Dorota Serwińska from our office in Warsaw, spoke with Beata Stelmach, Chair of The Supervisory Board, of The Polish Association of the Listed Companies

Beata, as a person closely related to the market of listed companies, you are a great supporter of the value of corporate governance. Why is this so important?

Not so long ago, corporate governance meant the proper organization of relations with shareholders, paying particular attention to the organization of mutual relations between the leading shareholder and the group of minority shareholders. Another important issue was the presence of independent members of the supervisory board. Moreover, great importance was attached to the quality and transparency of communication with the market. This is still very important, but it is no longer enough. We look at the impact of the company's activities on the environment and how its presence affects all stakeholders with whom the company has relations. In short, we evaluate a long-term sustainability strategy. This is a much more serious responsibility for the organization and management of the company, taking into account environmental, social and corporate governance aspects.

In short, we are talking about ESG standards, and all these areas are jointly assessed by shareholders or rating agencies, which consequently translates directly into the company's value. Therefore, today a code of good practice is not enough.

Okay, but if we were to think about it practically, why is it so important?

The world's economies have been growing at a breakneck pace over the years, and we have been content with growth and progress, but we have paid little attention to the environmental damage that this development has brought with it. Air and water pollution, gas emissions contributing to global warming - all this has gone too far not to react decisively and stop the environmental devastation. Therefore, business has been tasked with protecting our planet. Regardless of whether we are dealing with production, services, trade or heavy industry we need to look at the entire chain of events to ensure appropriate standards of operation.

Beata, you say that until now corporate governance was a matter of soft requirements, and now hard regulations are being introduced. What do they concern?

One of the most important regulations that should be mentioned is the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) - these are EU regulations regulating the scope of mandatory reporting in the area of ​​sustainable development. The regulations require company management to place ESG issues at the center of business planning and short and long-term strategies.

In addition to taking care of the above-mentioned environmental issues, companies are expected to take even greater care of their relationships with stakeholders. The rights of investors and shareholders have today been supported by tough regulations to not only standardize the method of communication, but also to lead to even greater transparency. Other regulations also appeared along the way, including: guaranteeing transparency of remuneration in public entities, which is aimed primarily at eliminating the pay gap between women and men in similar positions, or ensuring equal representation of various groups at the level of company authorities.

The "Women on Boards" directive aims to increase the representation of those groups that are underrepresented on company boards. In practice, it is expected that more women will be invited to the group of managers. The first moment when entities will be obliged to publicly submit an appropriate report is 2026, so shareholders should take care to ensure the diversity of the bodies appointed for the new term of office today during general meetings.

It is expected that modern enterprises will ensure diversity in the workplace, in particular among management and supervisory bodies, respect minority rights, introduce mechanisms that guarantee an inclusive environment and open to diversity, encourage teamwork, and ensure the education and improvement of competences of their employees.

So we're not just talking about the consequences of the new directives for the external market, it also applies to employees?

Of course. The main point is to create a work environment that will respond to new challenges and expectations of employees. The workplace is our second home, but this also means appropriate balance of activity and division of time into work and rest. Therefore, another directive worth mentioning concerns "work-life-balance". It is not only about respecting private time, but also about taking care of the physical and mental health of our employees. It must be admitted that the pandemic and remote work have opened our eyes to a number of new needs. Today, hybrid work is a standard, but there are new risks: loneliness, the unnoticed problem of burnout, depression... it is a big challenge for companies to take care of their employees.

A motivated, well-coordinated team means better well-being at work, but also greater commitment, identification with the company, and in turn, greater responsibility and a proactive attitude.

And back to corporate governance itself, the last component of ESG…

Let's look at the Polish Stock Exchange. Among the largest WIG-20 companies, half are companies with State Treasury shareholding. Corporate governance has been in great "disarray" over recent years. Meanwhile, listed companies should be a model for all other entities on the market; by definition, they should be the best organized, respecting market laws, treating all shareholders equally, caring for their image, and respecting public market standards. They also include competent management and supervisory boards composed of independent members, but there are also many listed companies where the majority of shares are still in the hands of the founder. As long as corporate governance is respected, stock investors entrust their funds to the company's development. However, it sometimes happens that it is difficult to accept public market standards, the desire for manual control prevails, and independent and competent specialists are reluctant to hire - and this destroys the trust of financial investors.

