Paula Rus, Adecco Romania: #futureofwork, tendencies & expectations

A Speaker in All Star | Employer Branding panel at BR’s recent Working Romania HR Conference, Paula Rus, Operations Manager Adecco Romania, explains their perspective and ways of keeping the talents, but also the challenges faced by the companies through these difficult times.

For Adecco Romania, Paula Rus, Operations Manager, says that we live in a permanent change concerning the hybrid type of work – at the office and from a distance. “A global study we’ve done and from which Romania is a part of when it comes to employees, more than 50% of them want this kind of movement of work, but what’s even more interesting is how in the global mapping, depending on areas or countries, this wish has a more weighting balance towards working from home. In Romania, between that 50% who would want the hybrid type, 43% from M&A would prefer remote work.”

She’s also aware of the challenges faced by the companies, and she admits that: “There will be a certain kind of compromise between what the company can offer and what the employees need to work from the office because the companies go through a realigning process between the employees and their employers. More than this, it’s true that 7 out of 10 employees have, at the moment, unlike during the first period of the pandemic, the logistic and technical devices necessary for their activity”, which explains why they would prefer not going back to how things were. Also, even though some of them are keen to be back in the organizational community, there is, as well, a big cloud of anxiety floating upon them because things wouldn’t be 100% on their terms.

When it comes to candidates or employees, nowadays, the most valuable asset is a technical skill, but employers also are searching for the drive and willingness to upskill or reskill in their employees or in the candidates. Paula Rus comments on this idea: “The job market is filled with available positions, but the qualitative aspect is still a priority. But, the companies have realized that besides the need for additional workers, they also need people in the organization that are ready for the challenges and continuous changes we go through now. This means that even though they continue the training on technical skills for the current employees, they are also looking for emotional intelligence, the capacity to find innovative solutions for complex situations arising, and not only for the skills already existing. A more visible aspect nowadays is that the companies try harder to have efficient internal communication with their employees, but also with the new possible ones.”