Mihaela Perianu, Dale Carnegie Romania: “Some companies are investing lots of money to convince people to come back to the office”

“The past two years of the pandemic made people reflect on what is really important to them, what is worth fighting for, and where to invest their energy. This is why the Great Resignation was related to top management people, and not to people who joined during the pandemic.

In Romania, a survey showed that the majority of people that left during the pandemic were either seniors or top managers, either juniors.

Fundamentally, we all know and feel that the world has changed. People are definitely looking for something else in search of the meaning, but meaning is hard to find,” Mihaela Perianu, Founder and Managing Partner, Dale Carnegie Romania said during Romanian Business Services Forum 2022 organized by Outsourcing Today.

“A question in the same study was who is deciding (manager or employee) whether you go at the office or you work from home. The result was 30 percent managers and 30 percent employees. I think this is the first time when the power is split between the employer and the employee.

Some companies are investing lots of money in team buildings to convince people to come back to the office. It’s funny that attending the teambuilding is not compulsory. In the 90s the power was 100 percent at the employer. It was the company deciding whatever they wanted to with the employees. Then at the beginning of the years 2000, the employees were having all kinds of requests regarding what company cars to have, what colour should the car be and so on until the crisis hit in 2008. Then the power went back to the employer. Now I sense the companies are still struggling to find a way of dealing with the employees in the near future.

It is harder to recruit people these days because they are not willing to work in the same conditions and under the same imposed values as it was before the pandemic. They are more into their lifestyle and what matters to them.

The majority of companies are complaining that it’s very hard to recruit talents because people are asking for higher salaries, they prefer to work from home or in a hybrid model, but definitely not 100 percent from the office. Young people have a lot of requirements, more than they had before the pandemic.”

Full recording of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHmnYy2Tyh4