Evolution of HR: from the operational routine to the center of organizational development
Digitalization has changed the face of the traditional human resources department, turning it into a corporate human resources management service. The Aquarius group of companies told TAdviser how the HR Directorate has become a real driver of serious organizational changes.
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A year and a half ago, in the life of the Russian group of companies "Aquarius," like many other domestic IT vendors, a strip began, which in the style of the long-standing Chinese tradition is often called the era of change. Its characteristic features were, firstly, the digital transformation of Russian companies and enterprises and, secondly, the departure of foreign players from the Russian IT market. Many manufacturers began to expand production, investing serious amounts in new production sites.
In particular, Aquarius opened a new complex in Tver, bringing the total capacity of its plants to 1.2 million high-tech devices per year and doubling the number of personnel, and also outlined plans to build another production site in Shuya. Due to the launch of the second production in Tver, Aquarius expects to increase production capacity by 2.5 times by the end of 2025 - up to 2.5 million devices. The company's equipment is included in the Unified Register of Russian Electronic Products of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.
I must say that these changes were quite consistent with the organic growth of the company with a 34-year history of systematic development, says Victoria Khaba, vice president for organizational development and personnel management of the Aquarius group of companies, and HR performed traditional functions in line with this development: personnel selection, personnel administration.
Why is business development in an era of change proving to be the "perfect storm"?
Шаблон:Quote 'author = explains Victoria Haba.
A striking example is work in the sales service. This, it seems, universal skill in the conditions of "Aquarius" requires unique competencies related to the ability to conduct long complex projects and take into account the client's needs in terms of product development.
And this became a real challenge for the HR Directorate of Aquarius: it was in the center of not only organizational changes, but also radical transformations in the field of organizational development, because it was here that approaches and methodology for the development of professional competencies of individual employees and entire teams were formed.
Scaling is not equal to multiplication. It is impossible to simply produce more products, bring more components or recruit more people. It was necessary to seriously revise the logic of existing business processes for new products and areas of activity, and in some places create them from scratch. Global digitalization and automation were required. And, of course, everyone was greatly affected by radical changes in procurement and logistics.
HR leads transformation
Indeed, new employees sometimes appeared in the company as whole teams that had developed at the previous place of work. In fact, within the Aquarius group of companies over the past year, an updated powerful structure of key teams has developed - what is called the core team - which was made up of very high-level specialists who came from international companies.
In parallel with this, more than 50 young employees came to work at the company, who began their work biography at Aquarius at the stage of study at the university. All this required decisive action to improve the efficiency of the updated company - with new people and transforming business processes. "Someone had to be the leader of these changes, the conduit for transformation across departments and departments. This role was taken over by HR, "says Victoria Khaba, confirming the well-known saying that responsibility is not given - it is taken.
As a result, the department, which dealt exclusively with operational management (recruitment, personnel administration, payroll), has become a large division that solves the tasks of strategic HR.
the moment is organizational development, which implies the management of business processes, the introduction of methodologies that help increase the efficiency of the company's business through strengthening business processes and the constant development of expertise within each team, - explains Victoria Khaba. |
Accordingly, the set of HR functions in the company has radically changed.
Today we drive all processes according to the Strategy-Transformation-Changes algorithm, - emphasizes Victoria. |
HR - Organizational Transformation Driver
To support deep organizational transformations, HR uses two types of digital solutions: tools for automating HR functions and for working with people.
- Bitrix24, which acts as a single digital entry point for employees.
- Digitalization of personnel administration - HR-Link CED.
- Business Studio and EDMS.
From the point of view of communication with employees, we use:
- centralized communications and distribution;
- display of content and relevant information guides on digital media (LED-displays), which are installed along the perimeter of office and production sites;
- regular hybrid employee meetings with AQUA-CONF management.
The introduction of products was accompanied by their adaptation to the specifics of the company and mutual integration, which ultimately led to the implementation of a platform HR solution. The platform approach helps to get a single developed HR system from many components, the company explains, and reduce the diversity of IT systems within it.
Client-oriented HR approach: the main thing is our people
HR is an aspect of the business. Therefore, we are talking about customer focus in our activities - how to attract the best specialists, how to create the best conditions for them, - emphasizes Victoria Khaba: Now HR is a business-oriented marketplace, a service aggregator that offers employees many useful services. In order not only to find the best employees, but also to keep them in the company, you need to become the one who offers the best service. |
Thus, having made a round of transformational development, HR again focused on its most important asset - employees, but already at a fundamentally different level, with other tools.
- Overcoming the personnel deficit. Experience with recruiting 40 university graduates is a well-thought-out strategy of a company for which it is difficult to find ready-made specialists in the labor market. Victoria Khaba says that in six months the internship of future specialists was adapted to the needs of Aquarius. And it turned out to be so effective that they went to permanent work immediately in the status of leading specialists.
- Compensation package. In terms of material incentives, the company focuses on the average level in the market with a certain premium. For a company with factories located in the regions, the task of personnel replenishment of regional divisions is acute. In addition to salary incentives, various relocation packages are being developed.
The successful experience was reflected in a special partnership program with universities and colleges, launched in the current academic year. It provides for both short-term periods of practice and long-term internships lasting 6-9 months, after which trainees transfer to the main staff. Cooperation with universities is now unlikely to surprise anyone, "says Viktoriya Khaba. - We went even further - this year we started working with colleges and schools. Popularization of work in the field of radio electronics is very necessary, especially in small regional cities.
So, with the support of the Aquarius group of companies, a new specialty "090201 computer systems and complexes" appeared at Ivanovo College. As part of a partnership with the educational institution, the company will equip the technical base of the college so that students can apply the knowledge gained in practice. In addition, the Aeroacqua Children's Leisure Center, a station for young technicians (SUT), also launched with the support of Aquarius at the beginning of this year in order to provide opportunities for the realization of talent in the engineering sector for the children of the city, is already operating in Shui. At the beginning of 2024, a similar station will open in Tver.
- Working with employee motivation. Over the past year, not a single specialist left the company, according to the HR department. They say that they have revealed the secret of the mysterious soul of a Russian high-class specialist: money, of course, matters for a comfortable life, but at work they want to be involved in the implementation of some big idea so that the results of the work of the entire company's team inspire further development and improvement.
Plus, all modern tools of the best corporate communications are used at the practical level. Firstly, this is integration through communications that help unite the team: the development of an information policy that allows you to convey the goals of the organization, and stimulating measures at all levels and departments of the company, corporate events, including meetings of top management with employees, where business leaders answer any questions.
The second element is employee development management: various trainings, team development and interaction sessions, soft and hard skills development, etc., which are developed using an individual approach for different groups of employees. The third block is integration through business processes. Victoria Khaba considers this area to be key in the overall structure of working with employees:
We have a production company, which means complex multi-level business processes. We bring together all the participants of the same process, and together they go through a difficult optimization path, identify points of inefficiency, simplify the process, make it more even. |
So the introduction of a process management model in the Aquarius group of companies also implements an HR block.
Obviously, in a year with a small Aquarius, he made a significant transformational transition. A lot has been done, agrees the vice president for organizational development and personnel management, but much more remains to be done, because the transformation of Aquarius continues.