UTMB, a legendary, historic name in outdoor sport, is growing fast with the creation of the global UTMB Series franchise and a team that has grown tenfold in a few years, with still very ambitious growth prospects and the associated HR challenges.

In a context of hyper-growth, the team — made up largely of people who had recently joined the venture — needed a new operating framework. A Great Place To Work survey was carried out and showed that UTMB Group is a great place to work. However, significant disparities exist, and priority issues were raised by the survey. A genuine need to give employees a voice, clarify the challenges at hand, and get them working together to find the right solutions.

A comprehensive multi-month programme, starting with specific interviews to gather testimonials and complete the GPTW analysis. We then formed 6 working groups around priority issues and facilitated these groups for 6 months, with check-ins every 2 weeks and Steering Committees once a month. Genuine follow-up in collaboration with the HR Manager, project lead, and all Executive Committee members. Each group ultimately presented its recommendations to the Executive Committee at the end of the project, to provide an overall view and jointly validate / challenge the main decisions.

The main challenge was to give power back to the teams, making sure they also had a say in shaping UTMB's Employee Experience. This has now been achieved, as they spent several months reflecting on and then defining their priorities as a team. Each group presented its recommendations, with timelines and figures attached.

Implementation of 6 roadmaps over 18 to 24 months, each dedicated to an identified priority issue.
These structuring action plans will serve as the basis for the next GPTW assessment in 2026 to measure the progress made.

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