Press Release: “HR in the Digital Era” - opportunities and challenges facing human resources | HR Executive Learning Breakfast, 6th edition

In response to the rapid acceleration of technology, organizations today are recognizing the need to 'go digital', whether it’s by digitizing their processes, implementing HR information systems or having most of the communications with the teams supported by apps.

Crina Ilie, People Function Manager at Genpact Europe and Nicoleta Capătă, HR Director at Flanco Romania were speakers at the 6th edition of the HR Executive Learning Breakfast - “HR in the Digital Era” - organized by Romania-insider.com and Ideograf on November 28, 2019. The event was supported by CBRE Romania, Maastricht School of Management in Bucharest and Sweeteria.

Over 30 HR directors, general managers and entrepreneurs joined in the discussion at the CBRE office in Bucharest. The session was moderated by Sandra Jitianu, Management Consultant & Trainer, Ideograf.

Nowadays, HR relies on IT to implement data and talent management tools, centralize intelligence, and create an open structure that allows a smooth flow of information. Additionally, HR should focus on attracting individuals who are digitally savvy and socially aware since they are key for organizations going forward.

Genpact Europe intensified their digitization efforts in the HR department 3 years ago, by developing an employee management system which includes a series of intelligent tools that are aimed at simplifying many HR processes. Crina Ilie, who manages a team across 21 countries in Europe, carried the audience through this transformation and gave several examples of tools that were implemented, such as distance recruiting using video interviewing, an AI culture assistant named Amber which reached a 50% adoption rate in only 3 months, as well as a chatbot that answers employees’ most often-asked questions.

Being typically considered as a cost center and not as a profit driver, the HR function is usually the last in line for changes. Even so, the new business landscape demands a reset of expectations from the human resources department. “New objectives of the HR functions include the ability to rapidly adapt the solution to internal and external changes, employee experience and engagement, as well as building insights from data to drive predictive, self-correcting and intelligent decisions,” said Crina Ilie.

“HR and technology do have some things in common. They share the need for simplicity, for trust and confidence, and they also share emotion”, added Crina Ilie.

The Romanian-owned retailer Flanco, which has 150 stores and over 1,500 employees throughout the country, started its journey to digital by implementing the Flanco Performance System - an evaluation tool for their sales teams.

Nicoleta Capătă, HR director of Flanco Romania, showcased this system that allows teams to monitor their performance in real time, so that they can influence their results before the end of the month. The system is used daily by over 400 of their sales team members. “The biggest challenges we had were finding a performance standard that is accepted by all employees, regardless of their level, and creating a culture of performance, where our colleagues are genuinely interested in having good results”, said Nicoleta Capătă.