Laurent Laïk (La Varappe): “Inclusion must become the societal norm of tomorrow” – Le Journal des Entreprises

You have been running La Varappe since 1997. What does this group, which is one of the leaders in inclusion in France, represent today?

In thirty years (La Varappe was created in 1992, Ed), the La Varappe group, with the support of investors, increased from 300,000 euros to 65 million euros in turnover in 2021. Present in France and overseas, it employs nearly 9,000 people and has supported more than 100,000 people to find employment, empowering everyone to play their role in society. This role materializes in four activities: the environment, historical area of ​​expertise, eco-construction through the transformation of shipping containers, health, resources and skills.

What is the program for the next thirty years?

La Varappe wants to continue to develop its four subsidiaries with one ambition: to move from the margin to the norm, that inclusion becomes the societal norm of tomorrow. We want to build a champion and a benchmark for inclusion around one principle: no one is unemployable.

How are you going to implement this ambition?

La Varappe can do it, but cannot do it alone, it must rely on companies because they are the best way to develop the power to act. We are going to build this future around three themes. The professions of tomorrow first: 85% of the professions of 2030 do not yet exist, 540,000 positions are to be filled in the ecological transition by 2030, 350,000 in old age professions by 2025.

Support must also be redesigned to reach out to the most vulnerable people, helping them in particular by offering them mobility solutions, like some of our agencies, which provide a fleet of electric vehicles or accompanying drivers.

Finally, we want to imagine the models of tomorrow.

What will these new economic models be?

They are based on cooperation, which makes inclusion the general case and not the exception. We want to develop joint ventures: the first was created in 2010 between homeblok (construction assembled in containers, editor’s note) and Schneider Electric. In 2019, Vinci Autoroute and the La Varappe teams created a joint venture to reinvent motorway cleaning jobs. In 2021, our subsidiary Eureka created, with Interima, a specialist in temporary work in Carros, a company dedicated to temporary work integration.

We must also go more towards companies because allowing everyone to grow is a social project and a business concern. La Varappe is also present within professional federations, where we play our role of scratching hair.

What are the growth prospects?

We were all in, we are now going to organize growth (internal and external) while continuing to individualize the response given to the people we support. It’s important to continue to grow, because it shows that our economic model, based on inclusion, works and is sustainable.

In addition, we work with large groups and the calls for tenders are gigantic… To play in this court, to offer our employees development opportunities, we must be large. There is room to create a real champion of inclusion in France.