Abstract

Since its adoption on 18 January 2005, the Planning Act for Social Cohesion obligates firms with more than three hundred wage-earners to negotiate a three-year plan for the “prospective management of employment and qualifications” (GPEC). A study carried out by the authors sought to assess the impact of the agreements signed in compliance with this so-called Borloo Act on practices in managing human resources in the companies surveyed. Four quite different types of prospective management were brought to light: the “recuperated” GPEC, the “externalized” GPEC, the “agent-ofchange” GPEC and the “territorialized and mutualized” GPEC. A description is made of the finality of each of these ideal types and of its interactions with human resource policies, collective bargaining and corporate strategies. Current practices are discussed; and lines of inquiry, suggested for future research.