The role of Territorial HRM in the creation of inclusive practices : securing vulnerable workers by the employer group

Abstract

Inclusive HRM structures its thinking with reference to intra-organisational processing, thereby limiting its scope. The field of inclusion proposes, in this sense, to mobilise the notion of the vulnerable person in order to consider the multi-factorial dimension of risks and barriers as well as opportunities. In this way, this approach extends the understanding of inclusion beyond the organisational and functional perimeter. In this vein, the securing of career paths, which is based, among other things, on intermediation actions whose operationalisation through HRM-Territorial systems, seems to constitute an interesting avenue. We therefore propose to look at the territory both in terms of its inclusive capacities, through the activation of resources inherent in the socio-economic fabric, and its unifying capacities, through the deployment of processes for creating an inclusive territory. Among the collective practices of HRM-Territorial, the employers’ pool (EP) is atypical, in the sense that it integrates in a statutory way an obligation to secure the careers of vulnerable employees by means of territorial intermediation. Based on three case studies carried out within employers’ pools, our results confirm that this mechanism is perceived as a tool for “de-precarisation” and reveal three practices for securing employment, at collective and territorial level. The operationalisation of this inclusion is based either on categorical equity or on equity of opportunity, depending on the capacity-building potential of the EP and its environment. Compared with the intra-organisational approach of member companies, HRM-Territorial enriches the response to vulnerabilities, by promoting the power to act.