“Being competitive in what we offer is definitely important to us”
Scott Horvitz, Vince’s Senior Director of People for Retail and International, shares how KMH Benefits supports their French team, ensuring compliance, employee satisfaction, and smooth HR operations abroad.
Scott Horvitz, Vince’s Senior Director of People for Retail and International, shares how KMH Benefits supports their French team, ensuring compliance, employee satisfaction, and smooth HR operations abroad.
Tell us about Vince's activities and the role you play in them.
Our brand name is Vince, but technically, the name of the company is V Opco, LLC. My role is Senior Director of People for Retail and International.
As a company, we operate our own stores — about 60 stores in the U.S. We have two offices in the U.S., and we also sell in department stores, both in the U.S. and overseas in Europe and Asia. We have two stores in London as well as a showroom based in Paris, and employees working at department stores such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. That’s really where we got connected with KMH Benefits, to help with our French employees.
How long has Vince been conducting business directly in France, and how many employees work for Vince in France?
Vince has been present in France for almost 10 years now. Today, 12 employees work for our brand in France.
How did your first contact with KMH Benefits come about?
All of our HR and legal teams are based in the U.S., and we had an employee who was off work for a long time due to illness. She was therefore on extended leave of absence. As we went through that situation, we discovered that our previous benefits broker — a large company — was not quick to respond to us, nor was our former payroll provider. They did not handle the situation properly.
What were the main risks for Vince?
This exposed us to the risk that this employee might sue us. We also discovered that there was a potential risk if we had not enrolled employees in the appropriate benefit plan.
How did the KMH Benefits team help you deal with this problem?
We had an exploratory conversation with Nicolas Medan first. I think he was a little shocked to see how things had been handled previously. He made a proposal outlining what he could do to help us on this matter. He also supported us in navigating the exit from our previous contract — that was part of the process. Nicolas was extremely helpful, as was his team.
How do the KMH Benefits teams help you navigate the complex French regulatory landscape?
KMH helped us ensure that everyone who should have been covered was indeed covered. They reviewed our prévoyance policy and made sure it properly covered everyone, distinguishing between cadre and non-cadre employees and ensuring that everyone was in the right plan according to their classification. They also helped us get set up correctly.
KMH made us aware of the obligation to set up an occupational health program, and quickly got us set up one that would be easy for our employees to utilize.
What sets KMH Benefits apart from your previous providers?
Before working with them, we would send an email to someone at our large broker, and if I was lucky, I’d hear back two weeks later! With KMH, we get responses within a day — often within hours. Sometimes, due to the time difference, if I send something after working hours in France, I still hear back the next day.
They’re also very proactive. For example, if I send information about a new hire, Gilles Degranges reaches out directly to that individual. All of our employees know that if they have a question about benefits, they can contact the KMH team directly.
Can KMH also help you improve employee satisfaction — and therefore retention — by offering additional benefits programs?
We want to ensure that our employees receive benefits similar in quality to those offered in the United States. Being competitive in what we offer is definitely important to us. KMH helped us develop suggestions and measures to provide very similar benefits to our French employees.
So KMH Benefits is sort of an extension of your HR department in France?
It’s like having a part-time HR service for us, yes! They’re a great resource — not only for me and the HR team, but also for our employees. Having someone they can reach out to, with access to a portal and electronic documentation, makes everything so much easier than before. I think that’s really important for employee satisfaction and retention.