At Concentrix's call centres in France, is management toxic?

“They're great for cooking merguez sausages”. The key role of supervisors, the Chief People Officer and measuring the employee experience in the BPO industry.

Toxic management, concerns, the sub-prefect alerted by the local MP about working conditions, management and social dialogue have been the subject of numerous alerts at the world's number 2 call centre, Concentrix, ex-Webhelp, in Etrelles, on the outskirts of Vitré. A few months ago in the Oise region, again at Concentrix, the dismissal of Loan Léton, an employee who had mocked the practices of the payroll and HR department with a gif featuring Homer Simpson, left a lasting impression. Are we in danger of one day experiencing the same storm that hit Teleperformance in Colombia in November 2022, when a tweet from the deputy labour minister, Edwin Palma Egea, sent the world's number 1 call centre company's share price plummeting by 33%? What lies behind the strong words ‘toxic management’?

All4Customer. 23 plenary sessions, none devoted to employee experience, motivation, etc.
A few points of context are worth noting. In a few days' time, All4Customer kicks off, a trade show devoted to the customer experience, artificial intelligence and digital marketing. Specialists in HR, the employee experience and the measurement of the employee experience have very little presence or representation. Of the 23 plenary sessions, none seems to be dedicated to this key theme. 

Concentrix, formerly Webhelp, has had a site in Vitré since 2007, employing around 500 people. For more than ten years, there have been regular strikes at the site, particularly at the time of the NAO (compulsory annual negotiations). The same unions cite ‘harsh, toxic’ working conditions, without backing up their complaints. At the same time, the management of Concentrix France does not seem willing to talk to the media, as if, like the entire BPO profession, it had given up hope of making people understand the content of its business, the importance of the HR issue and the contradictory injunctions it faces as a result of the demands of the brands that employ them. At Teleperformance, Karine Jan, Managing Director France, is putting the finishing touches to a voluntary redundancy plan for 598 employees in France. The company has seen its headcount fall steadily over the last ten years.  

As AI agents appear on the scene, they are going to do wonders: a real hello, a good time shared over merguez sausages with your boss or the payroll department, can the training of supervisors change the game in a contact centre? Here's a quick look at HR practices in the BPO and contact centre industry. The Chief People Officers employed in these large companies do not seem to have resolved a key issue: on a set, the contact centre supervisor is probably the key individual. His or her interpersonal skills and local management know-how alone can make all the difference.

Nb: Franck Devos is Concentrix's Chief People Officer. 

Canal +, Enedis, BPI, merguez, fixed-term contracts and teleworking, the life of a call-centre agent in France

The survey will be published in Les Cahiers de l'Expérience Client, issue 11, out in June 2025. The following topics will be covered: Concentrix vs Teleperformance, the state of play on HR issues, pay practices and continuous training for supervisors.
How do you train supervisors? Books published, training specialists, recruitment and performance assessment tools.
The importance of QM (quality monitoring) and speech analytics in quality and performance management. Does an ex-marine commando make a good contact centre manager? Bruno Paravisini ran the Etrelles centre and now works for Direct Assurances. Webhelp has employed a number of former soldiers from these elite troops. What have they brought to the company in terms of HR, and what do they retain from their time at Concentrix?

Are supervisors petty bosses? Morgane, a former Concentrix employee, has been on one fixed-term contract after another at Etrelles. She was hoping for a permanent contract, but never got it. She now works for the CPAM, still on a telephone platform. Despite her disappointment, she says she ‘learnt a lot at Concentrix, where she started at the age of 18, after a CAP. But many of the supervisors there were petty bosses, who didn't even know the basic job or the assignments we were working on’.  

In some contact centres, and at some large BPOs, they are no longer considered essential. Read more here. 

Employee reviews
Cyril Urien, former supervisor at Etrelles, made us smile. Of course, it's not representative on its own, as happy people don't talk too much. We give it to you in its raw form, including minor spelling mistakes.  
‘We teach children to say goodbye, but this notion is non-existent in this company. I'm leaving as a supervisor after 10 years and counting, and I'm not on bad terms. But I could have.

Did management come to say goodbye? Any last words? Nothing - that's the amateur level of relationship management.

Offboarding is a last constructive exchange about the employee's work in the company. The positive points can help to understand the employee's contribution to the company and, above all, the less positive remarks can be of use in the future - in both directions!

In addition to the management that needs to be built up at the Vitré site, it's an excellent company. It's a great place to work, with a wide range of activities to explore. If you're well looked after, you'll be able to build up a solid CV, develop your skills and consolidate your competencies.

But don't expect anything from your management, they're counting on you and understand that they're counting on the money you're going to bring them in exchange for... not even a thank you.

Oh, I forgot, they're really good at cooking merguez and chipolatas at the annual barbecue. That's where the excitement is, they've mastered the weber touch if they're not good at management.’

You need to know
When contacted yesterday, Christine Le Nabour (MP, Ensemble pour la République) - who alerted the sub-prefecture to the situation at Concentrix - and her team were unable to provide details of the worrying developments at Concentrix Vitré. Marc Le Coënt, Concentrix site manager, was also contacted. We will be repeating our appeal.

The attached visual is taken from the Bottin du service, de l'expérience client et de l'hospitalité, 5th edition. Section: Measuring the customer and employee experience.

The magazines En-Contact, number 135 (associated with the Bottin) and number 136 will be available on a selection of All4Customer stands, including those of hipto, Greenbureau, Manifone, Vipp-Interstis and Volubile.ai. In return for providing your full contact details, a copy of the magazine will be offered to you, while stocks last.