[FEATURED MEMBER] Yves Rault

Yves Rault

Compensation & Benefits Director
CFAO

What is your role?

I have a dual role at CFAO with a team in each hemisphere. Luckily, travel has got easier since Magellan’s 16th Century voyage. I am compensation and benefits director at head office in France. I have the traditional C&B roles: executive compensation, LTI, benefits management, annual salary reviews, etc.
In parallel, I have set up and direct a global employment company in Mauritius. I have been lucky enough to enjoy great freedom to build my team and information system and to develop new HR services there. This very operational work brings me many satisfactions, and not only those of being able to visit the lagoon regularly. 

What is your hidden talent?

I have always been quite organized and my early career as a chartered accountant definitely reinforced this characteristic. It’s very practical in a function where various actions must be completed simultaneously. But you can have too much of a good thing. I sometimes envy those who have a talent for flexibility and improvisation.

What do you like the most about your job?

The diversity of our work, which combines the human and the technical. For a project or program to be a success, the human component has to be included in all its complexity. The multicultural dimension of an international group is exciting. But the added value of C&B is also its high degree of technicality, which combines very diverse and complementary expertise. These were the two factors that led me to switch to C&B midway through my career.

Any advice for people new to the profession?

It is not possible to be an expert in all fields. But to be the Swiss army knife of C&B, you have to be open to as many as you can. Talk to as many people as possible in your companies, encourage your colleagues to talk about their jobs, travel, or undertake a placement or internship abroad.

About CFAO:

With a revenue of over €5.8 billion, access to 46 of the 54 countries on the continent, and near to 21,000 employees, CFAO is a key player in mobility, healthcare, consumer goods, infrastructure and energy. Its distribution network comprises 158 subsidiaries and is the largest on the African continent.

The Group partners with leading international brands and covers the entire value chain – imports, production and distribution – in line with the best international standards, drawing on close to 170 years of hands-on knowledge and local expertise.
CFAO pursues a twofold strategy, focusing on manufacturing to promote local production, and distribution through its distribution network, Africa’s largest, to offer tailored, affordable products and services to people across the continent. https://www.cfaogroup.com/en/homepage/