“We have an ongoing recruitment process. There’s no stop-starting.”
Arkema is one of the most attractive companies in the industrial sector. This is a source of pride for Thierry Parmentier, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources and Communications, who talks about the Group’s assets that allow it to attract and retain talent.
What are Arkema’s recruitment ambitions worldwide?
We are continuing to recruit despite the geopolitical context and the current challenges facing the global economy, as we did during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our group employs more than 21,000 people and we have an ongoing need for 2,000 to 2,200 new people per year (excluding temporary contracts) to refresh and maintain our workforce. We recruit men and women of all ages, from those at the start of their career to highly experienced, mature individuals, in our 55 host countries.
Arkema offers more than 200 different roles in four main fields of expertise: industrial, R&D, commercial and support, with opportunities to switch between them. We strongly believe in the value of these careers and have an active policy of internal transfers and promotion. Jobs are changing and we need to support and train our employees to adapt to today’s challenges, such as digitalization, AI, the environment, working as part of a global network, and more. Our people must be increasingly agile and international.
Our demographic is also evolving as we adapt to our industrial footprint, which is equally balanced between Asia, Europe and North America, and to the demographics of our customers. We recruit locally, even if it means training local teams and supporting them through expertise from our central departments, especially the industrial ones. We have a target of 40% non-French people in senior roles.
What makes the Arkema Group a magnet for new talent?
Our employees feel good about working with us. This was borne out by the 2023 Arkema Cares global internal survey, which we will repeat in 2025. Nearly 80% of the two-thirds of employees who took part in the last survey said they would recommend Arkema as a place to work to their friends and family!
Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) is well above that of other groups. This is backed up by external surveys including one conducted by Capital magazine that ranked Arkema third among the 500 best French employers in 2024. For the fifth year in a row, we were one of Forbes’ Best Workplaces in the World, positioned 319th out of 850 companies, 19th among French organizations, and 27th in our sector. It is also reflected in the reviews posted on the Glassdoor website, where 74% of users say they would recommend Arkema to a friend, and 87% also approve of our CEO.
"Our employees feel good about working with us"
This attitude has not gone unnoticed by the Top Employers Institute, which has just certified our company as a top employer in ten countries including Brazil, China, the United States and France. Arkema is also one of the 400 companies in the 2024 World’s Top Companies for Women, which recognizes the progress made by women in our workforce, despite the fact that we operate in a historically male-dominated industry. This recognition encourages us to continue to apply best practice in human resources.
In 2024, we launched a new, quite unusual employer brand campaign. How do you think it went?
Yes, we need to make ourselves known and liked. This is essential in an industry that is not always properly understood in terms of its contribution to the energy transition and sustainable development.
As businesses compete for talent, we need to attract candidates who want to be involved in the markets of the future: batteries, hydrogen, filtration, lightweight materials.
The aim of our recent employer brand campaign was to say: come and play your part in these key areas! We hire people for their technical expertise, personality and soft skills. That's what our tagline implies: “Changing the world requires the right formula. The right formula consists of our innovative and sustainable materials, and you. Join us to develop the materials of tomorrow and make a difference together.”
The campaign received a lot of online coverage, especially on social media. We were particularly impressed by the way it was taken up by our employees on LinkedIn. More than 1,000 of them spontaneously decided to get involved by attaching their photo to the campaign poster and highlighting their own soft skills.
Their direct involvement raised the campaign’s profile. It got three million views—that’s huge!
Do you encourage job transfers?
Actively. They are a great motivator, and that creates value. For us, it is essential to engage people in three key aspects— changing region, changing role and changing business unit—and two levels—rising through the ranks and gaining expertise.
"Give employees the opportunity to switch roles"
At Arkema, someone who starts out as a production engineer in thiochemicals in France could move into sales in the Performance Polymers BU in the United States. An engineer might move into sales or marketing. We give employees the opportunity to switch roles and progress through different projects, supported, if necessary, by training.
It was a great success, with record participation by the Group’s employees: 66% in France and 28% internationally, totaling €62 million.
Our employees now represent approximately 9% of our share capital. This result reflects their dedication and confidence in Arkema’s strategy and future, and gives Arkema one of the highest employee shareholding rates among French listed companies. It is a further indicator that employees feel good about working at Arkema and have a vision for the future. This positive view the employees have of the company is a key factor in Arkema’s success.
Find out about our offers
We offer many job opportunities in our different locations
Why choosing Arkema?
Joining Arkema therefore means joining a global, innovative and responsible group.