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9 Mythbusters On Working At L’Oréal…From A Male Employee

Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | 1 Jun 2017

Let’s face it- we all have opinion about what it’s like to work at companies without ever putting our foot in the door. Our views are often shaped and skewed by hearsay, the products a company sells and social media. Rarely are our opinions based on the employees working there themselves. To find out more, we asked Alec Rickard, Assistant Product Manager at L’Oréal what it’s truly like to work at the world’s leading brand powerhouse with a diverse portfolio 36 international brands and 140 countries. Alec joined L’Oréal UK three years ago as a Management Trainee after graduating from the University of Warwick and today leads the latest haircare ranges and e-commerce branding for the Kérastase brand. Is L’Oréal really the giant cosmetics corporate with stern and suited women in six inch heels? We let Alec answer these popular myths and more for you.

At L’Oréal, image is everything. We hire based on looks

AR: Haha, absolutely not. I definitely didn’t see anything on the application form about looks or image, it was all about your ability and the skill sets you could offer to L’Oréal, especially their relevance to the role you want. Actually, I would say that through its approach to beauty L’Oréal encourages people to express themselves and be nothing but who they are. That is as true in the head office as it is for our consumers in-store. 2. L’Oréal is a girls only club. What do men know about lipstick? AR: Well you’d be surprised what you learn after working for the company for a while…I think it’s easy to see the beauty industry as a woman’s only world, but actually throughout my time at L’Oréal I have felt my opinions and work valued entirely equally to my female peers. In fact not being a natural consumer for some of L’Oréal’s products gives you the chance to be entirely objective when approaching business problems. At the end of the day, working at L’Oréal is about being a business person and so if you are successful at making business decisions in the context of your market, you will succeed. Knowing everything about a lipstick or even using one doesn’t come into it.

At L’Oréal, you’re just a cog in the machine

AR: I think responsibility at an early stage is one of the reasons L’Oréal is such a fiercely popular place to work and applications are so competitive. Whatever your level within the company, you are a key part of your team and have crucial roles to play in allowing the business to operate. On top of this, there is very much a spirit in L’Oréal that you aspire to make your role more than what it is on paper. So many of the people I know and work with actively seek to expand their role and gain more responsibility. It is this proactiveness that shapes a culture of entrepreneurship.

We have a high turnover and our people are replaceable. If you don’t perform, we’ll find someone else

AR: Performance is the backbone of any career. If you want to develop and progress, you have to set yourself high standards in terms of performance. However, this isn’t something you achieve on your own. Learning and leaning on the people around you, your peers, your line-manager, your HR team, is essential if you want to grow. Your career isn’t a journey you undertake in isolation. You will always need mentors, coaches and friends who can support you and help you to reach the next level. L’Oréal enables you to find those people and use them to develop and ultimately, to perform.

L’Oréal is exclusively a marketing company

AR: The number of different functions that work together at L’Oréal to maintain and grow the business is actually staggering. It’s a complex and integrated web of teams that deliver the business operations and if one of those teams were to fall or fail then every team would fail. Working collaboratively between functions is a necessity at L’Oréal and part of what makes the business so fast-paced. For example, anytime we consider launching new projects we go through a consultation with supply, finance and education teams before committing. Therefore, you can’t see yourself only as a marketer or account manager or Supply chain manager, whatever brand you are on, we are all equally accountable for delivering that business. I believe that’s why the graduate scheme allows people to work in another function, to allow you to gain that understanding and insight.

Rules are rules. We follow them. The organization is neatly organized, structured and process based to ensure the business runs smoothly

AR: We are not weighed down with rules - too many ‘rules’ or processes can make it hard to create change and deliver projects quickly. Flexibility and adaptability are a core part of L’Oréal’s ways of working. You can’t be the number one beauty company in the world and not be adaptable otherwise it would be impossible to deliver the product innovations our consumers want or the campaigns our customers love and value.

Every day is the same- we like to play it safe

AR: Would anyone want to work somewhere where everyday was the same? It’s certainly not the case at L’Oréal, every day presents a new challenge and just when you think you’ve seen everything, it will throw up some new problem to solve. Our business is very fast-paced and to meet the needs and expectations of our consumers and retail partners we have to be adaptable and at times, very reactive. Handling this pressure and making accurate decisions is a key skill-set you will develop in the company.

Each employee has one job, in one brand, in one function. Roles are clear cut, why mess with clarity?

AR: This just isn’t realistic. The demands of the business mean you will always need to work with other teams and functions. In fact, as the industry and market changes, the diversity of roles in the company has increased and so on any one project you may have five, six or more functions working to ensure its success. Understanding and managing these relationships and working well together can be a real advantage to your career at L’Oréal. Recently I worked on an e-commerce pilot project where we drove online clients into store and to deliver this I had to work daily with the account manager, the digital team and the customer relations team. Together, we were all responsible for taking the project forward and making it a success.

L’Oréal is all work, no play

It’s pretty much the opposite. We work hard but everyone needs time to relax and have fun. Also, the strength of teams is built on the strength of the relationships between the people in them. Getting to know and spending time with your team outside of a work context is important to success of the business. The company facilitates this in a number of ways with Christmas parties, summer parties, sports teams, as well as an active after-work social scene. Today, I am lucky enough to say some of my colleagues have become my closest friends and beyond this, you have a wide circle of people you know. In fact, this summer I am organising a charity campaign climbing the three tallest mountains in the UK in under 24 hours and I have 12 people from work taking part which is great. Want to find out more on what life is like at L’Oréal and how to be part of it? Check out their company profile here.

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Glassdoor Team

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Blog Home Branding9 Mythbusters On Working At L’Oréal…From A Male Employee

9 Mythbusters On Working At L’Oréal…From A Male Employee

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