Loyco acquires an interest in the company PeopleWeek

We recently made our partnership with the Geneva company PeopleWeekofficial. Creator and editor of the human resource information management System (SIRH), of the same name, it’s an innovative IT solution that manages all HR functions. Loyco is a shareholder of PeopleWeek and sits on the board.

We have just set the base for a win-win partnership: Loyco has acquired a minority equity stake in PeopleWeek and sits on the board since August 1. The objective of this partnership is to offer a solution developed by PeopleWeek to our clients who lack an HR tool.

 

An innovative SIRH in many ways

This young company was founded in Geneva in 2016 and now employs approximately fifteen people, with a growth of 200% this year. It was created by Patrick Sikias, who was also a founder of NetArchitects in the years 2000. In 2020, he was joined by Paul Jon Martin, HR director with a local and international experience of over 20 years. PeopleWeek developed a complete web SIRH aimed at mid and large-size companies. Available in six languages, the system can cover the entire life cycle of an employee, from the hiring process to absence and presence management, as well as salaries, performance evaluations or expenses. A mobile application is also available with this comprehensive functional offer.

 

Great autonomy for HR departments

Paul Jon Martin has handled several SIRH implementation projects and insists on the innovation uniqueness of the product, that convinced him to join this young company: “PeopleWeek allows you to animate different internal communities of a company, thus enabling the software to act as a high-performance collaboration tool reaching far beyond classic SIRH functions. The software was also designed to offer HR departments great autonomy to define and evolve the settings without the consistent need of technical support from the IT teams. This results in short execution timeframes, generally between four and 16 weeks as well as competitive implementation and licence costs”.

 

Sharing information becomes more efficient

“Loyco has always invested significantly in the digitalization of its activities by developing softwares to enable the automation and reliable externalisation of its services. Our offer lacked a global HR tool that we could propose to our clients. Our collaboration with PeopleWeek enables us to fill that gap by proposing a 100% digital and mobile experience integrating all functionalities of a SIRH”, explains Christophe Jodry, our head of Global Operations who joined the board of directors of PeopleWeek on August 1. “We hope to abandon the manual exchange of information via emails or Excel spreadsheets which was still used with our clients lacking a performant HR tool. Another advantage of the platform is that all data is stored in Switzerland, which is fundamental for a large majority of our clients” added Christophe.

 

PeopleWeek and Loyco: a complimentary relationship

According to Patrick Sikias: “It was important for PeopleWeek to move closer to a credible HR actor, culturally geared towards digital tools, to accompany us through our next development steps. For this reason, particular attention will soon be paid to the Swiss German part our country where Loyco already has an office. We share common values with Loyco, and our first joint client experiences were successful, therefore it is only natural that we should welcome them into our capital”.

Although we expect a return on investment after the purchase of PeopleWeek shares, that is not the initial reason of the partnership, explains Christophe Jodry. “We certainly recognised the high development potential of this young company, however the key element responsible for the collaboration remains our complementary activities. Loyco has a solid client base but could only offer a partial HR digitalisation tool. PeopleWeek had that tool and needed a strategic partner to help with its commercialisation and the evolution of job functionalities of the software.