And what could be the consequences of this?

Research shows that over 80% of professional investors take into account how corporate governance rules and ESG requirements are met. Professional investors, funds and asset management entities directly adopt investment strategies aimed at entities and their instruments guaranteeing a sustainable development strategy. The application of these principles translates directly into the valuation of companies, image, recognition and attractiveness for business partners.

Do you have any golden advice for the management boards of large companies regarding corporate governance, or ESG more broadly?

Complying with ESG standards simply pays off. At the same time, by taking care of the environment and the community gathered around the company, we create a culture and values ​​that attract investors, business partners and loyal employees who identify with the workplace. By operating according to transparent rules, companies become attractive to shareholders for many years, which guarantees further development.

We are grateful to Beata Stelmach for taking the time to speak with us about such an important subject.

We spoke with Małgorzata Kulis VP, Managing Director and Katarzyna Skorupka-Podziewska, People & Culture Director at Volvo Trucks, Poland.

Volvo Trucks is a world-leading truck manufacturer, committed to drive progress and shape the future landscape of sustainable transports. 

Małgorzata, it has been almost 12 years since you joined Volvo Trucks Poland as a Managing Director. Has the company changed during that time?

Małgorzata: Completely! 12 years is a long time, and today we are totally different. I joined an organization managed in a directive manner, organized in silos, where information was treated as an asset to build an advantage to maneuver within the company. Few people understood why I, a woman, with no technical knowledge of trucks, suddenly became the Managing Director. I had to deal with some problems and the reluctance of others, who did not believe that a woman in a truck business could survive in the long -term, but I managed. Let me remind you that the concept of diversity was not that strongly promoted at that time, and I joined what was a very macho business.

Much time has now passed, and we have made many collective changes to become a great organization today, balancing experience with new generations, more women, as well as activating engagement of individuals to fight jointly for the company goals.

What has been most important in this transformation?

Małgorzata: Building a culture of open communication and trust. It's a long process, but it has paid off in many ways. I didn't know about the technicalities of the trucks, but I knew how to deal with people. Today, we are all proud of the community Volvo Trucks Poland creates, and some of our solutions are inspirational, not only for other Volvo Group entities, but also for our competitors. I have to say proudly that we created and still create many talents.  

And what are these solutions that allowed you to build this community?

Katarzyna: One of the assumptions of our strategy is the slogan: #Inspired by Your Needs. It means that we are inspired by the needs of our customers, our employees and our business partners. Our company employs 500 people in 13 distributed branches. This is not the easiest structure to manage, so we need to be close to people, genuinely listen to their needs and address them appropriately. People feel cared for, they feel our concern for them (the “care” factor increased from 60% to 90% in the last 3 years), it's not a slogan, but our everyday life.

Małgorzata: This approach strongly impacts the company's results. Last year we achieved our highest result and we believe we are doing so because we listen to people - I mean all people: our customers, our business partners and of course our employees, who are definitely the biggest assets of our organization, as well as the creators of our common achievements.  As a Management Team we travel around our locations, give space to ask questions and listen to ideas, analyze and address what people say, no matter whether it concerns basic or more sophisticated issues. We don't sweep anything under the rug. Maybe sometimes we don't have an answer immediately, but we acknowledge the issue and come back with answers encouraging local colleagues to propose solutions, improve processes, and to make constant small improvements.

Is this openness to listening to the voice of employees specific only to the Polish organization?

Małgorzata: Volvo Group is an organization that appreciates people feedback, but what we do is that we create “Local WHY” with everything we do in Poland. Today Poland is the 4th Volvo Trucks market in Europe and 6th in the world, so we are an important player, and we need to be strong for our customers, who act in an extremely difficult and competitive international environment.  

