SG GSC: a positive work culture that puts people first

Catalina Magui, HR Director at SG GSC, talked to Business Review about the company’s retention strategy, which is centred on people’s needs and business expectations. Building a positive workplace culture that is focused on people, providing opportunities for learning and career development, and giving regular feedback and recognition are some of the core tenets of SG GSC’s HR strategy.

How would you describe your HR policy?

Our HR policy sustains a responsible people culture by prioritising employee experience and incorporating Corporate Social Responsibility principles. Over the past few years, we have maintained a focus on our people initiatives and on creating an employee-oriented organisational culture. As we adapted to the new normal post-covid and listened to the changing needs of our people, we redesigned our EVP around a best-in-class Employee Experience (EXP). This new EXP is centred around 4 pillars providing a holistic experience that fosters growth in people’s careers (pillar #1), shows care for their wellbeing (pillar #2), creates opportunities for meaningful connections with colleagues (pillar #3), and encourages active participation in communities both inside and outside of the workplace (pillar #4).

“Career” focuses on attracting future talent and providing opportunities for learning and growth, through transparent career planning and internal mobility processes. The variety of activities in SG GSC creates a large number of job openings ranging from banking operations, compliance, finance or HR to IT, so there are a lot of opportunities for our employees to learn and evolve towards other jobs internally.

“Care” for our employees means creating a workplace culture that prioritises the wellbeing of our colleagues, providing a safe and healthy working environment, offering competitive benefits, recognising and rewarding performance.

“Connections” focuses on learning from each other inside a global organisation, as well as uniting different cultures and experiences from all over the word. “Communities” are the centre of all our CSR and volunteering programmes, which we will continue to support.

What were the main initiatives the company dedicated to its employees last year?

We created a more transparent process through career paths, promoting employee development and career growth. In 2022, over 250 colleagues progressed through various opportunities for internal mobility, reskilling or promotion. Wellbeing at work is also a key element. We organise monthly wellbeing sessions on different topics. We also put an emphasis on rewards & recognition, with more than 450 people having been recognised though our R&R Programme. We also launched a new Parental Programme that benefits more than 150 people. Another people initiative was related to our ambition to attract more young talent and fresh graduates. Through our collaboration with young students, we’ve created a programme that’s designed to take into account not only the company’s perspective, but also the needs of the graduates. The programme is called YGAIN! and we are in the process of implementing it to attract students from several universities in Bucharest. Last but not least, in 2022, more than 1,100 people invested over 3,000 hours in citizenship activities alongside 15 NGOs, with actions ranging from supporting education or professional integration for disadvantaged individuals to protecting the environment.

What is your strategy in terms of attracting and retaining talent in your company?

We focus on two main directions, which complement each other to meet our business needs.

The first is dedicated to young talents that can benefit from job opportunities in all areas of our business. They can learn on the job, develop, and grow. The second direction is for experienced professionals who can access job opportunities in banking, compliance, support roles or IT.

3 HR challenges for the service centre sector in 2023

The shortage of skilled professionals, especially good English and French speakers;
Retaining the best and most talented people;
The market uncertainty generated by the macroeconomic and geopolitical contexts.

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