France Télécom : a human resources policy for a customer-orientated service

In just a few years, France Télécom has changed both its status and its market, an upheaval which few companies have experienced in such a short space of time. Faced with the pressing need to implement a new client-orientated strategy, a human resources policy is mandatory. It is necessary to transform the role of management, reorganise skills, put personnel at the disposal of the customer and so on. However, ninety-one percent of the personnel are still civil servants whose jobs are guaranteed. Can the status of the civil service be compatible with a modern, contract-based version of personnel management ?