Sales of the trucks as such, is not enough. In Volvo Trucks we want to be the best and the most desired transport solution provider. It means that what we do must have a measurable value for our customers and our approach must be effective and focused on premium services. We also need to have a very professional and transparent dialogue with our customers to build relations for good and bad times.

By building open communication and trust, you gain knowledge about what people expect and know what they want. Are there other benefits?

Katarzyna: Employees feel listened to and cared for. They consciously work for innovative solutions. We believe that our customers can feel that we have a unique culture and that employees are stronger, dedicated, engaged and want to work with us.

Employees are ambassadors, they feel a unique sense of belonging here to our Volvo community, and this attracts customers. This energy transfers from people to people. This is what distinguishes us from the competition.

We are the market leader in many fields and have very high customer satisfaction which is measured systematically either in the area of trucks sales and delivery, or service market and retail services or financing provided by our sister company Volvo Financial Services. We care a lot about how our customers assess us and what can we still improve.

You say that this is what sets you apart in the market, that your employees are authentic brand ambassadors. Does this affect results and performance?

Małgorzata: Absolutely YES!!! People returned to working back in the office within two weeks after the first lockdown during Covid. Many other companies are still struggling to have people back in their offices. Our people are genuinely committed, have lots of new ideas and feel connected to the company and the Volvo Family we create. I believe that is why we have such a phenomenal performance.

Katarzyna: We have decreased the number of voluntary leavers twice to 4%. It is very difficult for our competition to encourage our people to leave Volvo Trucks. People go beyond their area and emphasize their strong bond with the company. Every year we organize the Health Challenge and other programs to take care of both the physical and mental health of our employees - but we never do it without checking what they really need. People organize it themselves, take an active part in it, fuel and motivate each other.

Also regarding additional benefits, we decided to introduce a pre-paid Volvo card system because people need different things. We have 25% of each generation in terms of age, it is a very well-balanced organization, and we need to accept that people have different needs. We do understand it and we care about it.

Małgorzata: As in every corporation we are a results driven company, there is high time pressure and results pressure, so we try to monitor the stress associated with it so that our people feel taken care of. We do what we do for real, we don't provide KPIs - because that's a corporate requirement, but we use them to Keep People Inspired, to Keep People Interested, and to Keep People Innovative. We don't follow fashion, but we do something for people in a real way and it pays off so well.

Our people increase our competitive advantage, optimize our activities and make us busy with so many great ideas and initiatives. And by this our Performance KPIs are also outstanding.  We have a great Management Team, where we are also very gender, age and personality balanced: 4 Women +  4 Men, isn’t it great?

Katarzyna: We both have great pleasure and satisfaction in working for such organization, and I am more than sure that most of our employees feel the same way.

volvo pink

This is all very inspiring - thank you both!

Ovell Barbee is a highly accomplished, visionary Human Resources Executive who has been a client, a subject matter expert, and a friend of our firm for over 20 years.

He has a Masters of Human Resources from Michigan State University and has been recognized as a Top-50 HR Professional, Top-100 Chief Diversity Officer and Most Influential Minority.

We wanted to offer our congratulations on the successful publication of his first book, The Big House: A Human-Centered & Progressive Approach to DEI and Positive Workforce Engagement. It became a #1 Amazon bestseller of new releases.

When we asked Ovell about the impetus behind writing this book, he said, "Most companies invest money, time and energy in diversity equity and inclusion without creating and cultivating a human-centered environment.

"This How To book delivers essential advice to company leaders on how to stop the silence, have difficult conversations addressing race and diversity and learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable to achieve an environment where everyone can flourish."

We know that many companies fail when trying to create and cultivate an environment that truly embraces diversity and its benefits .

We caught up with Nevena Nikolova, from our office in Sofia, who is a prize-winning film maker and a hugely successful head-hunter. Clearly there are parallels between casting the lead and supporting roles for a film and identifying the best possible hires for a corporate client.

Both professions are all about recognizing talent and making the best use of it, making the talent really shine to its fullest potential.  The job of a Head-hunter and Management Consultant helps develop transferable skills like influential communication (capacity to convince and inspire) as well project management capability that are very useful for me as a filmmaker.

