The five keys to a successful HR approach are: flexibility, the balance between personal and professional life, professional competencies, values, commitment
Women in HR speak LIVE: the most successful practices for building an HR strategy
The first edition of the HR conference "Women leaders in human resources speak" of BUSINESS LADY magazine and club took place yesterday. The event was part of the "Women Leaders in Human Resources" initiative, within the framework of which the most successful ladies in the field of HR and Employer Branding shared experience and good practices, and gave guidelines for building the HR strategy of any organization in the next 5 years.
A total of 12 top ladies in the HR field took part in the conference, and the event was opened by some of the members of the international jury of the initiative - Irina Andonova, Executive director and owner of Encounter Bulgaria Ltd.; Aakash Keluskar, Managing Partner at Ash & Maple Management; Violeta Ivanova - the HR who traveled the world of Harley and Ani Filipova, motivational speaker. The moderator of the conference was Kalina Petkova, managing partner for Bulgaria, Boyden World Corporation.
See what some of the most experienced ladies - HR professionals in our country shared, and what conclusions they reached.
Violeta Ivanova, a motivational speaker told about "the HR who traveled the world on her Harley Davidson motorcycle". "My perception of the work of everyone in our field is that we have a mission and it is to make people happy in our work because we all know that the pursuit of happiness is one of the leading things in our lives. We as professionals have the power and responsibility to influence people's destinies and lives, so those we come into contact with are extremely influenced by us. Bearing this responsibility and with this same mission, I took the long way around the globe, riding my Harley Davidson motorcycle. At the beginning of 2019, I accepted the challenge and inspiration of meeting women from so many different cultures and inspiring them to be brave and pursue their dreams”.
Ani Filipova, the motivational speaker, spoke on the topic "CV does not tell the whole story". In her presentation, she mentioned: “The pandemic has taken away a lot of things, but it has helped make a huge difference. Recently, employers are focusing on the well-being and personal satisfaction of their employees. And this change will be permanent. Digitization has given people new opportunities for development and the ability to support themselves. People are the most important, that's why I don't look at the person as an employee, but as a person". Annie also shared that employees expect flexibility - in the work and online environment, well-being - that of companies is inextricably linked to the well-being of their employees and, last but not least, development.
Sofia Mednikarova, Human Resources Manager at MM Solutions presented "The image of the HR professional or behavior etiquette". Sofia emphasizes the challenge of attracting new talent to companies. The reasons: are limited labor market, deteriorating quality of education, lack of prepared personnel, competition among employers and working conditions, remuneration, and social policies. One of the main initiatives at MM Solutions is the "Training Camp for Programmers" - an intensive program that, after completion, can turn into a job offer. Sofia also shared her 8 professional rules and principles of work: Professionalism and competence, Responsibility, Consistency and sustainability, Commitment and support, Transparency and impartiality, Respect and tolerance, Teamwork and sharing of experience, Communication, and mediation.
Ivelina Ivanova, Head of the HR department at Hele Cloud Bulgaria commented "The emotionally intelligent leader and his role in building effective and committed teams in the organization". In recent years, emotional intelligence has ranked among the top 10 soft skills sought by employers. "Emotional intelligence includes a set of skills that help us better perceive, understand and manage emotions. A leader needs to remain calm even in critical situations, such as are often encountered in today's dynamic market.” Here's what Ivelina also shared: "What gives strength to our teams is the different approach, the lack of prejudice towards others and understanding the needs of others"
Jahonoro Veselinova, member of the Board of Directors and director of "Human Resources and Marketing" at Mobile Wave Solutions spoke on the topic "Stay Interview vs. Exit Interview”. "Stay Interview is a process in which we manage to keep employees in the company, that is, to avoid Exit Interviews". Jahonoro said that at the moment there are no exact statistics on turnover in the IT-sphere for Bulgaria, but for Europe, it is 25%, and for the US - 65%. Every year, only in Bulgaria in Jobs bg, LinkedIn, etc. there are over 10,000 job postings for IT professionals, or in other words, there is high demand and low supply. "In the Exit interview, we understand what made the employee leave his job, while in the Stay interview, we understand what made the person stay in his job”
Iva Nikolova, "Human Resources" manager at Anakatech commented on the topic of "HR metrics for employee retention in 2022". "We need an approach based on statistical data to defend our strategies to our stakeholders, to know in which direction to focus our efforts and to have the predictability of events". Iva shared the two factors in employee retention metrics: Attrition rate and Turnover. "Attrition is the information we collect from colleagues who have voluntarily left, while with Turnover we collect information between voluntary and involuntary leavers. A Gallup survey indicates that 75% of managers could retain their employees because they are the people who build the strongest trust in their teams and can best motivate their employees. Qualitative rather than quantitative selection should be done".
