At L'Oréal, digital transformation is not limited to products and services: it also affects talent and skills management. With the ambition of being a Beauty Tech, the company has made data a strategic lever to boost HR efficiency and improve the employee experience.

However, accumulating data is not enough. You need to make it reliable and use it effectively. Creating a discipline around data is therefore a key factor in ensuring the relevance of HR decisions.

1. Build solid governance to ensure data reliability

One of the major challenges in managing HR data is its dispersal: it comes from numerous sources and is often entered by HR staff in the field. This creates the risk of inconsistency, duplication and incomplete information.

To structure this approach, L'Oréal has set up several initiatives:

• HR system unification with SAP SuccessFactors to centralize data.
• The creation of a dedicated Data Steward role within Learning to guarantee the quality and consistency of information.
• Regular audits and remediation plans to identify and correct deviations.

"Tomorrow's oil is data. But badly structured data has no value. We need to make it usable and actionable." - François Debois, L'Oréal.

2. Integrate data into team rituals and daily routine

The challenge is togo beyond tools and create a genuine data culture within HR and L&D teams. This means gradually integrating data into day-to-day processes.

Some of the levers activated at L'Oréal :

• Quarterly audit campaigns, with follow-up of corrective actions.
• A daily discipline around figures, by integrating HR dashboards into management meetings and business reviews.
• An annual reporting ritual, in particular to meet transparency obligations (e.g. European CSRD standard on the number of training courses attended by gender).
• Making Learning teams aware of data, so that they know how to interpret it and use it as a tool for continuous improvement.

The idea is clear: the more we manipulate and exploit data, the more reliable and useful it becomes.

3. Make data engaging to maximize adherence

Another difficulty lies in the appropriation of data by HR teams and managers. Too often perceived as a technical constraint, it needs to be valued and made engaging.

L'Oréal has adopted an innovative approach, notably through :

• The creation of "Data News" in the form of monthly videos, to democratize key figures and insights.
• Staging data through immersive events and attractive visuals.
• Leveraging internal influencers to support these initiatives and encourage their adoption.

A case in point: the launch of the Skills Galaxy skills repository. Rather than simply announcing its deployment, L'Oréal organized :

• A series of 6 immersive events to anchor the model in the organization.
• Omnichannel activations, with posters, goodies, videos and even messages integrated into company canteen menus.
• The involvement of local General Managers, who actively relayed the project to their teams.

The impact was immediate: over 50% of employees declared their skills in just a few months, with 46,000 connections to the OneLearning platform.

4. The next stage: making uses more reliable and industrialized

After this first wave of data collection, L'Oréal is tackling a new challenge: guaranteeing the reliability and relevance of the information declared. In 2025, several actions will be implemented:

• Refine data quality by correcting identified cultural and business biases.
• Industrialize uses, by strengthening the link between declared skills and training.
• Use data continuously, so that it becomes a structuring lever rather than a mere reporting tool.

Towards a data-enhanced HR

Far from being a simple technological project, the integration of data at L'Oréal is based on a profound cultural transformation. The company has adopted a pragmatic approach: tooling, structuring, integrating into day-to-day operations, then marketing to maximize adoption.

The challenge for the months ahead? To make data a reflex, so that every employee, every manager can exploit it in a fluid and natural way. A vision that brings L'Oréal a step closer to its Beauty Tech ambition , both in business and in talent management.

Would you like to delve deeper into these topics and provide food for thought? Discover the FORWARD 2025 replays and retrospective.