2009 Human Resources Report

Human Resources Report
Preparing for the future
Promote sharing
Close-up
International mobility is on the rise
The Group encourages international mobility to give our managers experience abroad and accelerate knowledge sharing,
particularly in high-potential emerging countries. Sodexo has created tools and support mechanisms to help employees
adjust to their host country and later return home. Lilian Valentin, for example, opted in March 2008 to leave his position as
a District Manager in Paris, France and become a Regional Director in northern China. Based in Tianjin, a “small” city of
10 million people, he is the only Sodexo expatriate in the entire region, covering 3 mega-cities 1,000 km apart. Lilian calls
the experience “fascinating” and says it has required “a major cultural leap to meet the ongoing challenges of working in a
country that is changing at a very rapid pace.”
– Fiscal 2009 Annual publications