On the other hand the Directing boosts my creativity, helps me build out-of-the box solutions and support clients and candidates in finding new perspectives and changing their way of thinking or acting. What I experience is a kind of a cross-pollination between the two professions and I find it very enriching. I discover a certain Work-Art balance as the one activity is helping me recover from the other and vice-versa.

My artistic journey started as an actress with stage performances of various fringe shows, but I felt I needed more so the second step was a smooth transition to stage directing and afterwards I jumped into film directing. 

My mind naturally produces multiple ideas, images, stories, small pieces of the universe, so writing and directing a movie is a way to share my internal world with thousands of people all over the globe. To feel 'seen' from inside, to experience other people`s reactions, to be able to touch so many souls and minds - this is really powerful and exciting; it makes me feel complete and fulfilled.

Movie Directing is great for upgrading my own leadership skills and style. It requires vision, determination and capacity to balance, align and synchronize the ideas and the input of very diverse professionals, who are often quite opinionated, very emotional and expressive - sometimes ego-driven. When you are an aspiring director, you are full of doubts and it is a huge challenge to keep your authenticity and allow yourself to show vulnerability while nurturing the faith in the project among the crew members. What I discovered while film-making is that it is not necessary to have all the answers and the full picture in order to lead the team, it is enough to be just a couple of steps in front of them.

My first movie MORNING won multiple awards for Best Debut, Best Student Short, Best Silent Film, Best Dance (dedicated to Dance) Film, Best choreography in a Short film, Best actor, Best aspiring filmmaker etc. from international festivals in Cannes, Italy, UK, Mexico, Israel, Chile among others.

The second movie ROOFTOP was recognized for Best Dark comedy, Best lead actor, Best young actress, Best female director ect. Couple of months ago the movie won the Best Independent Short Film award in Silk Road Film Festival Cannes.

Some of my favourite directors are Yorgos Lanthimos, Christopher Nolan, Lars von Trier, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodovar, Daren Aronofsky, Krzusztof Kieslowski, Jane Campion, Wong Kar-Wai and many others. All of them have inspired my love of cinema but I`m still searching for my very own style as a director.

My business understanding and thinking was influenced by David Ogilvy, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Ray Dalio, Patric Lencioni, and Simon Sinek.

Lovely question! For the younger me I would cast Anna Tayor Joy and Juliette Binoche would be my first choice for the middle aged me.

On this first anniversary of the Ukrainian war, doubtless we will all pause to reflect on the suffering experienced by the people of Ukraine.

Friisberg, as a firm and a multinational family, stands shoulder to shoulder with Elena, our Partner and her team in the Kyiv office.

She has bravely withstood all that Russia can throw at her, and her family.

These are Elena's thoughts, on this day, after 12 months at war:

 

A year has passed since that terrible moment when I woke up to the sounds of explosions. But the most difficult task, as it turned out, was to wake up my relatives and say the word, 'War'.

Parts of Kyiv look normal on the surface, but daily we hear air raid sirens. There are now few children in the city because so many have been displaced with their mothers or grandparents living elsewhere in Ukraine, or outside the country. The toll of the human suffering has been staggering – thousands have been killed and more than 8 million Ukrainians have left.

People in Ukraine say that your life is divided into 'before' and 'after’ - and it is true.

We have all changed during this year, but we are not broken and we believe in Victory. It keeps us going.

Ukraine will continue to defend the unarguable fact that it belongs within Europe. We uphold the values, rights and freedoms that underpin Western civilization.

 

One day the war will be over.

The Friisberg family looks forward to holding a Partner Conference in what will again be a free Kyiv, as capital of a sovereign Ukraine.

In 2023 Friisberg will continue to expand, globally.

We were genuinely delighted to open an office in Ukraine at the end of 2022 and two new offices in the UAE this month, We know that we are fortunate to have strong, compassionate, innovative leaders who genuinely care about our people, our clients and the overall wellbeing of Friisberg.

