A former partner at De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, Guillaume Rossignol has chosen to put his commitment to helping refugees at the centre of his professional life. He is a keen observer of how companies and NGOs can complement each other.
One in two young people say they would accept a pay cut to work for a more responsible company. Does this surprise you?
Not at all. Employee awareness is growing, because both they and companies realise that working for the common good reflects on them. If a company's approach is sincere, it will be felt in its working habits, in its transformation, and in the way it does business. Covid highlighted what was latent: a sense of commitment is more valuable than remuneration. And what we're seeing is that once you've got your finger on the pulse, there's a swarming effect that's hard to stop.
The workplace can be a place of change and commitment?
Yes, of course. But Please note: these offices are not simply shared without any commitment.. What we see when we travel to conversation workshops between migrants and employees is the importance of the company's involvement. The fact of being in a different setting, a physical place, with new people is essential. It encourages conversation between the employees themselves. They get involved, rediscover themselves and talk to each other in a different way: the migrant is a link-builder. It's very strong.
Nearly one out of every two people living in the Paris region believes that the office has an impact on the ecological and social environment. Do you share this belief?
That's too low a figure. Clearly, the office is a place that generates dynamism and where things get created. I'm quite struck by the fact that with video, people switch off as soon as the meeting is over. There's no more room for 'in-between' time, when in fact the opposite is true, the informal is an important moment for creativity. It's in the office that we can create these moments that give rise to solidarity initiatives.
So, in practical terms, how can we do more?
It is very important to maintain flexibility in the layout of physical spaces. Just as our timetables are not completely set in stone, we need to keep spaces in our offices whose use remains to be determined. A company with which we are organising conversation workshops with migrants can set up these meetings precisely because some of its spaces are not completely allocated. If everything is constrained and predefined, there's no room for openness to others..
How can companies help their employees to live up to their CSR commitments?
It's all about co-construction. Some see it as a risk, but one worth taking. CSR imposed by management certainly reflects a degree of determination, but it can come up against a problem of ownership. But ownership is key. Employees must therefore be put in a position to propose their company's CSR policy, so that it is not seen as a posture, but as an activity with an impact.
Guillaume Rossignol, Deputy Director, JRS France
