Jean Michel (Hassan) Sokotty

People Services Manager | HR Shared Services & GBS | Digital HR Transformation | AI & Automation in HR

"I build HR operations that employees enjoy dealing with, and that get faster, cleaner and cheaper every quarter."

Based in Pune, India | Bilingual French & English | 16+ years across 3 continents

Get in touchLinkedIn
Portrait of Jean Michel Sokotty in a navy three-piece suit, arms crossed and smiling
Impact

Impact in numbers

€192K+

documented cost savings in 16 months

4.04 → 4.78

CSAT, against a 4.5 target

-70%

payroll errors

2h+ → 5 min

per offboarding case, automated with AI agents

2,500+

employees supported across 4 French legal entities

Team of the Year 2025

AkzoNobel GBS, plus Best Team of the Quarter in Q1 and Q2 2025

Jean Michel smiling in a yellow armchair, holding an AkzoNobel mug and the book Atomic Habits
About

An unusual path, one conviction

My path is not a typical one. I started as an automotive technician in Senegal, diagnosing electronic faults on Renault and Volvo industrial vehicles. I moved into HR through AIESEC, then built my career in Microsoft's HR shared services in India and Prague, at an international medical NGO in Senegal and West Africa, and through my own consulting practice in Europe.

Today I lead People Services for France at AkzoNobel's Global Business Services centre in Pune: 2,500+ employees, 4 legal entities and a team of 6.

16+ years of experience, 14+ of them in HR, across 3 continents, and one conviction: HR should be simple, reliable and measurable. The technician never left me. I still diagnose processes the way I diagnosed engines: find the real fault, fix it at the root, and make sure it does not come back.

Signature projects

Built to last, measured to prove it

01

CX360, Service Excellence Audit Framework

Challenge
Customer service standards existed, but there was no way to measure each advisor's daily application of them.
What I built
CX360, an individual audit layer I designed and deployed on top of the company's Customer Service Principles, with scoring, performance bands, auditor and agent training, and a productivity tracker.
Impact
CSAT rose from 4.04 to 4.78 against a 4.5 target, the team's highest score of 2026. The US pilot recorded zero detractors the following month. Presented to the HR Directors of Europe and now being rolled out across People Services and HR Services & Experience units.
  • Service excellence
  • Quality audit
  • Coaching
02

SOHA, Service Operations Huddle Assistant

Challenge
Case, task, quality and satisfaction data lived in separate systems, and standard dashboards could not show managers what each team member needed day to day.
What I built
SOHA, a lightweight tool that brings HR cases, HR tasks, CSAT, CX360 and quality audit results together in one view. It maps them against the company's Case Management Best Practices to flag breaches before they happen, balances workload fairly, measures four-eyes check accuracy per person, and runs the daily team huddle. It also includes a performance review module.
Impact
Full, fair and transparent visibility of the team's workload and quality in a single daily view. Currently going through internal data review for wider use.
  • ServiceNow data
  • Workload management
  • Performance management
03

Payroll Report Generators

Challenge
Monthly and quarterly payroll reports were built by hand from exports, slow and exposed to human error.
What I built
Offline report generators for the KPI, Mouvements and Masse Salariale reports, each with bilingual Processor and Auditor SOPs and a built-in four-eyes control. More generators are in progress.
Impact
The KPI report went from about 2 hours to 6 to 10 minutes, and the Mouvements reports now take 10 minutes or less, end to end.
  • Automation
  • Payroll
  • SOPs
  • Controls
04

Payroll Optimisation with Power Platform

What I built
Power Apps and Power Automate flows that eliminated manual reconciliation.
Impact
Payroll errors down 70%, processes cut from about 2 hours to 10 to 20 minutes.
  • Power Apps
  • Power Automate
05

AI-Powered Offboarding and Redesigned Onboarding

What I built
Fully automated offboarding with AI agents, and a redesigned onboarding with automated contracts and a candidate data form feeding SuccessFactors.
Impact
Offboarding went from 2+ hours to 5 minutes per case.
  • AI agents
  • SuccessFactors
06

Shared HR & Payroll Tracker with Analytics Dashboard

What I built
A rebuilt tracker shared by People Services and Payroll, with linked tabs so data is entered once, plus an analytics dashboard that automatically flags risks such as a contract not sent 21 days before a start date, with a to-do view per owner, an SOP and bilingual training decks.
Impact
Fewer missed steps, no double entry, and clear ownership between two teams.
  • Process design
  • Risk flagging
  • Analytics
07

France Health Indicator Project

What I built
Occupational health indicators in SuccessFactors, with 7 years of data cleansed and about 1,000 records loaded.
Impact
Closed a recurring compliance gap on mandatory return-to-work medical visits.
  • Compliance
  • Data quality
  • SuccessFactors
Experience

16+ years, 3 continents

  1. Nov 2024 to present · Pune, India

    People Services Manager, France (HR Shared Services)

    AkzoNobel India Limited (Global Business Services)

    • Leading end-to-end HR operations for 2,500+ employees across AkzoNobel's 4 French legal entities, with a team of 6.
    • €192K+ in documented cost savings in 16 months (OPCO compliance, AKTO re-invoicing, process efficiencies).
    • AkzoNobel GBS Team of the Year 2025 and Best Team of the Quarter (Q1 and Q2 2025), a first for the French People Services team.
    • Leading the France "Good to Great" programme to prepare the team for growth.

