Each employee, irrespective of their role or
location, can use the platform to access and
manage all the data related to their career. This
means for the first time there is a company-wide
overview of talent, with simplified and faster data
management than any of its previous processes.
Ramat adds: “It is changing the way people are
acting and reacting. There’s more than 1,000 open
training courses regardless of your level. You can
access marketing and sales if you’re in a different
department and learn new skills.”
Although it was important for employees to
know how to use the new system, the main issue
the HR department faced was showing staff why
the change was being made.
“It was not a communication issue but a change
of mindset; we needed to change behaviour. There
were lots of changes at the same time due to the
wider strategy rollout so the team had to be very
focused to make it happen.
“We now have an employee centricity where we
translate the company purpose, strategy and vision
and HR pushes that message. Having Workday is
changing the world and how we operate.”
Naturally in a company this size there were
mistakes along the way. Ramat, though reticent at
first to dwell on them, soon begins to share the
difficulties the HR team and the wider company
faced during the transition period.
“It was working on day one but we needed
to change the mindset of our employees and
their ways of working. If I could change one
thing it would be to think of this rather than
just communication.”
Ramat decided at the start of the process to go
for full transparency within the software, meaning
everyone’s profiles are available to be viewed
across the business. It seems obvious for some
companies, but connecting this on a global
platform had its issues.
He says: “As a manager, I didn’t know the
composition of my team but now as a group we
can do this for everyone. So we had to train
employees on what this means.”
HR makes difficult decisions every day, but
having to decide on the fundamentals of an inhouse
platform takes a lot of nerve. Fortunately
Ramat is well versed in taking a risk or two.
“I used to work at a start-up – perhaps you have
heard of it – called Microsoft,” he quips. “We were
80 people and working like hell on Saturdays and
we had meetings with Bill Gates coming in. It was
incredible and it’s why when I have young guys
telling me I don’t know what a start-up is, I tell
them ‘I know what a successful start-up is’.”
Despite his tech beginnings Ramat soon poured
into the drinks industry, beginning as an HR
manager at a soft drink company. He then
represented household brands Orangina and
I am sure of very few things
but one of them is that if you
want to be a good HR you need
to have a business mindset
Pepsi for the north of France before heading up
Orangina’s sale to Schweppes, something Ramat
credits with giving him a depth of experience he
now uses in his current role.
“When I came back as HRD at Ricard I went to
Canada to help build the region and then after one
year we decided to develop in America. It was 50%
pure business orientated and 50% HR orientated.
I am more diverse having spent 26 years in one
business than a lot of people who have changed
five to six companies in the same role,” he says.
“I am sure of very few things but one of them is
that if you want to be a good HR you need to have
a business mindset. If you are only an HR specialist
in your own mind you can be a good team member
but cannot lead an HR strategy function.”
It’s this business mindset that means Ramat is
often seen as CEO Alexandre Ricard’s first port of
call, frequently travelling with him on business
trips to aid key decision-making. Ricard’s office is
also situated within the HR department in the
company’s Paris HQ, where HR magazine meets
Ramat by a shelf displaying the bottles of the
Pernod Ricard portfolio in perfect alignment.
“We have a very direct way of being together,
where everyone can come in and speak with Alex
Ricard and it’s very easy. We also gather 600
people in the group and live together for three
days, which is an incredible machine to create and
share culture.”
The company has also developed a talent
management programme, Let’s Talk Talent, where
Ricard spent three weeks only focusing on talent
Strategic HR Profile
CV Education
Université Paris
Dauphine
Masters in
HR management
Aix-Marseille
Université
Bachelors degree in
economic analysis
2016 – Present
Group director HR,
sustainability and
responsibility
Pernod Ricard
2008 – 2016
Vice president HR
Pernod Ricard
2002 – 2008
HR director
Pernod Ricard
2001 – 2002
Head of steering
committee
Orangina
Schweppes
1999 – 2001
HR and information
systems director
Orangina France
1998 – 1999
HR director
Orangina France
1996 – 1998
Sales director
Orangina France
1993 – 1996
HR manager
Orangina France
1991 – 1993
Training and
compensation
manager
Microsoft France
28 HR April 2020 hrmagazine.co.uk
/hrmagazine.co.uk