In the big dictionary of office life, the departure of an employee is often experienced as bereavement or a breakup. There are polite resignations, slightly pinched departure deals and non-competition clauses brandished as threats. However, another path exists, more discreet, more intelligent: swarming.
This term, borrowed from beekeeping when bees leave the mother hive to found a new colony, designates a formidable HR concept. It is the system by which a company supports, finances and secures its own employees who wish to take the plunge and create their own company. A sort of augmented conventional termination, where the former employer becomes the first supporter (and often the first customer) of his ex-employee.
While the desire to be an entrepreneur has never been so strong, we take a closer look at this “win-win” managerial practice which transforms employees into bosses with the blessing of their superiors.
The three nuances of a consented departure
Swarming is not a monolithic block. Depending on the economic context of the “hive”, it takes on very different faces. Human resources specialists generally agree to distinguish three approaches:
1. “Cold” or social swarming
It is the HR tool par excellence. The company is not seeking to reduce its workforce, but it is integrating this system into its career management to provide a safety valve for its talents. An executive suffering from “midlife syndrome” and dreams of opening his own structure? Instead of risking burnout or outright resignation, the company offers training, partial salary retention or leave to start a business with a safety net: the guarantee of returning to their position in the event of failure.
2. “Hot” swarming
Here, the context is more tense. Faced with a drop in activity, restructuring or a need to downsize the workforce, the company uses spin-offs as a positive alternative to redundancies. It sets up boosted departure bonuses and support units to encourage employees to create their own jobs. For social peace and the employer brand, it is infinitely more virtuous than a classic social plan.
3. Strategic swarming
This is the business version. A large company has a patent that it does not use, or wishes to outsource a secondary activity (IT maintenance, logistics, a graphics department). It then suggests to the employee who managed this service internally to set up its own independent structure to manage this activity. The company gains flexibility by transforming fixed costs into variable costs, and the employee starts his business with a long-term subcontracting contract already signed in his pocket.
The paradox of the bird and the cage
At first glance, the concept may seem counterintuitive to a manager. Why spend time, energy and money helping your best people pack their bags?
The answer lies in a modern vision of loyalty. Today, choosing an entrepreneurial profile against one’s will is an illusion. An upset “intrapreneur” will eventually leave, or worse, disengage. By opening the door and installing a red carpet, the company defuses the conflict.
“Proposing spin-off means accepting the idea that the journey of a talent does not necessarily stop at the physical borders of the company. »
For the employee, the advantage is major: the risk linked to entrepreneurship is greatly reduced. The employee who gets started often benefits from solid support. Legal expertise, management training, initial financing and access to a network of suppliers: everything is planned to secure the project.
As a result, companies created through spin-offs have a three-year sustainability rate of over 80%, according to the Dièse association.
The national average barely exceeds 60%.
The hidden side: risks of flight and commercial dependence
If the picture is attractive, spin-off requires flawless managerial maturity to avoid two major pitfalls.
The first is, for the parent company, the risk of a brain drain. It is rarely the least dynamic elements who have viable business creation projects. If the swarming policy is too encouraging, the company may be emptied of its most innovative and autonomous profiles, creating a drain that is difficult to compensate for in the short term.
The second pitfall awaits the new business manager: umbilical cord syndrome. Starting your business with your former employer as your sole client is absolutely comfortable for the first half of the year. But it is also a death trap. If the parent company decides to reduce its budgets or change service providers, the young company immediately collapses. The real challenge for the swarm is therefore to emancipate itself very quickly to seek out other customers and prove its value on the real market.
A lever for the future for the economic ecosystem
Despite these points of vigilance, swarming remains a formidable tool for revitalizing the local economic fabric. Swarming makes it possible to recycle skills and promote technologies sometimes left aside in large groups.
It also promotes the creation of solid SMEs, driven by the experience of seasoned professionals.
At a time when work boundaries are becoming more flexible and the need for autonomy is gaining ground, swarming shows that the relationship between employer and employee can become a win-win for both parties. We can leave our company on good terms, grow independently, and continue to do business together. A great lesson in modern management.
