Adeo’s heritage spans more than a century and today has more than 110,000 employees and a network of over 1,000 points of sale and 17 retail websites. Whether long-established or recently created, all Adeo companies operate autonomously but have a shared commitment to combine the creation of human, economic, and environmental values in their working practices and business lines. Such qualities are founded on close staff and customer engagement and an underlying spirit of sharing information and knowledge that have helped to define the group’s unique culture and business model. The collective vision is further reinforced by a significant profit-sharing policy. No less than 20% of profits are shared with staff and paid into incentive schemes, and there are more than 80,000 employee shareholders.
Always keen to lead by example, Adeo continues to adopt a proactive approach to the myriad of business challenges presented by the fast-moving world of retail and the constantly evolving DIY sector. It is continuing to pursue new markets and service developments, as well as its omni-channel service transformation and the ongoing development of its five interdependent digital business platforms.
In tandem with such customer service initiatives, the group has taken steps to maximize staff recruitment, retention, and satisfaction and the development of new skills to reflect the constantly shifting business model. The introduction of Workday has provided Adeo with an agile, robust, and accessible HR solution that supports the group’s diversity and cultural qualities while also actively promoting inclusion, learning, and skills development in all areas of the business.
Enterprise management reinforces knowledge-sharing and staff engagement.
Adeo operates in the distribution and retail sectors. It has an extremely decentralized salesforce, and all companies within the group operate autonomously. Looking at the market opportunities and future challenges facing the business, it was important to maintain this level of autonomy.
However, it was equally important to develop greater accountability right up to the point of customer service, and to use data insight and accessibility to support the move toward platform operations. This requires a common language and common frames of reference that directly support staff recruitment, engagement, and career development.
The key HR requirements for the group resulted in the need for a premium enterprise software solution that would meet the company’s constantly evolving business operations challenges as well as workforce needs. With 90% of employees working in stores, it was essential for the solution to be native on smartphones so information can be shared and easily accessed at any time of day and in all locations. Workday fulfilled these objectives and provides a much more advanced and multilayered approach to data measurement and analytics for more informed decision-making.
Our continued success requires attitudes, capabilities, and resources that keep pace with ever-changing customer demands and market trends. The introduction of Workday is enabling us to make full use of data and technology to help us achieve that goal.
People Foresight and Innovation Executive Director
Empowered learning and talent development.
Adeo’s core culture is founded on the spirit of sharing. As Muriel Shulz, the group’s People Foresight and Innovation Executive director, is quick to point out, “This is the cement that helps bind us all together, but it has to start with a deep-rooted commitment to sharing the corporate project and vision. That’s why we are so pleased we can now share knowledge and measure data in a way that positively promotes and empowers learning and talent development to fuel new capabilities and increased staff mobility.”
The group is a champion for employee health, safety, and well-being as it recognizes that working on the retail frontline can be exhausting. It took just 1 year to deploy Workday at 26 different companies within the group and the new system is now providing employees with a common language and intuitive, easy access to information. Such a progressive approach is helping to further motivate, inform, and include staff in the business’s exciting growth plans. It is also empowering employees to choose their own career paths, encouraging greater internal mobility and adding further impetus to the development of new skills that will be crucial for the continued success of the business.
Reaping the benefits of AI securely and with confidence.
Adeo recognizes that AI plays a key role in the future growth of the business and its workforce development. It is now assessing potential areas where AI capabilities can be introduced securely to help accelerate service improvements and efficiency gains without compromising regulatory compliance and the security of data and company assets.
AI and machine learning (ML) are embedded into Workday applications and used to power intelligent predictions and high levels of automation. This improves operational efficiencies and delivers unprecedented and real-time insights to ensure maximum operational agility and confident decision-making. AI and ML also identify learning and growth opportunities for staff members—helping them maximize their potential—and speed up the recruitment of the right talent. For Adeo, it is providing an effective framework for global and local governance to help the company take full advantage of new AI capabilities and other emerging technologies.
Workday is providing a much more robust and versatile architecture for our jobs, skills, and core HR activities. We are now looking to roll out new Workday modules to build on its success and further extend the system’s capabilities and reach.
People Foresight and Innovation Executive Director