  2. Jun 2020 to Aug 2024 · Prague, Czechia

    Independent HR & Operations Consultant

    Belimi Consulting

    • HR strategy, organisational design and operations consulting for mid-market clients in France, the Czech Republic and Benelux, with a delivery team of 3.
    • Multi-country HR and operations roadmap delivering a 22% margin improvement.
    • End-to-end HR digitalisation: HRIS selection and implementation, compensation & benefits redesign, global mobility programme.
    • 24-week French and German training curriculum for HR and Finance shared services teams.

  3. Mar 2019 to Mar 2020 · Senegal

    HQ HR Manager & Regional Administrative Office Lead

    ALIMA, The Alliance for International Medical Action

    • HR services for an international medical NGO with 2,000+ employees in several countries, including 200+ expatriates. Team of 14.
    • Led the organisation's first HRIS and ATS implementation, from selection to post go-live.
    • Redesigned the multi-site HQ structure, global salary benchmarking and expatriate policy overhaul.
    • Managed union negotiations, disciplinary cases and grievances, mostly resolved without arbitration.

  4. Apr 2017 to May 2018 · Prague, Czechia

    HR Ops Advisor, French Transition Project Lead

    Microsoft (via BPO Europe)

    • Led the transition of France and CEE HR processes to a Tier 1/2 shared services model, delivered on time with zero service incidents.
    • Managed ADP and Accenture relationships for 5,000+ employees, with dashboards and scorecards that improved SLA adherence.

  5. Apr 2015 to Apr 2017 · Chennai, India

    HR Operations Cluster Lead, France

    Microsoft (via Spectrum Consultancy Services)

    • Led a Tier 1 team of 4 advisors supporting Microsoft France employees across the full lifecycle, handling 1,000+ cases a year in SAP and MS Dynamics CRM.
    • Standardised HR processes across 10+ countries, improving resolution time and first-contact resolution.

  6. Jun 2010 to Feb 2015 · Dakar, Senegal

    National HR Administrator, HR Advisor Team Leader, L&D Specialist

    AIESEC in Senegal

    • Progressed to National HR Administrator, in charge of talent management, international recruitment programmes and HR advisory.
    • Recruited 80 employees and volunteers in one year, above growth targets.

  7. 2009 to 2010 · Dakar, Senegal

    Electronic Diagnostics Specialist, Industrial Vehicles

    Early career | Renault Sénégal (Caetano)

    • Electronic fault diagnosis on Renault Trucks and Volvo industrial vehicles, and training of the workshop team.
Skills

What I bring to the table

HR Shared Services & GBS

  • Hire-to-retire
  • Payroll (France and Senegal)
  • Service transitions
  • SLAs and KPIs

Digital HR & Automation

  • SAP SuccessFactors
  • Workday
  • ServiceNow
  • MS Dynamics CRM
  • Odoo HR
  • Power Apps
  • Power Automate
  • AI agents
  • Generative AI

Process Excellence

  • Lean Six Sigma
  • Value Stream Mapping
  • SOP design
  • Four-eyes controls

Service Excellence

  • CX frameworks
  • Quality audits
  • CSAT improvement

People Leadership

  • Award-winning teams
  • Coaching
  • Performance management

Compliance

  • French and Senegalese labour law
  • Multi-country compliance
Leadership & culture

Teams that win together

Results come from people. In under two years, my team became AkzoNobel GBS Team of the Year 2025 and Best Team of the Quarter twice. I believe in clear standards, fair and transparent data, and a workplace where people from every culture feel at home.

Jean Michel in a yellow outfit kneeling with his team of six in front of a colourful striped mural
Education & certifications

Education

  • Executive MBA, HR Management, National Institute of Business Management, India (2014 to 2016)
  • PGDBA, Business Administration, National Institute of Business Management, India (2012 to 2014)
  • DBA, Business Administration, National Institute of Business Management, India (2011 to 2012)
  • Specialist Certificate in Modern Diesel Engine Diagnostics, HDI Common Rail & Automotive Electronics, Formadiesel (2010 to 2011)
  • Industrial Technician Certificate (BTI), Automotive Mechanics, CFPT Sénégal-Japon (2008 to 2010)

Certifications & learning

  • Claude 101: Web, Skills, Projects, Design, Cowork & Code
  • Generative AI Bootcamp, Growth School (2026)

Languages

  • FrenchNative
  • EnglishFull professional
  • CzechElementary
Beyond work

Builder at heart

Jean Michel and two friends, arms around each other, beside a motorcycle watching a sunset over a lake and mountain near Pune

Sokotty Group

Founder of a group of ventures I am building, including Sokotty Voyages (medical travel), Sokotty Flight Claims, Sokotty Consulting (AI, digital marketing and web design) and Sokotty Academy.

Sokotty Academy

Formerly Belimi French Academy: French and German language courses, including a 6-month French programme from beginner to A2.

Minera Studio

An e-commerce concept site I am building with Lovable, in English, French and Czech.

Community

Events Officer (Chargé des Événements) of the Association des Ivoiriens du Maharashtra.

On the road

Motorcycle rides through the hills around Pune.

Contact

Let's talk HR operations, GBS and digital HR transformation

Emailsokottylatif@gmail.comPhone / WhatsApp+91 705 888 0675LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/jean-michelsokotty-a2033a2bGitHubgithub.com/sokottygroup