In a recent interview with journalist Pavel Zingan, Suzana Robu, HR Business Partner at maib, revealed insights about career advancement opportunities, the significance of corporate culture in the ongoing transformation at maib, and employee engagement levels. Join us as we discover Suzana Robu, the HR professional who keeps a finger on the pulse of employee engagement.
Suzana, hello. Each HR Business Partner at maib is responsible for a specific segment of the company's team. What segment do you oversee?
My area of responsibility encompasses Retail, Marketing, and Finance, primarily focusing on Retail. My team and I are accountable not only for the headquarters but also for the branches.
I assume half of the bank's employees belong to these segments. Am I right?
That’s about right. We have over 1,000 colleagues, and we aim to be a trusted partner who supports them from the moment they are hired throughout their professional growth.
Do you have a large team?
We have three colleagues, but we are currently looking for a “superstar” to join our HR team.
Perhaps a potential candidate is reading this interview right now. What work experience and background should they have to join the maib HR team?
The dynamics of our work show that the main criteria we focus on are drive, determination, and results orientation. Additionally, they should be willing to embrace maib's corporate culture and become an integral part of it. Our emphasis is on the branches. The people working there are the “image” of maib, who meet our clients daily. If their task is to make our bank's clients happy and put them at the center of attention, then our “customer” is actually the bank's employee. Consequently, we must make them happy. Our new recruiter should always remember these values, using them as a common thread in every interview.
When you communicate with candidates for a position at maib, you also discuss career advancement opportunities with them. What career advancement and personal development opportunities exist within the HR team?
We live in an era where soft skills are becoming increasingly important for professionals. In this regard, our colleagues gain valuable communication experience, with each interview as a small life lesson. This is true even when we recruit frontline employees. It's worth mentioning that we also interviewed future product managers and product owners, and each such meeting brought us new knowledge and valuable insights. Furthermore, we have our projects and strategic initiatives where HR partners and recruiters are involved. They can also become leaders of specific tasks from start to finish, learning a completely different level of goal-setting and achievement.
We’ve talked about the qualities a team member should possess. However, who better than an HR Business Partner can articulate what is most important for any candidate seeking a job at maib?
Over the past three years, maib has undergone a series of cultural transformations. Our core value is our client, placed at the center of all the bank's products, services, and processes. This highlights not only the professional qualities of candidates but also their personal traits, internal culture, and willingness to embrace our new corporate culture. If a person is toxic, lacks a positive attitude, or doesn't wish to bring happiness to those around them, they won't be able to become part of our team, where inspiration and sharing our bank's values are of utmost importance.
Thus, an HR Business Partner must evaluate a person during the interview and maintain ongoing communication with them to understand how well they fit into the bank’s cultural transformation.
This is an indispensable part of our work. It is crucial for us that our employees know and feel that we, the HR team, are always close by. Throughout our activities, I have visited nearly all maib branches across the country. We take great pride in our branch teams and make every effort to ensure they can work easily and comfortably with customers. These teams represent the "face" of our bank, and their feedback is vital to us. At the headquarters, our dedicated teams create new services and arrange processes so that our colleagues in branches can work smoothly with clients, resolve any issues, and inspire them to be happier.
Moreover, a strategic initiative I am involved in is Employee Engagement. It is essential for us that employees are fully engaged in what they do and in the life and goals of the bank. Engagement levels should be understood in words, feelings, and numbers. To this end, we conduct research to assess the level of engagement
The latest study showed very positive results, which were better than the average in our field. However, we don’t stop here. This year, we have planned not one but two surveys. We designed them to be as comfortable as possible and to take no more than 30 minutes. This feedback is essential for us, as engagement levels are a vital indicator for organizations that place customers and employees at the center of their interests.
If we talk about your involvement, which focuses of work, do you consider most important in 2024?
Well, that's a difficult question. For me, every step in my work is significant. However, I will highlight two priorities. The first is middle management. I am learning to be a manager and know how difficult it is to make right and qualitative decisions. The results of our work have a direct impact on the results of the whole company. Leadership qualities are essential at every level, whether you have two or twenty or two thousand subordinates. The ability to inspire and motivate teams - this is the first priority. The second, which I've talked about before, is the level of engagement, which is the strategic initiative for which I'm responsible. Respectively, I aim to get the results of the surveys at the end of the year to show that our employees' engagement level has continued to increase, thanks to the continuous and constant actions to improve all processes.
