People Development & Career Management

Throughout their careers, Lafarge offers its employees internal training programs that relate to the Group's professions and culture. These courses are offered at several levels:

• at the Business Unit level, for training in the local language,
• at the Business level, to study different techniques and professions,
• at the Group level, to acquire management skills at Lafarge University, our corporate university.

External training programs provided by specialized organizations or business schools may be offered to meet specific individual needs.

In 2006, the number of hours of training per person averaged across all sites stood at 37 hours for executives and 23 hours for non-executives.

Lafarge University was created in 2003. It was designed to accelerate the Group's adoption of entrepreneurial and fast-growing company leadership attitude in compliance with the Group's Principles of Action. The University targets individuals as well as senior and executive managers and works in partnership with some of the best business schools in the world, i.e. INSEAD and Henley in Europe, and both Duke University and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in the United States.

The University's program includes individual development plans and skills training either through centrally-delivered or locally-delivered sessions. Each year, 12 sessions are held in Asia, 12 in North and South America and 25 in Europe and Africa. Each session brings together between 8-20 different nationalities. These sessions help build networks between managers and encourage knowledge sharing and the development of best practices.

Programs are regularly updated and enriched to leverage new pedagogical approaches and increase impact. For example, Lafarge University is working with the Executive Finance Committee to implement a program on the ways financial directors can add value to their management committee.

The major objective of E-learning is to share common technical, management and leadership skills amongst a broad community of managers. It consists of about 140 attractive modules on management and leadership skills; these are short and easy-to-access modules. It takes about 30 minutes to complete a module related to a specific skill.

In the Principles of Action, Lafarge's commitment to its employees is in giving them every opportunity to contribute to the company's achievements and to develop their own skills. Since May 2009, "My E-Learning Space" has been considerably contributing to this commitment. A friendly and flexible online learning tool, "My E-Learning Space" can be used anytime you wish and allows you to build and implement your own development plan. 

E-learning helps attract talents to Lafarge in today's highly competitive and fast-paced market. Lafarge has been recognized for its training offerings, and e-learning is one of the key drivers to its people's development.

If you are a young engineer seeking your first international experience, you should consider our Developing Aggregates Talent Program (D.A.T.P.)!

The program is a remarkable opportunity to work abroad, discover Lafarge's Aggregates & Concrete Business and its professions, operations, values and culture. As an assistant quarry manager, you will have operational responsibilities. In the longer term, you will manage a quarry operation, ensure the sustainability of the deposit and help to improve product quality.

Do you have a degree in mechanical, civil or mining engineering? Do you have a desire to innovate? Do your strengths include communication, openness and team spirit? Do you speak French and English fluently? If the answer to these questions is yes, the D.A.T.P. program is for you!