Mission societies, holacracy, liberated companies, new forms of companies have appeared in recent years. They remain companies in search of profit, but to put it at the service of their employees and climatic and social emergencies. They achieve this by making their management methods more flexible and reducing hierarchy.
Born of the Pacte law in 2019, there are already a thousand companies with a mission, with Camif and Nutriset as pioneers. They have modified their statutes to include a mission and the means to achieve it (fight against poverty, access to products or services for the greatest number, preservation of the planet, etc.), beyond their economic and financial objectives. “If we note a boom in mission-based companies since the pandemic, notes Anne Mollet, General Manager of the Community of Mission-Based Companies, it is also because their role and the impact they have for society are more recognized. »
power sharing
To control the mission, there is both an internal mission committee, which includes at least one employee, and an independent evaluator approved by the State. But becoming a company with a mission is first of all a proactive approach that does not give rise to any tax advantage. The mindset is the same for holacratic companies, around fifty in France. Their main concern is the autonomy of employees, by smoothing out hierarchies.
Since this year, Le Messageur, a company from Rennes specializing in accessibility tools for the hearing impaired, has been training its 18 employees in holacracy. “We already had fertile ground for this approach, emphasizes Solène Nicolas, communication officer for Le Messageur. Since our creation ten years ago, we have been in scop, a legal form where employees have the majority in voice and capital. Our founding manager is still there, but he shares the power. » In concrete terms, this involves meetings where everyone is listened to and great autonomy in daily action.
Flexibility and self-management
As with Le Messageur, it was growing up that prompted Enerfip, a financing platform for ecological transition located in Montpellier, to try out new management methods: the liberated company. This is a slightly older form than mission-based companies or holacratic companies, which have neither label nor accreditation.
“It is the flexibility that characterizes us, confirms Julien Hostache, manager of the 14 employees of Enerfip. I am convinced that our return to a form of self-management has been one of the keys to our success over the past eight years. » The leading platform in the sector in Europe, Enerfip is a SAS (simplified joint-stock company) which has the characteristics of a scop (employee shareholders after two years, votes in general meetings of executive compensation and major decisions) and which, like other new types of business, has been able to create its own model.