Irina Șomănescu, HR Director, Regina Maria, The Private Healthcare Network
- Tell us a few words about your company, services provided and type of roles you accommodate.
At REGINA MARIA, we believe that the experience of our patients is our main objective, regardless of the position we have. Our mission and vision are transparent in strategic lines of actions and objectives. We always base our work on a well-defined set of values, governing every action or decision we make. Our aim is to build a health network whereby we can show our community that we genuinely care about people. What is more, we have a main interest in the future of medicine, therefore we are constantly investing in the training of future medical leaders, providing them with the appropriate framework in order to enjoy high-quality learning programmes. We are here to make a difference and a sustainable contribution to the development of Romanian medicine.
- What makes your company a great place to work for?
REGINA MARIA is a people-centred organization, whether we refer to our patients, partners or, of course, our employees. Therefore, our perpetual investment in our team is the reason that our company is a great place to work for anybody who shares our values. We value and recognize those who are motivated to build with us, those who cause the organizational change, who want to learn something new every day, becoming better than yesterday, those who are the ambassadors of our values. For them, we are constantly designing new projects, sustaining their professional development and achievements. We offer our people the context they need in order to succeed, the right amount of autonomy and all the necessary resources in order to obtain great results.
- Give us more details about the company’s culture and working vibe/atmosphere.
Our culture is based on a set of five values, that define our work and our behaviour: integrity, constant care for those around us, entrepreneurial collaboration, impact and continuous learning. Our values are not just values posted on the walls; they are supported by all of our actions, projects, policies and messages. And the uniqueness of our team lies in the way each of its members (from top to bottom) promotes, sustains and demonstrates our core values; all of our common daily efforts are made so that we can better demonstrate these values.
We do not want to be like a big family, because it is a utopia to believe that, but we like to look like an exceptional medical team that performs complex surgical operations every day. In this team, both the manager who coordinates the team and each of its members are important. In an exceptional medical team, you must constantly learn to maintain your place, to learn from small mistakes, to know how to avoid major and irreparable mistakes, to be fair to yourself and to those around you, to help unconditionally, to become better every day, to earn your place in the team. Thus, REGINA MARIA’s team forces you to always be the best member of it, to learn every day how to get there and how to help your colleagues achieve common success.
- Do you ensure career paths to your employees?
We aim to help each REGINA MARIA employee become aware of the way in which he or she contributes, through their professional and personal development, both to their career evolution and to the development of the organization. This is our Career Management Policy statement of intent. Hence, we choose to empower our employees and to offer each of them the responsibility of their professional growth by encouraging them to learn more, to work better and to achieve better results. And we know that, in order for all of these to happen, they need to have an inner drive and desire. In other words, every employee who aims for a promotion has to be able to make the first step, by declaring their intention and discussing with his/her manager about their career opportunities and development needs he/she needs in order to advance in his career. We also teach managers to have development discussions with their people, to encourage them and to provide them with feedback and support in their career development. Therefore, each of our employees is free to choose their own path in our organization, being provided with all of our support and resources.
- What trainings do you offer?
Our training catalogue is based on our strategic directions of development and the needs of employees related to these strategic directions and offers them a wide range of courses and training programmes that span over the entire year. Our offer includes offline, but also online trainings so that anyone from around the country can benefit from them, without the need of being physically present in a place. We give a special attention to the diversity of our courses, in order to respond to our employees’ needs, but also to an agile market, constantly changing. Therefore, our trainings include all types of relevant subjects, ranging from project management, communication techniques or financial courses to more specific and elaborated ones, dedicated to our medical and operational teams, that are always in search of better practices so that they can provide their patients with the best of service.
- You know how dynamic the market place is – so what is your strategy to keep your employees engaged, motivated and boost their creativity so they can innovate?
In order to keep our employees motivated and engaged, we give a special attention to their feedback. Our annually internal opinion survey is a great way of receiving feedback. Following this survey, we develop new projects or actions that are meant to respond to the new identified needs of the organization. What is more, we offer our employees the opportunity to be part of the process, to have their own voice, to freely express themselves and also to pitch and implement their own concepts. We know that they appreciate being autonomous and self-sufficient, thus they undeniably benefit from our trust and support in bringing their ideas or projects to life.
