Intervista Carlo Vanin
"...people tend to choose companies that give them the opportunity to manage themselves and their time in a flexible, independent and personalised way."
Tell us about the CAREL workforce and how it has evolved in recent years.
Historically, CAREL's workforce has always been largely made up of office workers both in Italy and at Group level. The proportion has always been almost 70% white collar to about 30% blue collar, a ratio that has shifted somewhat in favour of the blue collar population in the last few years, also as a result of our most recent acquisitions.
In particular, having acquired production companies in Germany and the United States, and opened production sites in Croatia, the percentage of blue collar workers has increased to over 40%, as compared to around 60% office workers. Despite this ratio we still have a very skilled workforce because a considerable part is made up of white collar workers with a large presence of engineers or graduates in technical-scientific subjects. Of course, for the future we will also have to see how the market evolves, how the company evolves, how the strategy evolves, also as a result of our acquisitions.
Diversity and sustainability: what is CAREL doing around these issues?
In recent years we have begun to address the issues of diversity and sustainability in a very structured and organised way. The watershed moment came in 2018 when we were listed on the stock exchange. All topics related to diversity and Environment, Social and Governance aspects have become a major part of the company's initiatives since it was floated. We have a Sustainability Plan that was defined by the Board of Directors in 2021, a very structured and ambitious plan based on 55 goals which have been organised into a whole series of projects, initiatives and actions that the company intends to promote both in Italy and at Group level.
As far as Diversity is concerned, we know that we need to create a better balance between female and male employees also in leadership positions because we believe that a better balance can lead to better results from a business point of view as well as improved sensitivity around certain issues concerning the operational management and organisation of the company. Unfortunately there is an issue relating to the lack of women in technical and engineering fields but we are working on it and hope to gradually close the gap.
As far as sustainability is concerned, we are heavily focused on environmental issues with initiatives that also involve our employees. We also try to tie it in with concrete actions on the ground, seeking to protect the environment and reduce pollution, the consumption of plastic, and so on.
We have also adopted a whole series of initiatives to promote the inclusion of certain categories such as people with disabilities or disadvantaged people. This is also achieved by raising awareness through communication activities and the involvement of employees in events organised by the company.
Let's talk about work-life balance: how have approaches evolved in recent years and how do you expect it to change in the near future?
The topic of work-life balance is very important in the working and business worlds.
It is important to begin by saying that the labour market and the world of work have changed profoundly in the last three years as a result of changes that had already begun before the pandemic. And of which there were fairly clear warnings and signs as early as 2017-2018.
Obviously the pandemic was a major accelerator. And the issue of work-life balance is very important because it is an explicit demand and need expressed by many people. The need for flexibility is not only related to the possibility of working remotely, from home or any other place that isn’t the traditional office. Flexibility is also about being able to manage your working hours in a fluid and personal way, i.e. not being tied or restricted to predefined schedules, so you can manage your commitments in a more independent way.
Companies are required to focus a great deal of attention on this issue, responding to the demands of their employees by managing and organising work in an appropriate and adequate way. But it is also a question of attractiveness, in the sense that we are in a labour market where demand, especially for certain professional figures, is much higher than supply, and therefore this aspect is becoming an important distinguishing factor because people tend to choose companies that give them the opportunity to manage themselves and their time in a flexible, independent and personalised way.
There is a big discussion taking place in the working world as to whether this change is a result of the pandemic. Will we return to the pre-pandemic models one day? I don’t think so, in fact I think this change is irreversible. People management models based on trust, on goals rather than the number of hours actually worked, still a somewhat sketchy concept, will become the norm in the future, in my opinion. It will take a little more time... but I think the path is mapped out for us now.
"Generation Z is very focused on creating a world that is fair and sustainable, where the values, the ideals of caring for one another are far more marked than in previous generations."
What are the most sought-after profiles? Do they vary at Group level?
The most sought-after profiles are technicians and engineers with expertise in our target sector, from mechanical engineers to electronic engineers, IT experts and software developers to designers, and so on.
These are the profiles we need to fuel one of the main, if not the most important driver of development of this company: innovation. Technical innovation, essentially. I believe that this will continue to be the company’s main focus for many years to come.
The Group has grown so much and today the skills we need, also as a result of the IPO, are much more transversal and diversified than five or ten years ago. For example, we need people with experience and an understanding of the new channels with which we communicate both internally and externally.
The entire digital world, for example, and the world of services. From a research point of view, also very important are skills in finance given that we are now a public company. Again as a result of our stock exchange listing and related auditing activities, another important area that requires highly structured expertise, is "Compliance".
How is technological innovation affecting the recruitment of new colleagues?
It is widely believed that technological evolution, and in particular the introduction of new instruments linked to artificial intelligence, will profoundly change the make-up of certain roles and the way in which certain activities, also in the field of HR and recruitment, are carried out, even if this relates more to the future than the present. This is not so evident yet, there are still instruments that have to be filtered, where human intervention is still very strong and of absolute importance.
But I think that for the kind of evolution these instruments undergo, artificial intelligence in particular is very real. And I don't think it will be very long before we have systems or platforms that carry out much of the recruitment process and effectively reduce human involvement in this area.
Already today (and this is one of the effects of the pandemic) many stages of the selection process take place not in person, but through remote interviews. Some exchanges even take place via e-mail and through the sharing of information on instant messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp. This is already happening much more than it did in the past. And the younger the candidates, the more these tools are used and appreciated. So I think the impact of artificial intelligence will be very noticeable in the next five to ten years, even in HR. Its impact on many aspects of training and recruiting, and on the type of resources being sought.