Good things happen when you surround yourself with positive people.

We practise what we preach.

We understand that good leaders promote a sense of trust and confidence and when it comes to being happy at work – and enjoying work is very important. We strive to maintain Friisberg as a close family of exceptional people who work hard, play hard and are at the very top of their professions.

We understand that good leaders promote a safe and collaborative environment for joint problem solving; they generate innovation, a sense of achievement, and ultimately higher levels of satisfaction.

We understand that our clients will continue to battle the War for Talent – and there is an increasing demand for the right kind of talent. For leaders, this means not only targeting, nurturing, and advancing top talent within their own organisation, but partnering with firms like Friisberg to find the right people from elsewhere.

Being a global firm, we appreciate that having an inherently diverse workforce can be an excellent source of innovation. All of our people cherish difference, embrace disruption, and foster a speak-up culture so we know we are far more likely both to retain a broader spectrum of top talent. We can therefore better understand the needs of our clients who, like us, consistently look to drive growth and innovation.

2023 will be a great year for Friisberg, and a great year for our clients, because we will continue focusing on our key value: our People.

Our 117th Partner Conference was held in Copenhagen.

Our own Diversity & Inclusion gives us a huge and sustainable advantage over our competitors. Gender parity is vital to any workplace - not just because it’s a laudable goal; it simply makes bottom-line business sense.

On Friday morning we held a Diversity Debate:

The event started with some inspiring introductions from our guests:

who shared their thoughts, knowledge, and experiences regarding diversity throughout their own careers and at CXO and Board level.

This led on to a larger group discussion where we debated how Friisberg & Partners must continue to promote increased gender diversity for our clients.

What are the barriers to increased gender diversity in 2022?

How are we profiling FPI as a company to women?

How can we help to remove the barriers which deter women from applying for the top jobs?

How do we ensure that our clients become better at attracting female talent?

We understand that our diversity is integral to success.

Gender diversity helps us to attract and retain talented women. No company can afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and expect to be competitive in the global economy.

We know that only the highest-performing teams, those with different opinions, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds will ultimately succeed in the global marketplace. We encourage different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, which enables better problem solving, leading to superior performance.

We make sure it enables us to understand the unique needs of our clients and find innovative ways of addressing those needs.

All our teams have a diversity of genders, as well as backgrounds and ethnicities. But we know that hiring women, transgender, or nonbinary people into our workplace isn’t enough. – we empower our teams to not only reach, but exceed their full potential.

We make gender balance our business – and we want to make it everyone else’s business too.

Friisberg's Autumn 2022

117th International Conference

This week our October conference is being held in Copenhagen and our Danish colleagues are looking forward to welcoming us to their beautiful city.

As ever, our conference will feature a rich programme of keynotes, presentations, workshops and panel discussions which will provide critical content to help our consultants, and the clients they serve, thrive.

Friisberg has a special and constant focus on Diversity and this conference will focus on gender diversity at CXO level.

We have invited several successful leaders to join us and share their opinions on this important topic.

We know that successful organisations must be prepared to adapt and evolve as the world around us changes. However, the impact of social crisis and economic dislocation also calls on us to reflect on how we work, what we believe, and what matters most.

We are looking forward to meeting old friends, making new friends and all being together again.

In CEE, leaders tend to overestimate how well their company is doing in terms of gender issues.

With so many diversity and inclusion activities underway it is easy to assume that progress is being made. Then why are there so few women in executive positions?

The new McKinsey report “Win-win: How empowering women can benefit Central and Eastern Europe” examines the potential benefits of greater gender equality for businesses and society, identifies barriers to progress, and suggests actions that could unlock as much as €146 billion in annual GDP by 2030—an 8 % increase over a business-as-usual scenario.

In the seven CEE countries analysed (Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine):

To find out why there are so few women in executive positions in CEE, the survey of approximately 3,000 employees in the region uncovered the following insights:

Ambition is not a challenge: Women are as ambitious as men, but they perceive more barriers to promotion. Men and women showed almost the same level of interest in getting promoted (57 % of women versus 56 % of men). However, 28 % of women said that their gender made it harder for them to secure a raise or a promotion.

