Marija Kosanović, HR Manager Gebrüder Weiss – We have learned that different solutions are possible

Over the past two years, the circumstances have certainly had a significant impact on the mode of work in nearly all industries

What kind of solutions Marija Kosanović, Human Resources Manager Gebrüder Weiss d.o.o. have found during the pandemic, you can learn in her interview for the magazine Diplomacy&Commerce.

After nearly two years of pandemic and change in working conditions, what conclusions have you reached about work from home?

– Given that we are a company engaging in logistics and transport and that the nature of our work requires human presence (warehouse, forwarding, etc.), work from home was a novelty for us and somewhat of a challenge. Since transparency and equal treatment of employees are something we pay special attention to, we were on a quest to find a model that would protect the health of our employees but at the same time have no influence on our business processes.

We concluded that the optimal solution was to have some of the employees at work and some working from home at all times, depending on the sector, nature of their work and the possibility to organize remote work. We also introduced hybrid models of teamwork and division of work, given that certain processes require presence only in some parts, while other activities may be safely executed from home. The results we achieved over the past two years, combined with the preservation of health and satisfaction of our employees, indicate that we have succeeded.

Have your employees at Gebrüder Weiss returned to their workplaces, and which challenges have you encountered in this process? If not, why not? What are the advantages of remote work?

– The majority of our employees have returned to their workplaces, as I previously mentioned, primarily due to the nature of our work. We still encounter situations where work from home is possible for certain positions and in cases requiring such type of work. From this perspective, we can safely say that returning to work has brought no new challenges. It was far more challenging to create conditions for remote work, but that was something we dealt with at the beginning of this pandemic.

Are you of the opinion that the circumstances have forever changed the mode of work, and are there things that will never return to how they used to be?

– Over the past two years, the circumstances have certainly had a significant impact on the mode of work in nearly all industries. We have learned that different solutions are possible; work from home is no longer seen as a benefit but a normal circumstance. Flexibility at work and process creation, accelerated digitalization, focus on finding quicker and easier-to-achieve solutions, complete adjustment to the clients’ requirements, with particular emphasis on the employees’ health. Furthermore, the pandemic has brought logistics and transport to a segment of specific importance.

Availability of the goods, the openness of borders, home deliveries to satisfy the needs of both commerce and individuals have quickly introduced us as a company to the process of digitalization through the creation of simple and useful tools. For example, we are distinguished by our myGW portal, successfully implemented in 2021, which allows our clients to easily communicate, track the consignment from the starting point all the way to the final delivery while combining all the required documents in one place – this is a crucial benefit that makes the work of our employees much more straightforward.

How have the changed work conditions affected the processes in the HR sector?

HR sector found itself in the spotlight at the beginning of the pandemic, and I would have to say that the lights are still on. Indeed, the biggest focus was on keeping track of the regulations and guidelines. Still, it was also essential to adjust our mode of work, in particular when it comes to recruitment and onboarding of employees. The labor market has undergone significant changes over the past few years. The candidates are willing to explore more, to carefully select the employers, while a positive experience of a candidate in the selection process directly affects the desirability of the employer in the market.

Our reaction was quick – we have adjusted and shortened the selection process, introduced online interviews – now it takes not more than a week from the first interview to final feedback. Furthermore, when it comes to onboarding, we use the available digital solutions and the myOC platform for employee learning and development to the largest extent possible. The platform hosts various presentations, video materials, and interactive content designed to introduce new employees to our values, work mode, and business model. Furthermore, there are also training sessions for programs and tools we use, from the basic ones, like e-mail, portal, Office suite, to specific programs explicitly developed for Gebrüder Weiss.

Source: Diplomacy&Commerce