The Nantes-based start-up Switch Up offers a range of digital solutions for welcoming and integrating newcomers to an area through local "welcoming" ambassadors. This tool is aimed at companies to facilitate the integration of employees and also allows territories to strengthen their attractiveness. Today, Switch Up covers more than 40 cities and brings together more than 150 ambassadors in France*. The entire French territory will be covered by the end of 2020. At the beginning of this year, Switch Up announced that it has joined the Parisian incubator RHizome. In addition, it has just signed a partnership with the Tours Loire Valley region. The totally customised system facilitates the support of new arrivals thanks to a network of ambassadors who know their territory perfectly and know how to promote it.
The ambassador, the soul of the Switch Up tool, knows his region, loves his city and speaks about it with passion. Switch Up allows him/her to earn additional income and to optimise his/her time.
Today in France, about a hundred companies welcome newcomers locally. Switch Up is a range of centralised and innovative digital solutions available to client companies to enhance their employer brand, and to territories to improve their attractiveness. Switch Up is the only collaborative platform that allows people who are geographically mobile to be helped in their installation in their new place of life by selected and trained local residents.
After launching its brand platform in conjunction with the firm CoManaging, Tours Loire Valley has signed a partnership with Switch Up with a view to promoting their assets to attract talent. In order to develop their territorial brand, institutions are showing a growing interest in Switch Up's potential through a platform, in their image, that is dedicated to them. The digital tool developed as a grey label offers territories optimised and professionalized support for their new inhabitants. In addition to welcoming newcomers, the solution creates links by placing the human element at the heart of the process by enhancing the value of local residents.
"A region that speaks about itself through its inhabitants and knows how to support its new arrivals is necessarily ahead of the game and this is no longer a luxury but a necessity. We have just signed a partnership with Tours Loire Valley, which trusts us to structure its welcome. Switch Up thus enables institutions to provide a concrete and pragmatic digital solution to their territorial ecosystem. We create the mechanism that makes the process fluid and simple by promoting it sincerely and with commitment, two undeniable criteria for the attractiveness of territories.
For companies, knowing how to welcome and integrate employees is a challenge, yet it is what gives them a head start in a tight labour market.
"Companies need to make a difference in supporting their new employees because moving, settling into a new city and adapting to a new environment engages the whole family and should allow companies to differentiate themselves in their Onboarding strategy."
For managers, the Switch Up customised management tool supports and accompanies their recruitment in a strong CSR approach.
Marie, 41, joined Switch Up as an ambassador two years ago in Paris and Rennes. She was immediately won over by the values and the way the platform works.
"In my opinion, Switch Up contributes to improving the culture of inclusion. Being an ambassador allows me to expand my network, to evolve and to challenge myself. And working with Switch Up has opened doors for me, especially in the rental business.
Martine, Switch Up ambassador in Nantes, has often been asked to welcome and guide new residents in her city
"I know how difficult it is to arrive in a new city with peace of mind. Finding your bearings can take time. Switch Up's strength is that we have capitalised on all our experiences and overcome every difficulty.
