“HR is becoming more and more a business partner rather than a function or an office where you knock and do some paperwork. It’s now more about partnering with the business to make sure that whatever the need is, it will be addressed, whether it’s a policy, a procedure or something else.

At the end of the day, it’s about listening and putting a plan into action and making sure that feedback has reached the right teams. It could be HR, it could be their direct supervisor, it could be the facility manager. It’s becoming more of an ecosystem and not an individual department to address a certain need,” Teodora Todoran, PhD Associate VP, L&D Lead Europe and Americas, Wipro Technologies said during People Empowering Business Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“Every single year we have a summit on mental health. More than one in four people are suffering from distress. To say that you are not fine it’s ok, but it’s still a stigma to say it.

You cannot apply one educating technique on everyone just because they are in the growing phase of their careers. You need to understand what each one of the employees needs. The one differentiator I would mention is the attitude that they bring. They can learn skills after that. There may be people which are in the growing path, which can be guided, and others may not want to grow because of their attitude.

The tricky part is how you become a different version of yourself adapted to each one in front of you. It’s not easy, but it’s challenging and keeps you going.

I think Romania is open to start a 50-50 working model, but we are not there yet. Globally speaking, our colleagues from other countries tend to be more in the office than we are in Romania.”

Full recording of the conference: