SOLVING THE PUZZLE: The Art of Adapting People Practices in a Continual Changing Environment
9th February 2023
According to the 2022 ABSL Business Services Report, 100% of the responding companies work in a hybrid mode, with 78 % of them requiring the employees 1-2 days/week in the office. This indicates businesses are not anticipating a return to consistent in-person attendance anytime soon, meaning hybrid work is likely here to stay. If leaders and managers want to make this transition successfully, they’ll need to design hybrid work arrangements with individual human concerns in mind, not just institutional ones.
Given the extent to which most employees don’t want to revert to past ways of working, we find ourselves in a continual changing environment that triggers a necessary reset of people practices.
After all, there are many factors to consider in order to make our work lives more purposeful, productive, agile, and flexible: What’s the right mix of remote and in-person work? Is there a new profile of the candidates that needs to be addressed? How do we motivate and how do we engage the employees in a fairly manner? It there a secret recipe for productive and happy employees?
We begin this year’s series of Business Mixers with one dedicated to the local business services industry in Iasi where we’ll discuss about how we can adapt people practices in connection to the development of labour market, salaries/benefits, employees’ engagement, and wellbeing, as well as the office market.
We invite you to join our experts and your peers in finding the answers to these current concerns through the knowledge sharing sessions in order to strengthen the local community and facilitate networking.
- 9:00 – 9:30
Welcome coffee
- 9:30 – 9:40
Introductory Speech
- 9:40 – 10:00
- Mădălina Iconaru
- JLL Romania
Past |Present |Future – Evolving Office Needs
While we are advocates for always looking forward, there are crucial insights to be gained from past experiences. Evaluating previous trends is the first step to a more straightforward path to success and a shorter learning curve, especially while facing unconventional emerging needs from our clients. During this session we’ll take a look back and analyse the way the real estate office market evolved in the past 10 years, while also making predictions on how the next 10 years will unfold. We will discuss tenants’ ever changing and evolving requirements and we will provide you with the tools to make informed choices according to the current and future circumstances. We will go on a journey within our region and try to understand the trends and how Romania has evolved and will continue to evolve in the coming years compared to our neighbours, in order to ultimately comprehend if we are ready for the future.
- 10:00 – 10:20
- Francesca Postolache
- PwC
Business Services Sector in Romania. Future Perspectives
We are analysing the perspectives and challenges of the business services sector in Romania, regarding mainly the development of labour market, salaries/benefits, and the office market. We will also be touching on global trends and the impact they have on business models, people, processes, technology, and data.
- 10:20 – 10:40
- Georgiana Andrei
- Alexandra Teleman
- Reteaua REGINA MARIA
Health Education – a Long-term Wellbeing Benefit for Employees (to be held in Romanian)
Health packages are the most valued benefits by employees. Employee wellbeing has been a buzz word over the past year. Good physical and mental health are key pillars for our wellbeing. How do we stand in Romania and how can employers contribute to better prevention, mental health, and wellness?
- 10:40 – 11:00
Coffee break
- 11:00 – 11:20
- Oana Marinescu
- ZRVP
Important Implications of the Recent Amendments of the Labour Code from the Perspective of the Mandatory Content of the Individual Employment Agreement
The amendments brought at the end of last year to the Labour Code and to the template of the individual employment agreement raise in practice various difficulties in implementing the new legal requirements. For employers, it is important to be aware of the main aspects to be included in the individual employment agreements and to consider also the challenges which may arise for complying with the legal provisions.
- 11:20 – 11:40
- Elena Ardelean
- Steelcase
Hybrid Work: Creating Great New Work Experiences. Helping people work better in the hybrid future of work.
Hybrid work is here to stay and the ability to work in the office as well as at home or remote locations can be the best of both worlds — but only when it is a fit to an organization’s culture, is managed well and part of an effective overall work experience. The widespread adoption of hybrid work is a watershed in the evolution of the workplace. Finding the right hybrid approach is a process for most organizations — a process involving employee input, a willingness to experiment and some trial and error. It’s important to ensure workplaces and work experiences are effective and energizing, and then to set expectations for hybrid work patterns — which will be refined over time. Approach the transition with enthusiasm. Help employees find a balance between working in the office and working remotely. The best work experience happens when employees have the ability to choose where they can be most effective. Ideally, that choice encompasses a destination workplace with enough spatial variety to accommodate every mode of work.
- 11:40 – 12:00
Coffee break
- 12.00- 14.00
HR Round table: What are Nowadays People Practices? Recruitment, Engagement, Performance & Retention. (Closed Session)
What is the reality of the post-pandemic recruitment? How do we recruit the right people in today context and from where? Do we recruit people with the right attitude and train them, or do we choose those with technical competences? How do we keep up company culture and morale? What are the motivations and tools to make them deliver? What are the strategies to mitigate the impact of the current macroeconomic environment?
These are the questions proposed for this round table where HR representatives from Iasi companies will discuss their concerns, share solutions and good practices on what was done in the past, what challenges did they face and how they see the future of work.
Companies should be represented at this event by HR Leaders /Head of HR (max. 2 representatives per company). This is a closed session dedicated to companies from business services industry.
- 12.00- 14.00
Workshop: Challenges and opportunities in the local business service industry. How do we use them to reach success?
Lots of changes have happened since our last offline meeting in Iasi: the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia – Ukraine war, inflation, the loom of economic crisis, all these creating an uncertainty that might have an influence on the local business sector too. Romania has an enviable secure spot as business location, but talent has become more difficult to find and retain, while costs have been rising making it more expensive for potential clients. Thus, the industry needs to reinvent itself with focus on added value activities in order to remain a relevant and attractive location.
In this context we ask ourselves what we can do to reach this goal. But first we need to define what a successful company is. One that is attractive to new employees, one that adapts and adopts technology/ automation and is ready for the future, or one that moves from transactional services to added-value services? Moreover, how can we address nowadays challenges and opportunities in order to build a reliable future? What is the next phase regarding HR, technology, and business?
These are the questions proposed for this workshop where representatives from Iasi companies are invited to share their perspectives.
- 14:00 – 15:00
Lunch break
