contracts. Indeed, the making of our chocolates is very largely seasonal. Some of our products are only made during the months of November, December and January. We therefore recruit a lot of seasonal employees, who are very loyal to us. 80% of them come back from one year to the next and maintain a link with us throughout the year.For next year, we want to focus on key areas for the company, such as logistics or the sales force. For these profiles, we've been working with Alphéa Conseil for several years. Not only because they know us well, but also because they are very responsive and relevant in the choice of profiles presented. They know that, before skills, we recruit personalities. And the candidates put forward are most of the time invested in the same values as we are. This saves us a lot of time when recruiting our permanent employees.

How do you renew interest around your products?

While our papillotes remain Révillon's flagship product, each year we also launch new products. For this year, we're banking on double flavors, such as double caramels or double pralines.Each novelty is based on a technological innovation, in our production workshops. We also diversify by designing, for Christmas, Advent calendars, as well as large-format products, always spectacular and perfect to offer when invited. After Christmas, Easter represents the second highlight of the year. Today, our products are distributed in supermarkets and hypermarkets. But cafés, restaurants... represent an alternative sales channel.

What advice would you give to a candidate interested in working at Révillon?

I would recommend him to be himself. Before recruiting pure skills, we are attentive to the candidate's sharing of our values. We also advocate open-mindedness, diversity, family values... So, for example, a candidate with a passion for travel and a strong commitment to CSR has every chance of attracting our attention, as a bearer of the same spirit of curiosity and interest for the societal responsibilities advocated by the company.