Gard, a region with a strong diversity of sectors but facing a recruitment wall

Mathilde Sauvaire (Yelloh villages), Maria Pujol (Royal Canin), David Segura (Furygan). MIDI LIBRE – Dorian Cayuela

N’échappant pas à la crise du recrutement, les acteurs économiques du Gard se serrent les coudes.

22 800 employees in industry (including a quarter in energy, environment and waste treatment). 5,000 construction workers, 21,200 for services and more than forty thousand for commerce. An overwhelming majority – 82% on average – small businesses, but some (very) large employers.

The Gard, for Éric Giraudier, president of the CCI, is certainly not a territory "mono-sector". He explains:"It’is both a strength and a difficulty. We have industry, we have agri-food, we have chemistry, we have services, we have tourism and we also have several employment areas so that can actually create -be an animation difficulty. It's easier if you have one employer who makes flying objects and another who makes wings in the same city."

As if to illustrate his point, a few minutes later, David Segura, the director of the Gard motorcycle sportswear brand Furygan, established with three sites in the department since 1969, shared his difficulties in searching for talents. "Fifty-five years ago in this department there was a lot more leatherwork and hosiery. Today, we no longer find stitchers, this know-how has disappeared. Our biggest difficulty is recruiting, so we train internally."

Create opportunities for sector stakeholders

At his side, who came to testify about what it means to do long-term business in the Gard, are Mathilde Sauvaire, director of five outdoor hotel establishments in the Gard and Maria Pujol, head of global communications for the Royal group. Canine, which needs no introduction. They evoke similar difficulties: "At the lab at the Royal Canin campus in Aimargues, we ourselves train engineers of fifty different nationalities. All these people also need public services, schools, infrastructure for their families."
At Yelloh Village, if recruitment is no longer as fluid as before, it seems to be facilitated by seasonal contracts that have become longer (up to seven months) with the influx of foreign tourists in all season.

"With the 4 000 learners in our training courses, we are second after national education", recalled Éric Giraudier at the start of the evening. "It’s also up to us to see how we can jointly manage to create synergies. Institutions like the Chamber of Commerce create these opportunities by bringing together Gard companies in the motorcycle world, for example", again salutes David Segura.