Bringing HR Back to What It Really Is

For Pape Wade, whose expertise in the field of human resources, here and internationally, is no longer in doubt, people are, and remain, at the heart of the company. The digital shift does not prevent him from doing so. " Business is people ", as Robert Dutton, former CEO of Rona who sits on Airudi's advisory committee, likes to remind us. Co-founded in 2018, the start-up integrates artificial intelligence and data standardization in HR in order to be able to focus on what really matters, human relations and value creation. "At Airudi, we are a constellation of talents, united by common values", decrees Pape Wade.

“The world of work is changing”

The transformation of organizations, accelerated by changing mentalities and digitalization, and propelled by the pandemic, "is no longer a prediction," confirms Pape Wade, a specialist in continuous change. We are already seeing employees' marked preference for a hybrid work mode combining teleworking and face-to-face work, the search for a work-life balance and the primacy of human values. Employees want more recognition and intrinsic appreciation. The balance of power is no longer pyramidal, but is flattening out in favor of a pooling of intelligence that does not differentiate between genders and colors, but brings together ideas and abilities. Leaders who have not understood will struggle to keep their employees."

The company has a role to play. "It is a lever for societal transformation," continues Pape Wade. "It is both a showcase for society and its mirror. By assuming its positions, it has an impact. It is through it that changes can come."

5 tips for being an inclusive company (comments from Mr. Wade collected during the Expo-Entrepreneurs 2021 )

1. Establishing diversity values starting with a convinced and representative senior management team.

2. Conduct a status audit to ensure that diversity is represented across all levels of the company.

3. Develop concrete action plans , particularly in hiring policy and internal and external communications.

4. Share your values in the company , be transparent with employees.

5. Take stock of objectives regularly.

Embodying diversity across all levels

What binds employees together is “our simple humanity,” says the director of the two-and-a-half-year-old startup that has experienced remarkable growth. Airudi’s DNA is built around diversity, with “a mix of youth and gray hair, different backgrounds and beliefs,” a dozen university researchers supervised internationally, and an equally cohesive board of directors. The two co-founders, Pape Wade and Amanda Arciero, are the image of their employer brand. “This representation is not a smokescreen effect, nor a timid sprinkling, but the foundation of our identity,” says the entrepreneur. “The values of inclusion must start from senior management and be visible throughout the company.” When it comes to diversity, Airudi is proud to be a strong and inspiring leader.

Diversity, a reflection of our identity

Understanding the values of its inspiring founder means diving into his past in Senegal. The young Pape was immersed in diversity. “I learned very early to listen to a diversity of opinions, in which the feminine gender was a richness and the village a celebration,” he shares generously. For this man of heart, there is no doubt that diversity is wide-ranging. It takes on as many colors as forms: thoughts, cultures, conditions and genders. “My father, a history teacher, received a lot of people,” he remembers, speaking of the man who deeply inspired him. “The living room was bubbling with lively minds, clashing their ideas. The school and the scouts were also breeding grounds for exchanges and learning about others, particularly through twinning with European students.”

From all this, Pape Wade remembers that diversity is not what differentiates, but what unites.