How Syensqo (formerly Solvay) oversaw AI deployment through international social dialogue

In January 2025, Belgian chemicals group Syensqo (formerly Solvay), which employs 13,000 staff, struck a deal with its European Works Council and Global Forum on the use of artificial intelligence. The agreement commits the company to carrying out HR risk assessments before introducing AI systems, to making the technology part of social dialogue at European level, to training staff and to limiting job losses linked to its rollout. Several months on, the company's HR director Hervé Tiberghien answered questions from mind RH about the implementation of the agreement, intended to allay fears.

With their global agreement on artificial intelligence in January 2025, Syensqo and its international representative bodies have positioned themselves as pioneers. The text, signed by the European Works Council and the Global Forum, commits the company for an unlimited period to addressing the social impacts of the technology in the 30 countries where it operates. The innovative aspect is something the group’s HR director, Hervé Tiberghien, was very keen on. “At Syensqo, particularly because of our raison d’être [‘driving breakthroughs that advance humanity,’ ed.] we believe that we need to do things quickly. For major reorganisations, we now have a rule of thumb of three months of negotiations and six months of implementation. We are now working at a much faster pace because the world around us is changing rapidly,” he explains.

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According to the HR director,…

Antoine Piel

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