

With the world becoming a global village of sorts, more and more businesses are looking to scale-up and dip their toes in international waters. But when looking to expand, the question beckons, “how can one focus on growing a business, as well as make sure it remains compliant at the same time?” The answer… Read more »
There are many advantages to outsourcing your human resources function, especially when you’re a foreign company looking to explore a new market or expand to a new country. While it might initially seem counterintuitive to let a third-party vendor handle a business area as interpersonal as HR, outsourcing it doesn’t actually take away from… Read more »
Now that you’ve found your dream job in France, how do you get shortlisted with that perfect CV? It’s important to remember that every country has its own CV standards to abide to. This may impact the structure, length, and general format among other things. Depending on the industry type, even the tone that… Read more »
Friday, 12 February 2021 marks the beginning of the new lunar year. This year will be the Year of the Ox. The second of all zodiac animals. Also known as Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, or Chunjie (China); Tet (Vietnam); Seollal (Korea); or Losar (Tibet), Lunar New Year is celebrated by about 1.5 billion people around the… Read more »
Do you feel a sense of stigma when negotiating your salary? Feel uncomfortable when placing emphasis on your salary package? This feeling can be magnified in times like COVID-19, when the job market is oversaturated and the future seems uncertain. Whilst this is true, negotiating a fair salary is not only valid and reasonable,… Read more »
We’re thrilled to share that Polyglot Group is now certified for Business France’s Cheque Relance Export! But wait a second… What is it and why does it matter? What is the Cheque Relance Export? For those of you who don’t speak or understand French, “Relance Export” translates to “Reboot Trade”. Unsurprisingly, since COVID-19, businesses… Read more »
Company culture is the heart of a business, a set of shared beliefs adopted by all the people in the organisation and supporting its strategy and structure. According to Deloitte’s research, 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe strong company culture is essential for a thriving business. In today’s day and age, employees… Read more »
On the 30th of January 2020, the World Health Organisation’s Director – General declared a Public Health Emergency of international concern due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This marked the beginning of a domino effect that would shape our current job market. Indeed, the dynamics that once drove the recruitment industry changed dramatically as governments… Read more »
In Australia, there are 8 national public holidays observed as part of the National Employment Standards (NES) that underpin employment throughout the country. In addition to these key dates, some states and territories also have additional regional public holidays or substitute public holidays. Substitute public holidays mean that if a public holiday falls on… Read more »
France observes and celebrates a number of holidays throughout the year, whether religious holidays, seasonal holidays, or national holidays relevant to the history of France. Should your foreign business have a presence in France, it is important to keep on top of all public holidays from a HR compliance perspective. For ease, we’ve summarised all… Read more »
La Mancha is an international gold producer and has business operations, development projects and exploration activities in Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan and Australia with a corporate Head office based in Paris.
As the private natural resource investment vehicle of the Sawiris Family, La Mancha specialises in creating leading regional players with an entrepreneurial hands-on industrial approach. Originally partly owned by the French business Areva, a large power company, La Mancha is now privately held.
"Polyglot’s cross-cultural training was very practical and useful. As I started working for a new company with headquarters in France, it was important for me to understand the culture and the style of communication. I undertook cross-cultural training and felt prepared and aware of what the international business context of the company was." Monica Kander - HR Manager Australia
Canadian mining group La Mancha first approached The Polyglot Group in 2010 when they were developing their fourth mine, based in Australia.
At this time of expansion, La Mancha had been bought by the French nuclear & renewable energy group, Areva. This co-ownership generated a complex cross-cultural circumstance, where the Australian-based Canadian employees were required to collaborate with new French co-owners.
La Mancha turned to The Polyglot Group to help overcome communication barriers and facilitate smooth business operations in this cross-cultural context. La Mancha sought practical ways to help the Australian-based management team gain skills in intercultural communication while also working in accordance with the new French business culture. Considering both the culture and communication patterns needed to go through significant change, La Mancha turned to The Polyglot Group to provide training to bridge the cultural gap and avoid misunderstandings.
Shortly after this time, La Mancha also experienced the need to recruit new employees. As La Mancha now had a strong relationship with The Polyglot Group, they trusted us with the responsibility of recruiting a number of new members. Throughout their journey, La Mancha has repeatedly turned to The Polyglot Group to fulfil recruitment needs, including the hiring of their Chief Operations Officer in Paris.
Alongside recruitment needs, La Mancha also required contract management for their operations in Sudan, East Africa. More specifically, La Mancha sought help with the time-consuming process of negotiating and drafting employment contracts, as well as other processes such as organising insurance for employees.
As we worked to assist La Mancha across multiple facets, it became apparent that La Mancha required help across a number of different business operations solutions. To best answer these needs, we tailored our Employment Outsourcing solution, which allowed La Mancha to take advantage of several customised services in one package.
As multicultural business experts, we devised best practices to bridge the cultural gap between La Mancha’s Australian management team and Areva’s French team. After careful consideration of this unique challenge, we customised a cross-cultural training program tailored for this specific circumstance. In these cross-cultural training sessions, we shared our expertise in French business culture and helped La Mancha’s team to understand the cultural differences. In the training sessions, we covered a multitude of important topics such as communication style, email interaction and communication dynamics—information which was immensely useful for La Mancha in promoting intercultural understanding and facilitating success of the business’ co-ownership.
When La Mancha entrusted us with the responsibility to recruit new employees, we used our extensive candidate pool to source talent for positions such as Mine Managers, Maintenance Managers and Strategy & Business Development Managers. Over the course of our alliance, we successfully recruited 17 employees for La Mancha.
When it came to Contract Management, we provided La Mancha with a solution which would guarantee compliance. Our HR Outsourcing solution meant we were listed as the employer of record for this operation, thereby taking responsibility for the legalities surrounding employing in Sudan.
In taking advantage of our customised solutions, La Mancha received expert help across multiple time zones. Moreover, La Mancha could rest assured, knowing The Polyglot Group specialise in the complexities of cross-cultural business operations.
Equipped with our knowledge of multiple business cultures (including that of France), we were the ultimate partner in helping La Mancha bridge the intercultural communicative gap. La Mancha’s Australian HR Manager reported, “I undertook Polyglot Group’s cross-cultural training and felt prepared and aware of what the international business context of the company was.” Our cross-cultural training provided the management team with the ability to understand, cooperate and work effectively with their cross-cultural partners.
With our HR solution taking care of contract management, La Mancha did not need to waste any time on administrative duties such as the drafting of contracts—they could focus on business endeavours in Sudan, knowing they were fully compliant.
In choosing to partner with The Polyglot Group, finding new employees was never a concern for La Mancha. With our extensive international networks, we provided the business with an unbeatable talent pool.
Overall, our partnership with La Mancha not only overcome the cross-cultural barriers, but also solved a number of complexities which became apparent over the course of La Mancha’s expansion.