ALTEN Romania is involved in the development and well-being of its employees, in order to meet the needs of professional growth and team membership.

 

Bucharest, may 2022 – In the context of the pandemic and the globalization of the workorce, the attraction of IT professionals and, especially, their retention in the company, is a continuous challenge for romanian companies.

According to a study by the Employers' Association of the Romanian Software and Services Industry (ANIS), in 2020, the software and IT services industry registered over 130,000 employees, with an extreme dynamic of accelerating the number of employees. Practically, every year, the number of employees in the IT industry increases by an average of 9000 people, the equivalent of a small town. However, the shortage of specialized personnel reaches over 10,000 people annually, which leads to the limitation of the development potential of the industry. That is why companies have had to rethink and adapt their strategies for recruiting, training and retaining IT specialists.

ALTEN Romania, a subsidiary of the French group ALTEN and one of the most important IT and engineering consulting companies, is no exception to this trend, investing both in internal assessments of employee satisfaction, to better understand what they want, but also in the area of benefits to meet their needs. It is about all those elements that really improve the work environment and make the difference when an employee chooses to stay or not in a company, with a focus on the area of professional development, but not only.

„ALTEN encourages the personal and professional development of its employees, investing significant sums in this direction. We created internal programs to support the development of those at the beginning of their career (we have so far targeted the areas of DBA, .NET, AS400), but we have not lost sight of more experienced colleagues, allocating training budget to all who are interested, regardless the stage of their career. At the same time, we have initiated an internal mobility program, which offers maximum flexibility to colleagues who want to be exposed to other projects and / or technologies, offering the possibility to accelerate their career. The personal development of our employees has been and it is a priority, the company organizing a series of well-being and team cohesion events to help them take a well-deserved break from their daily work and work better as a team.”, explains Adrian Nicolae, Executive Director of ALTEN Romania.

Almost 2 years after the onset of the pandemic, companies are significantly adjusting their recruitment and, especially, employee retention strategies, focusing on benefits such as job flexibility, personal development and protecting their well-being. A recent study CEO Survey realized by Deloitte and the Fortune magazine found that nearly three-quarters of business executives are concerned about how the shortage of workforce and skills will affect their business strategy over the next 12 months more than by the economical effects of the pandemic.

Concern for what employees want is also reflected in the way the physical presence at the office is rethought. Following an internal evaluation, the company decided to test the hybrid work mode: optional presence of 2 days per week at the office. According to the HR Barometer study from March, conducted by PwC Romania, 86% of the responding companies had decided to continue working in hybrid mode. Of these, 58.9% applied certain rules, such as a mandatory number of days or planning the days of attendance through a dedicated application. Opțiunea pentru sistemul hibrid se manifestă cel mai pregnant în sectorul IT, care beneficiază de un grad crescut de autonomie al echipelor și angajaților.

Accent on measuring the internal pulse and the well-being of employees

ALTEN is long offering benefits to employees, such as the program flexibility, access to various projects, personal and professional development activities, or encouraging social relationships. „But we felt that more was needed.”, points out Anca Cobzaru – HR Business Partner & Internal Communication Manager within ALTEN Romania.

Otherwise, in addition to the classic electronic meal vouchers or the possibility to choose the provider of medical services, the company encourages its employees to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle by offering them a card that allows the access to relaxing and sports activities in over 600 centers in Romania. Internally, the company created the so-called technical communities, where employees have the opportunity to consult and exchange information. To these was added an internal feedback tool where employees have the opportunity to constantly communicate, directly to management, about what they believe that needs to be improved within the company.

The internal pulse is measured regularly and through a series of 1: 1 discussions, which so far have highlighted extremely useful information, such as the fact that employees greatly appreciate the attention provided by the company during the integration period.

„The new times come with a change of paradigm, which we considered that it is necessary to take into account if we want to remain relevant in a competitive market. We have been paying attention to all the recent studies, which show major changes in people's attitudes towards work, and we have also surveyed the degree of job satisfaction of ALTEN employees so that we know how to act early.”, says Anca Cobzaru.

ALTEN, "a great place to work"

The results of these efforts were seen when ALTEN Romania was included among the organizations most appreciated by employees, according to the distinction granted two years in a row by the global research company Great Place to Work (GPTW).

Following the evaluations carried out by GPTW, it released the fact that ALTEN employees appreciated the most the equal access to opportunities, the management skills and fairness, the degree of adaptation to the environment and work tasks, the availability of equipment and resources, the very good relations with the customers, as well as safety at work. Participants in the study also mentioned as "strengths" of companies: friendly, family environment, "which significantly reduces stress levels", the team - "in which people understand and accept each other", the involvement of management and HR department "in making people feel good", the customer relationship flexibility, but also between employees, the existence of very clear procedures and processes, as well as the balance between responsibilities and work tasks.

Last year, ALTEN received the "Shining Star" award for the first time from Inspiring Employers LLC, a consulting and organizational evaluation company, due to the working conditions offered by ALTEN Romania, as well as due to the internal policies and initiatives taken in support of the company's employees. In this case, the evaluation was based on 10 key organizational topics, such as: Talent Acquisition, Onboarding, Rewards & Recognition, Learning & Development, Career Development, Transparency, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Well-Being, Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability and Employer Branding. The results of the evaluation showed that ALTEN Romania stands out among its competitors as a responsible employer in the long term, with solid values and a continuous concern to offer excellent working conditions.

In a job market more and more competitive, where IT candidates have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of offers, ALTEN focuses its efforts on attracting and retaining talents through dedicated internal initiatives and events.

About ALTEN

A world leader in engineering and technical consulting, the ALTEN group conducts research and development projects for top companies in all industrial, telecommunications and services sectors around the world. The company provides support for the development strategies of its customers in the fields of research and innovation, information systems and engineering, starting with the year 1996.

ALTEN Romania represents a career accelerator for its employees, offering diversity, mobility and an organizational culture based on team spirit. More details on www.altenromania.ro .

At the end of 2020, ALTEN Romania registered a turnover of approx. 26 million euros (126.5 million RON), increasing by 5% compared to the 2019. At the local level, ALTEN Romania registered a net profit of approximately 3.7 million euros (17.8 million RON).

Article published by Prwave.