Here at Comet our goal is to build a more fulfilling, more agile and more innovative world of work. We are convinced that this new world will be fueled by freelancers and supported by enterprises that nurture and understand this new working landscape. In line with this vision for the first edition of our Best Freelancer Place to Work ranking, we asked more than 10,000 tech and data talents of our community to elect the best companies to work for when you are a freelancer, taking into account three essential pillars of well-being at work: communication, team integration, and the feeling of being valued. 

On February 10, we had the pleasure of presenting the winners their trophies and hosting a round table event to understand what it was about the culture of the winning companies that allowed them to stand out. Stime DSI Groupement Les Mousquetaires and Allianz France, who came out as joint winners for the best integration experience prize, had Stephane Maurer, IS Digital and Data Director at Stime DSI Groupement Les Mousquetaires and Tanguy LE GALL, Head of TAD - Dev Open & Dev Software & Integration team at Allianz France share the secrets of their success.

Let’s talk about the keys to optimal freelancer integration…

Stéphane Maurer: We are very proud of this prize. It rewards our initiative to create a unique team focused on product performance, regardless of their internal or external status. At Stime, we ask our managers to find the right resources, whether they are freelancers or not, to convince them of our project and to retain them. It is a know-how that we have developed with managers because our desire is to give a concrete meaning to our teams’ work. We want our freelancers to feel as involved in our projects as permanent staff. We strive to provide them with a pleasant and optimized environment, an efficient organizational model and a vision and meaning to the work they do.

Tanguy Le Gall: This prize highlights our ability to integrate freelancers. Before coming to this event, I asked the question directly to our freelancers: proximity, listening and feedback, giving responsibilities to freelancers even if they are not internal people, and the inclusive culture that reigns at Allianz were amongst the points cited most often. I think the atmosphere, the environment and the fact that our collaboration is based on mutual trust also plays a huge role.

What are the daily challenges you face with the freelancer population?

Stéphane Maurer: The freelancer population is quite large today: there are people who, after 20 or 30 years of experience in IT, have decided to start their own business. There are others who are starting their careers and are strong advocates of agile working. It is a real challenge to find the right expertise, the right mindsets and to support them in the best possible way. This is why we have created a digital factory in order to support our digital and data talents, and to train our managers on these subjects. It is a model that works very well for us today.

Tanguy Le Gall: It is true that the population of freelancers is growing more and more today, and I think that tomorrow, with the ease and normalization of freelancing, the challenges will be to maintain the level of expertise and quality of freelancers. And that's the whole point of being able to use an agile ecosystem like Comet.

What do you think are the benefits of working with freelancers?

Stéphane Maurer: There is a real technical experience that freelancers bring from their previous missions and companies. We strive to give them real visibility beyond their contract, to build a relationship of trust over time, because our objective is really to retain our talents over the long term.

Tanguy Le Gall: I totally agree, trust is the basis. And I find that very often freelancers are demanding, in a good way. They push us towards greater excellence. This Best Freelancer Place to Work award is a great opportunity for our company and it will help improve our attractiveness and attract the best talent.