“The HR specialist is no longer the “universal soldier” he was a few years back, who had to know it all. At present, people with a few years experience in training or offering compensations or benefits are the most sought after,” said Gabriel Ionescu, President of HR Club, the main association of human resources professionals in Romania.
“Since 2005-2006, human resource experts are confronted with the issue of identifying resources. Their input was taken into consideration when the pressure on human capital and salaries began to increase,” Ionescu added.
The HR Manager must think more as a General Manager, to understand the strategy and seek solutions for implementing this. It is not enough to know psychology, he must also see everything in terms of business, Ionescu explained. “The General Manager expects the HR executive to present a cost-benefit analysis. Such abilities are not acquired overnight,” he added. Confronted with a current personnel deficit, an HR executive can not just go “steal away” employees from the competition, as costs for this would be much greater than if present employees are trained and given incentives to remain with the company. The efficiency of a newly-hired person can equal that of an older employee only after three-four months.
“Human Resources Managers have to be extremely creative to diversify benefits for motivating employees, to ensure that these are not tempted by other offers,” Ionescu mentioned. Performance bonuses, company shares, preferential loans, and subscriptions to fitness centers are but a few available options.
Hungary has two such associations: HR Club and the Hungarian Association for Human Resources Management (OHE).
HR Club is the largest association of human resource professionals in Romania, with over 200 members, including HR Managers, Consultants or General Managers. Some 40 percent of the above work for companies specializing in human resources, while the remainder are large companies.
On average a HR expert in Romania manages some 78 employees, while in Western Europe that figure is about 66. In Central and Eastern Europe however, the average is 87 employees managed by one HR specialist.
