L’Oréal is celebrating its 60th anniversary in Canada this fall by inaugurating its newly redesigned and renovated 117,000 square foot head office, located in the heart of downtown Montreal.
In the fall of 1958, the L’Oréal Group decided to open a subsidiary in Canada promoting L’Oréal Coiffure, its only division at the time. “We built the notoriety of our products during the 60s, slowly but surely, one hair stylist at a time,” recounted L’Oréal Canada’s founder, Philippe Dalle, in a press release.
Now, 60 years later, L’Oréal Canada has four divisions and 39 brands, with sales of $1.192 billion last year, and over 1,300 employees at its head office in downtown Montreal and a distribution centre and manufacturing plant in Ville Saint-Laurent.
During the past year, L’Oréal Canada completely redesigned its head office, where over 500 employees (60 per cent of whom are millennials) currently work. The 117,000-square-foot building, located in the former Eaton’s building, has undergone extensive renovations. The new office features plenty of natural light due to the building’s plentiful large windows, and is LEED certified.
“The objective of the renovations was to provide L’Oréal Canada with a modern work environment that is adapted to our needs and that is as closely related as possible to the spirit and behaviour of our employees. The work environment is the sounding board for behaviours and ways of working,” said Frank Kollmar, president and CEO of L’Oréal Canada. “We are growing and our teams are growing rapidly, which is why it is important to ensure that the space provided is of the most flexible, and to offer a sustainable solution.”
The new head office features 656 open-plan workstations, spread across two floors. The open plan provides space for unique additions to the office, including a Hairdressing Academy, a technical centre where hair colour products are tested, a Content Factory, an employee’s cosmetic boutique, training facilities for point-of-sale employees, a sprout garden in the cafeteria, a coffee bar, a library and yoga studio, and an in-house graphics studio.
“We needed a new work environment that supports and promotes more modern, agile, efficient, stimulating and collaborative ways of working,” added Kollmar. “In addition, we wanted to stay in the heart of downtown Montreal where we are fortunate to be located in a historic building, the former Eaton’s store, which has a lot of charm and character.”