Women blame themselves; men blame others: Women who thought they were unlikely to make it to the top said that it was because they lacked the necessary skills (43 %) or the right leadership style (38 %), or that promotions to top executive positions were not based on merit (33 %). A far smaller proportion of men said that they lacked the necessary skills for the job (8 % less than for women), and a much larger share said that it was because promotions were not based on merit (10 % more than for women). In other words, women are more likely to blame their own shortcomings for their failure to become executives, while men are more likely to blame the shortcomings of their company.

Unpaid work is a major barrier: Nearly 40% women provide daily unpaid care work (looking after children, the elderly, or people with disabilities). This is twice as many as men. Essentially, female employees are still working a “double shift”.

The COVID-19 crisis has created additional burdens on women: The increased burden has fallen disproportionately on women. 54% of women with children under the age of ten said the pandemic has made them more likely to consider scaling back on their paid work, compared to only 25 % of men.

Correcting this imbalance would tremendously benefit not only women in their careers and personal lives, it could have a potentially transformative effect on the economies of CEE.

Despite abundant evidence that gender equality in leadership is good for business, for an overwhelming majority of organizations advancing women into leadership roles is not a formal business priority.

One of the major and most complex challenges is to shift the underlying cultural factors. The McKinsey research highlights the need of the leaders of companies and public institutions to be visibly engaged in efforts to reduce the gender imbalance, rather than delegating this work to Diversity Officers.

But including men (holding 98% of CEO positions in CEE) in diversity efforts is not as simple as inviting them to a gender-equity event. Worldwide data from BCG shows that 96 % of companies with men actively involved in gender diversity initiatives report progress at all levels, compared to only 30 % of companies without men engaged. It seems intuitive that involving men would lead to greater results. Yet part of the challenge of getting men to join the efforts, according to BCG data, is that they tend to overestimate how well their company is doing in terms of gender issues.

To remove the barriers that hold women back at work, we have to acknowledge that the barriers exist. We need to realise that gender equality is not a “women  issue”, it is a “leadership issue”.

The last thing that women need is men “rescuing” them or assuming the role of the workplace knight in shining armor.

Because men are in so many leadership roles, they have an enormous opportunity to accelerate progress. Men's voices are critical because of, not in spite of, their gender. When men speak up against gender disparities, they not only become visible as allies, they also raise awareness and acceptance about gender inequity as a shared problem, not a special interest.

Sources:

How important are sponsors in the careers of women?

And are female managers committed supporters of women?

In my conversations with female managers, I like to ask the women whether they have actually received support over the course of their careers. Many confirm this by saying that it couldn't be any other way: you need a manager who recognises your potential and pushes you forward, or delegates new tasks and ultimately promotes. And in every new team and / or department it is important to make contacts again and ideally find sponsors. In the best case, it is possible to establish a good relationship with board members and managing directors, who are also successfully following their path and promoting and developing potential. Leadership programs for young talents also help to gain visibility, but such programs are not available everywhere.

Very few women say they made it without a sponsor. They also recognise that further development, with support, would have meant fewer detours and would have been faster. In most cases the sponsors are male. This may be due to the fact that there are fewer women than men in management.

But the question also arises, to what extent do women actually support other women?

In the interviews I have experienced two “extremes”:

On the one hand, there are women for whom, the quota is (unfortunately) a necessary intervention by the legislature in order to correct past mistakes. It is very important to them to support other talented women and to be available to them as mentors - even keeping lists of potential female executives to promote.

Then there are women who do not even want to be associated with the “gender issue”. They neither want to be a quota woman, nor do they want to attract attention through the special promotion of female executives. They are of the opinion that only experience and knowledge should be deciding factors regarding promotion.

Does that coincide with your observations?

How do “quota women” feel in companies? Do we see legislative intervention as an opportunity for all women to bring change in the male-dominated boardrooms?

Meltem Ay, Principal
Frankfurt

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