- We’re all unique, so how do you succeed to answer to different needs that your employees might have?
From our perspective, this aspect is strongly related to a specific type of management approach, that we constantly promote among our teams, based on situational leadership techniques. In other words, our managers play the observant role, which implies being always aware of their employees’ needs in order to be able to create the proper environment for them to work, to grow and also to express their thoughts without constraint. For example, they can benefit from their managers’ support whenever they find themselves in difficult situations, both professional or personal (medical, financial or familial difficulties).
What is more, we make sure that our employees have access to our HR specialists and even to our board whenever they need to address important aspects regarding their work. Therefore, they have the freedom to express themselves, to present their needs, to promote their ideas or to ask for help.
- Tell us more about your diversity and inclusion strategy.
As I mentioned before, in REGINA MARIA, our values are the basis for all of our actions and decisions. Integrity is, among them, the one that defines the way we choose to carry out our activity, in a manner based on non-discrimination, respect, fairness, tolerance, equity and consideration. In this context, it is important for us to build working relationships based on the agreement of the parties and good faith. Thus, we assign great importance to the observance, within the labour relations, of the following principles: freedom of work, prohibition of forced labour and the principle of non-discrimination.
- We are well known for the employee’s benefits. Tell us more about the ones that you are offering (maybe something rare or unique).
Our employees have access to a wide range of benefits, such as: annual bonuses and salary reviews, medical subscription for them and their families, additional vacation days (depending on their experience or seniority in the company), one extra vacation day in the month of their birthday, the possibility to choose a flexible weekly working schedule and discounts to our continuous expanding list of external partners. But we consider that the most important benefit is the opportunity to be part of a medical company in which the contribution and demonstration of values are appreciated and recognized.
- What did your employees appreciated in your offices and how do you think the working (from the office) environment will change post pandemic? What are the new top features?
We are a medical company and our employees work in the first line (over 80% of them). In the pandemic period, all of us have been here, near our patients.
Of course, in that period, we had to take all the necessary safety measures so that our teams can continue to work without being exposed. On this occasion, we learned how to adapt our internal flows and procedures to protect our employees while continuing to serve our patients in crucial moments. Also, we developed new business lines, that proved to be very much appreciated both internally and externally – The Virtual Clinic, a new service, developed in record time together with Microsoft Romania, offered our patients the opportunity to benefit from medical consultations without leaving their home, being the closest alternative to a classical medical appointment in such challenging times. But in the end, all our colleagues, especially those from the hospitals, were there for our patients.
What is more, our company had adopted a flexible working schedule since 2016, giving our employees the chance to set their working hours at their best interest, when possible and without interfering with operational interests. Thus, as proven over the years, this decision turned out to be one of our most appreciated benefits, giving our employees to opportunity and responsibility of setting, alongside their managers and colleagues, the most suitable schedule for them and their team.
- Some of the employees appreciate WFH and also the flexibility it comes when choosing their location and program. Besides that, it’s a huge opportunity for companies to access new talent pools. Did your company consider working from anywhere? This includes anywhere in Romania or also abroad?
As I mentioned before, we already adopted a flexible program for our offices long before the 2020 pandemic. Moreover, in this new context, we consider working from anywhere, from Romania or also abroad, an alternative, where possible, given our field of activity.
- Do you intend to have specific benefits for the ones that choose one way of working or another?
Our philosophy is to treat all the employees by taking into consideration 3 principles, that define our internal benefits policy: the fairness and efficiency with which employees are paid, a transparent approach and a just and whole communication. Therefore, if there should be specific benefits for some of our employees, these will be offered only in precise and officially stated situations, reflecting their performance and achievements and regardless of their workplace or work schedule.
- Is there a channel/web page where people can learn more about your company and career opportunities?
We invite those who want to find more about us to access our website and also our Social Media pages:
https://www.facebook.com/REGINAMARIA.Reteaua.privata.de.sanatate
https://www.facebook.com/REGINAMARIA.Cariere
https://www.linkedin.com/company/unirea-medical-center