Elena Vatrachka, Director of "Human Resources" at Schneider Electric Bulgaria presented the topic of "Sustainable development through the prism of HR". She shared the main role of HR in 6 long-term commitments related to personal and social sustainability: "We act for a climate-positive world; We use resources efficiently; We maintain strong ethical principles; We create equal opportunities; We respect the contributions of all generations; We empower local communities. Such an example is the Industrial Academy, where we share and teach knowledge so that we can collectively raise the level of competencies". Among the company's good practices in our country, there are many initiatives in this direction, including "Donate Energy". "This year, we managed to reach 2,019 families in Plovdiv by donating energy-saving packages," added Mrs. Vatrachka.
Denitsa Stoyanova, Head of "Human Resources" for the Balkans region at AstraZeneca spoke about "Future of work: hybrid model and flexibility as key success factors in attracting and retaining talent". “My word for the Future of work is Flexibility. I envision a flexible way of working, in terms of where, when, and how we work. In the second place, I imagine a flexible way of learning and career development, and in the third place - flexible benefits". Preferred way of working after the pandemic, according to a survey conducted in the summer of 2021, indicated that 58% of employees want to work entirely remotely, 39% prefer a hybrid mode of work and 3% want to return to 100% presence in the office. "For me, the golden mean and the most useful option is the so-called hybrid model of work, because with it something like the democratization of the process is obtained. First, we are individuals and then professionals," Denitsa added.
Katerina Shopova, Human Resources Director at Lidl Bulgaria shared her vision "Tomorrow starts from today: an opportunity for a favorite first job". She shared the company's desire to make work sufficiently attractive and intriguing for its employees to keep their attention and talked about the good practices in Lidl Bulgaria - the Internship and Trainee Program, through which young people create work habits, acquire professional competencies and gain experience and self-confidence, valuable for their personal and career development. Katerina also comments that all this is dictated by the demographic structure in our country and the labor market - a 10% drop in the population over the last 10 years and several million emigrants in the form of young people of working age. The direction for the HR specialist is clear – concrete steps towards the commitment of employees to the organizations, turning the labor market into an intriguing one for young people.
Daniela Antova, People & Culture Manager at JTI Bulgaria commented on the topic of "Building committed and loyal teams". Engaged and loyal teams can be viewed from two perspectives - both from the employer's side and from the employee's side. If we stop on the side of employers, we talk about achieving business goals, higher financial results, and everything related to business missions. On the other hand, employees see the picture through their prism, through their personal career goals, they want to feel part of a strong and well-represented company, which is therefore a preferred employer, which gives them security and builds trust between the two parties.
Rossi Kuzmanova-Toneva, Director of the Human Capital Management Department at Fibank presented her techniques "For searching, finding and nurturing Champions and why this is important today: Talents in the context of the current labor market". Champions know that it is always possible and there is a place to get a little "extra", from their own experience they are aware that there is no limit to human possibilities. "Champion equals talent. To find them, we need to ask, listen and hear, to look for the different without the presumption that it mainly brings problems, to think about the choice not as minimizing the risk, but as a social experiment to discover alternative possibilities" - added Rossi.
Galina Dimitrova, "Human Resources" manager at NOVA spoke "About the process of creating and implementing a mission and performance evaluation system". “Our focus has been to have a mission that shows who we are; values to describe us and criteria to be part of our performance evaluation. We are planning several initiatives related to the performance appraisal process, such as a mentor program, open positions, initiatives to increase feedback, content creation, and training. Feedback is key to us, so we have created a 24/7 feedback platform”.
Dobromira Manasieva, HR manager and partner in start-up companies comments on "The place of professional HR in start-up companies". “Speaking of small organizations, to me HR is more of a function than a title. When the company is small, a lot relies on the intuition of the founder, and here the role of HR is to attract talents whose energy will give a boost to the business" - added Dobi. Important processes in starting an organization are: Consulting at/pre-launch; Sustaining culture and maintaining initial enthusiasm; Building clear processes; Maintaining identity focus, and adapting. In a smaller organization, it is even much more important not to have a high performance, but to have a high level of trust on the part of people - in the team, in the idea, and the success of the organization.
The aim of the initiative "Women leaders in human resources" is to show the contribution of ladies in the relevant sector, as a continuation of the main mission of Business lady magazine - to support the positions of ladies in business and society.
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For additional information:
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