How Picard Surgelés modernized the annual review process with Elevo

Before Elevo

After twelve years at IKEA France in various HR roles—both in stores and at headquarters—Pierre-Jean Cariès joined Picard Surgelés at the end of 2018 as Head of HR Development for France. His priorities included improving the Employee Experience and Talent Management. On the roadmap was the ambition to rethink the evaluation processes and skills development across all Picard business lines, which encompass a wide variety of professions (stores, headquarters, home delivery services, and the seafood product packaging workshop).

To enhance the user experience for employees and make better use of data, managers and HR teams launched a project in autumn 2020 to digitize the annual review process. To harmonize practices, it was also decided to establish a common review campaign period for all Picard divisions.

Why Elevo?

There was little time between the launch of the RFP (September 2020) and the first review campaign (April 2021). The goal was ambitious: the tool had to be deployed before March 31, 2021, so that reviews could start right at the beginning of the new fiscal year in April.

But beyond this tight timeline, the solution had to meet several other requirements.

One decisive factor was ease of use.

“We were looking for a simple-to-use tool because digital tools are not always fully mastered by all our employees. We didn’t want an overly complex system, but rather a tool that’s easy to use and doesn’t require a manual."
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

When it came time to choose the tool, another decisive criterion emerged: agility. At Picard, even though turnover is very low compared to the retail sector, geographical and functional mobility is frequent.

“We have an organization that is constantly in motion. For example, we have people going on maternity leave, changing positions or locations, temporarily filling in at another store… Naturally, these movements continue during an annual review campaign. Our second criterion was therefore to have a flexible and agile tool. We also needed the ability to assign an evaluator who might not be the employee’s direct manager, but potentially the person covering for the manager during an absence, for example as part of a temporary assignment. The tool had to allow us to handle that.”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

After benchmarking several tools, Picard Surgelés chose Elevo because it met all their criteria. But Elevo is more than just a tool.

Throughout the deployment, Elevo’s Customer Success team supported Picard’s HR department in addressing both technical and organizational challenges. This close collaboration ensured the platform was deployed on schedule—before March 31, 2021.

“It was a challenging project for Cécile Camadro [Customer Success Director at Elevo]. There were technical aspects and constraints with our systems, but in the end, the project went very smoothly, and the tool was implemented in less than two months after the contract was signed. Having someone attentive, available, and who understands the issues was invaluable. And the energy from everyone internally ensured the project was delivered on time.”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

Picard's campaign on Elevo

New evaluation frameworks

Ahead of launching the appraisal campaign, several working groups involving operational managers were set up to enhance and streamline the existing review templates, turning them into constructive conversations focused on employee development. This process led to a complete overhaul of the professional review template and the creation of competency frameworks for the various job families.

Eight core transversal competencies were identified, and proficiency levels were defined for each. This approach made evaluation practices more consistent and equitable, while clarifying expectations and enabling more structured, transparent discussions.

Conducting reviews and redefining the manager’s role at Picard

Picard Surgelés also redefined the role of its 1,200 leaders around four core managerial expectations: provide meaning, develop, engage and empower, and lead. In early 2021, the Executive Committee, along with all managers, took part in an extensive development program—combining in-person and remote sessions—designed to share and embed these new expectations.

As part of the “Develop” expectation, managers were trained on how to conduct performance reviews: how to prepare effectively, actively listen to employees, give constructive feedback, and set clear objectives.

“We worked on an ecosystem. We didn’t just implement a tool.”
– Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

On Elevo, two review campaigns (annual review and professional review) were launched for each of Picard’s four job families:

‍

The benefits of Elevo for Picard

Benefits for employees and managers

1°) Reviews shared more easily

Before adopting Elevo, reviews were conducted either on paper or using editable PDFs. In that setup, it wasn’t easy for employees to prepare and share their input—especially during the health crisis. Thanks to Elevo, employees can now share their preparation ahead of time, even remotely. As a result, managers spend less time chasing their direct reports for input.

“Fortunately, we had Elevo during this health crisis: it was a real advantage when reviews couldn’t be conducted in person and had to be done remotely.”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

2°) Store employees fully embracing the annual review

One of the key success factors for Picard Surgelés was having an easy-to-use tool so that everyone—even those less familiar with digital platforms—could quickly get up to speed. Thanks to its intuitive design, Elevo was rapidly adopted by all employees, including the least tech-savvy. For example, the ability to navigate the review form using simple drag-and-drop, without multiple clicks to move between sections, clearly enhanced the user experience.

“The store teams welcomed Elevo very positively. Everyone adopted it quickly, regardless of generation—proof of the tool’s simplicity.”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

In the past, reviews were not always prepared by employees. With Elevo, this has changed significantly. Since employees are now required to share their self-assessment with their manager ahead of time, they’ve been encouraged to better prepare for the discussion and take a step back to reflect on their responsibilities, goal achievements, and skills they need to develop.

3°) More transparent and constructive conversations

Thanks to clear evaluation criteria and the requirement to share materials ahead of one-to-ones, discussions between managers and employees are now far more transparent and meaningful. Employees know exactly how they will be assessed and what is expected of them. Managers, in turn, can now accurately identify:

- each employee’s strengths and areas for improvement

- skills to develop

- the next steps in their development plan

“Employees have fully engaged with the process, which has led to transparent exchanges between them and their managers. That’s the purpose of a performance review—it’s a dedicated moment between both parties. When it’s well-prepared, the conversation is effective!”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

Benefits for the HR team

1°) Archived interviews: a time-saver

On Elevo, interviews are archived and permanently accessible to both employees and managers. An interface has been set up with Picard Surgelés’ HRIS, which is automatically updated with interview dates once they are completed. This means the HR teams no longer need to manually enter this information into the HRIS, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

“The huge advantage—and one that managers have really understood—is that next year they will be able to find their employees’ 2021 annual review directly in Elevo. This eliminates the need to search for interviews in folders, scan them, and email them when requested—tasks with little added value for our HR teams. And, of course, it will save managers valuable time.”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

2°) Easier reporting: the example of internal mobility

Before implementing Elevo, Picard’s teams couldn’t fully leverage the data from interviews when they were done on paper or as PDFs. Now, with this new tool, the HR teams can analyze data and gain a clearer view of key HR indicators, especially around internal mobility.

“We’re going to send Regional Managers a list of employees who are open to mobility within their geographic area—information gathered directly from professional development interviews. This is a big advantage for them because, previously, they didn’t have this visibility. They had to read through paper reviews, make phone calls, and so on. Now, this information will be much easier for them to access.”
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés

‍

What's next?

“The next step for us is to strengthen the new evaluation practices we’ve already put in place, because well-prepared and well-conducted interviews have a positive impact on both employee development and company performance. We’re also planning to roll out the tool to our stores in Belgium!"
- Pierre-Jean Cariès, Head of HR Development, Picard Surgelés