How Lucca used Figures to scale the business
.png)
Lucca
Industry: Software for HR and Finance
Country: France
Number of employees: 350 to 450+ (in one year)
Lucca is a big player in the European HR software industry. Its pioneering software suite (proving that software doesn’t have to be “grey, ugly and sad”) helps HR and Finance departments to track and manage time, projects and wages.
# The Challenge
Since its foundation in 2002, Lucca’s growth had been steady, manageable, and self-funded up until 2022. Since 2017, the SaaS company entered a period of hypergrowth. As subscriptions grew, turnover soared by 45% to €20 million in 2021 and €30 million in 2022.
To support its upcoming world domination, Lucca needed a world-class team!
HR Manager Charles de Fréminville says that they knew they had to do their research if they wanted to attract the best people.
“We were basing our salaries on our historical basis, on some gut feelings and on various internet research,” explains Charles. “We had little turnover, and little contact with the outside world!”
To manage growth and maintain its leading position in HR software, Lucca needed to bring in some top talent. It was time to step their competitive game up.
# The Objectives
Attractive salaries weren’t just an advertising ploy. Lucca wanted to ensure that its 450 employees were fully engaged once they were in-post, too.
“It was important not only to have the right numbers, but to ensure that they are understood and accepted by the employees,” says Charles.
The firm was also preparing to seek investment so that it could scale up to serve the world.
They knew they would need a clear salary policy to recruit teams (and investors) with confidence in Lucca’s agility.
# The Strategy
At Lucca, the salary grid was built using ClearWage (compensation management software); Figures provided the benchmarking data for each role. “The HR team uses Figures to detect inflation and variations that should apply to the salary grid,” says Charles.
Transparency was an important factor. “We implemented a transparent pay scale and transparent salaries,” adds Charles. It’s a contemporary approach that helps to prevent discrimination and disgruntlement.
But what about the effects of change – in-house and externally – and inflation?
Every six months, the management team carries out a comprehensive salary review – ensuring that employees are still fairly compensated for their commitment. “Without Figures, our market data was spread across various and biaised sources!” ” says Charles.
Obviously this approach requires a sensible input from the management team, who work together to ensure fairness and transparency.
Even though the current world economy means that there are huge discrepancies in the salaries for different sectors, “Figures allows us to arbitrate the salaries – and keep the peace.”
# The Results
In March 2022, Lucca successfully pitched for Series A funding worth €65 million. To win, the firm had to demonstrate a savvy and scalable strategy. “Figures was very valuable in establishing a sound basis for salary policy,” says Charles.
Figures provides benchmark data for the salaries on new roles. In the next 3 years, Lucca plans to recruit another 600 employees. For this, explains Charles, “Figures is a goldmine. Data is essential – we can’t rely on our intuition or opinions.”
Salaries are reviewed every 6 months to promote motivation and retention. The transparent salary grid means that employees know where they stand – and, of course, they’re more likely to stay in a role where the salary is regularly assessed. “Salary review gives our employees the opportunity to challenge the salary, with full knowledge of the facts,” adds Charles.
“Setting salaries without benchmarking is like going hiking without a map: it’s a waste of time, and you might break a leg.”
Other customers' success stories
.svg)
.svg)
.png)
