HR Directors of Leading Companies: People are the Heart of Business Strategy

At the ninth Lider HR conference held at the Zonar hotel in Zagreb, a panel discussion on the strategic positioning of the HR function took place, featuring human resources directors from five leading companies in Croatia. The panel was moderated by Lara Šubić Šuša, head of HR consulting at Selectio Group.

From Support to Strategic Center

Blaž Ferenc, director of human resources, corporate communications, and business sustainability at A1 Slovenia and A1 Croatia, emphasized at the beginning of the discussion the transformation that the HR function has undergone in recent years.

– We have adapted the function itself for many years now, so it is not just a support function, but a strategic function that is discussed at the highest management level. As for the strategy itself, I won’t say anything too new if I say that there is an increasing focus on developing future competencies, from AI to everything that is coming, but of course also on managing people in all of that – explained Ferenc.

Key for A1 is that the HR function not only talks about new tools but also actively uses them in its own processes.

– Another important thing is that we ourselves use all the knowledge we provide to others in our processes, meaning that the HR function handles data, we use AI, we automate processes to deal with topics that are important to us – he added.

Employee at the Center of the Ecosystem

Ida Hohnjec, director of people and culture at Coca-Cola HBC Croatia, emphasized the holistic approach that her company applies in strategic planning.

– It is crucial that the employee is at the center of all our activities both short-term and long-term, and this is how we want to bring value not only to the individual but to the community in which we operate. Now we are looking at the broader community of our stakeholders and how we can ensure that we will continue to attract talent to our organization in the future and that those who join develop in the direction they expected – said Hohnjec.

This approach shows how the HR strategy expands beyond the boundaries of the organization itself and becomes part of the company’s broader social responsibility.

Different Strategies for Different Organizational Units

Hrvoje Bulić, HR director of Kaufland Croatia, faces the challenge of managing a company that has completely different organizational units with unique needs.

– Our organization is internally structured such that besides our branches, we also have a large central warehouse in Jastrebarsko, which is a world of its own, and a headquarters in Zagreb where we have more than 350 employees. Strategies cannot be the same for all these organizational units – explained Bulić.

A particular challenge is the seasonality in the branches, which requires flexible employment models.

– There is a pronounced seasonality in the branches, so we as HR have the challenge of hiring for a limited time as long as these peaks last. There is of course also student and agency employment, and this year we tried with mini jobs, but what works best is Super Sommer, a project where we send our employees from touristically passive areas to the coast to work during the season – he said.

Bulić emphasized that this project is not just an administrative exercise but a complex process that involves caring for employees on multiple levels.

– Of course, this is not just a matter of signing annexes to contracts, but onboarding, providing accommodation, and a buddy system so they have someone in the branch who will help them on multiple levels, not just on the business side. We succeed through our quality organizational culture, a complete benefits package, and we manage to retain a fully domestic workforce – he added.

A different approach was needed for the central warehouse in Jastrebarsko, where turnover was a significant problem.

– We had to change the strategy in the central warehouse in Jastrebarsko. We had many problems with employee turnover and seasonality, and we tapped into the pool of foreign workers – explained Bulić.

For the headquarters in Zagreb, the focus was on raising digital competencies.

– The third is our headquarters in Zagreb, and we concluded that the gap in knowledge is significant and that we need to work on raising the overall level of digital analytical competencies of our employees – he concluded.

Organic Growth Requires HR at the Heart of Strategy

Lorena Dika, HR director of JGL, presented the specifics of the pharmaceutical industry and how JGL has managed to grow over the years despite industry challenges.

– The pharmaceutical industry is very specific, highly regulated, and complex, sometimes even slow. It is very indicative that this organic growth is very rare. And now you have JGL, which has been growing organically for its 35 years at very atypical rates, around 20 percent annually, which means we double every few years – explained Dika.

With an ambitious goal of doubling its size in the next five years, JGL had to reassess its approach to HR strategy.

– Now we have set ourselves an even more ambitious goal, which is to double these 35 years in the next five years. The DNA of JGL is to bring meaning to that growth, and at the center of everything is the person. When we have that context, our people and HR strategy is not a follower of the business strategy; it must be the heart of that business strategy. Our goal is to support that growth, but through sustainability and humanity – said Dika.

Action Instead of Talk

Mojca Domiter, vice president of the Group for People and Culture at Atlantic, speaking about the regional strategy, emphasized the evolution of the approach to HR over the years.

– We differentiate what we want to be at the corporate level eminent in all markets, what is specific in each business area, and finally what is the strategy of the human resources function within the group – explained Domiter.

The key difference from the past, according to her, is not in essence but in execution.

– If we talk about how much this differs today compared to ten years ago, essentially there are not so many differences, but the way is very different. Today there is much more action and less talking about these processes – concluded Domiter.