A network for the future

With its TAI Community (Trainees, Apprentices and Interns), Hager Group has created a unique internal network of young employees who provide each other and the company with valuable support. In early September these junior employees, called TAIs, from France and Germany came together for their first-ever joint workshop day and went home full of new ideas and inspiration.

They are quite literally the future of the company: a total of 126 Hager Group TAIs met on 6^th September in Obernai for their first international networking and workshop day. The 91 participants from Hager Group’s German sites and the 35 from the French sites were invited to Obernai, in Alsace France, by their TAI Community. The TAI Community at Hager Group is a self-organised network of young employees – something that is quite unique in the corporate world.

A unique network of young employees

The members of this TAI Community help each other by providing the opportunity to make contacts and exchange ideas, allowing faster integration into the company, development of projects and ideas and simply enjoying their work more. “At Hager Group we are very proud that this kind of network has been developed within our company,” commented Carole Bernard, Group HR Project Manager, for diversity at Hager Group.

It took several months’ preparation time, with various meetings on both sides of the border and a lot of hard work to organise the meeting. For the 126 attendees, the event started with a Hager Group knowledge treasure hunt in Obernai. The objective: getting to know each other and the company better.

Workshops with the Board of Directors

The next item on the agenda was a brainstorming session based on questions that the Board of Directors had put together for them. What are your career priorities? How could Hager Group improve manager development? Do you consider Hager Group to be an innovative company? If so, why?

The TAI members discussed these and other questions amongst themselves, then later on with CEO Daniel Hager and Chief Group Human Resources Officer Franck Houdebert. The dialogue provided some extremely important insights for these two Board members; such as the fact that young people would like to see more open, flexible working conditions or that the prospect of working with international projects and teams is very attractive.

A blueprint for future work structures

“The TAI Community reflects the cooperative spirit that we want to promote within the company,” said Franck Houdebert, “it shows us how networking can help us to build future.” From this perspective, the TAI Community is not just an unusually versatile network, but also an example of the interconnected way in in which corporate structures will work together in the future.

Photos

1. From left to right: Lisa Schug, event co-organiser, Carole Bernard, Hager Group HR project manager, Anaïs Mehl, event co-organiser. 
2. Brainstorming session based on questions from Hager Group’s Board of Directors. 
3. Hager Group TAI Community general meeting. 
4. Daniel Hager (l.), Anaïs Mehl (r.), event co-organiser. 
5. Daniel Hager (l.) and Franck Houdebert (r.) discussing with the TAI Community. 
6. Franck Houdebert discussing with the TAI Community. 

© Hager Group, Christian Ernst