Because while there are already studies that tell us that many key company profiles will no longer exist in ten years because they will have been replaced by artificial intelligence, on the flipside there will be a greater interest in profiles that we cannot even precisely define today, profiles with more software skills, more digital skills in general and perhaps even expertise in social media. Some people have claimed, for instance, that AI will totally supplant search engines and mark the decline of the Internet as we know it today.
"I believe that in the future the people who work for the Group will have to be highly skilled in managing and embracing change."
How has the role of human resources evolved over the years? What are the "new" demands of candidates compared to the past?
The role of human resources has evolved a lot. Traditionally, HR has largely been about recruiting and training, i.e. providing knowledge to improve people's skills. There is also another part that is disappearing and that is industrial relations and trade union relations. HR is increasingly a partner of the business and must therefore be able to identify trends outside the labour market in advance and provide innovative and creative solutions to meet the demands of line managers in the area of recruitment. Today's labour market is very fluid, scarce in terms of the people the company needs, globalised and intergenerational; this means that baby boomers, Generation Y and Generation Z have to coexist within the same company. There are both people in their 60s and people in their 20s, who come from totally different worlds.
The role of HR is to act like a partner, to anticipate, as I said before, the trends in the labour market, to facilitate a series of dynamics within the company; to increasingly be a figure that understands the business, understands the products, markets, customers and problems. It must also understand financial issues, knowing how to balance performance with cost, and have much more transversal and all-round expertise than it did in the past. It is important to understand the needs of candidates, especially in highly industrial areas such as the Triveneto and parts of northern Italy where it is really hard to find skilled resources. This is because of the incredible mismatch between supply and demand and today perhaps the biggest problem we have is also that of trying to be sufficiently attractive to the new generations.
This issue of attractiveness can be seen for example in our difficulty in attracting Generation Z, i.e. those born after 1995: we are studying this phenomenon, trying to understand why we are not very attractive to these generations and why, once we succeed in attracting these resources, we also find it very easy to lose them; it is a fascinating issue because we are talking about generations that have a value system, a relationship with work and an approach to careers that is totally different from previous generations: what counts most is acquiring experience, regardless of whether or not we are successful. It is not easy to build for the future because you know that these are people who stay for one, two, maybe a maximum of three years, and then decide to move on. And it is difficult to invest in training, knowledge and career paths.
What is changing, even as regards money, is the relationship with the life project. In general, this generation is not very attached to the issue of ownership, they have no interest in buying a house, in buying a nice car, in having a family. Their interests are much more nuanced, I won’t say they live for the moment but there is more emphasis on the goal of acquiring experience. For the company this is a source of added value initially because of the enthusiasm they bring: they contribute lots of ideas that “disrupt” the status quo, and that is good. But then you struggle to build because there is no guarantee of continuity. Work-life balance is an issue: the issue of balance, of flexibility is fundamental for the younger generations. Of course, they do not even entertain the idea of not being able to work remotely. And they certainly have a greater awareness and interest in social issues and our relationship with the environment. They are very focused on creating a world that is fair and sustainable, where the values, the ideals of caring for one another are far more marked than in previous generations.
What difficulties do you encounter most often when recruiting new colleagues?
The biggest problem is that there is a huge mismatch between supply and demand. Not only in Italy, but in almost all countries where the company operates at Group level, with very few exceptions, the demand for certain profiles is much higher than the supply. This obviously means long search times that are often not compatible with the needs of the business, which is negatively affected. For several years the company has been trying to increase its level of attractiveness in terms of employer proposition by structurally introducing remote working and making investments in new buildings, in a new canteen, in new buildings also abroad, and in new, much more modern and advanced production plants. However, we work in a niche sector and our brand awareness is therefore still very limited and this obviously penalises us. A huge amount of work has already been done but in my opinion we need to work much more on both our internal and external communications in order to be more attractive.
How should we present ourselves? Which channels should we use? What narrative should we use to present ourselves externally?
I recently attended a conference where it was argued that HR will increasingly become a marketing function because businesses will have to have the ability to sell themselves on the market. This does not mean the ability to “sell” an image of the company that is not true but rather identifying values and cultural aspects that are able to attract people's attention, as if the company is a product to be sold on the market, emphasising its positive characteristics. The market will become increasingly competitive in this respect and companies will have to compete with each other a lot, not only in terms of business but also in the search for talent in general.
CAREL in 2035: what will the CAREL workforce look like? Describe the profiles you imagine will make up the company population.
In 2035 CAREL will be a totally different company compared to today with a very strong emphasis on innovation, which will remain our "common thread" at all levels. I like to think that it will be a company where ideas, changes and innovations are introduced also at organisational level.
Today, big companies such as Google, Apple, etc. have a governance structure that changes their processes all the time. I believe that the future of CAREL will increasingly involve this kind of approach to change, perhaps not continuous change but nevertheless change on a fairly frequent basis, and that the people who work for the Group will have to be highly skilled in managing and embracing change. I believe that, in the future, people who are resistant to change will really struggle to work, to fit in and to integrate in certain kinds of context.
And I believe that CAREL will be no exception in this respect. I envision a company where senior and junior figures will be able to work together effectively, exchanging information and knowledge and feeding off each other in a positive and productive way. I also believe and hope that the company will maintain its DNA, its informality, its great ability to bring people together, also outside of the place of business which of course will always be central because the company must make a profit; but there will also be an emphasis on people, on helping each other and on cooperating and supporting each other even at difficult times.
We will be a business whose slogan could be "high tech & human touch", important aspects and cornerstones of the company mission.
