Alex Dogliotti, Marna van der Merwe, Dieter Veldsman, Skyler Shah, Mitch Sulivan, Eldar Banjica, Nemanja Đerković, Konstantin Mitgutsch, Nelica Bogunović, Melina Knezević, Danijela Đurić, Vladimir Božović, dr Sara Kuburić, Ana Pegan, Maja Pantić, Marija Mikić, Slađana Kalezić, Danijela Petović
CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS
Katarina Đorđević, Jovana Jakovljević, Marija Todorović, Jovana Kostadinović, Irina Lukić, Jelena Stanić, Nemanja Milenković, Andrija Vasić, Bojan Cakić
We’ve invested in tech. We’ve bought the platforms. We’ve optimized the workflows. And yet—many organizations are still stuck.
Why?
Because transformation doesn’t fail for lack of tools. It fails when people are not ready to use them. In this new world of endless disruption, one truth is becoming impossible to ignore: technology is only as powerful as the mindset behind it. And no software can replace the human willingness to change, adapt, and grow.
We’re not just dealing with new tools—we’re dealing with new rules. Constant uncertainty. Continuous crises. Unpredictable markets. These are not temporary conditions. They’re the new normal. And surviving this reality demands more than digital upgrades. It demands a mindset shift.
That’s where HR steps in—not as a support function, but as a transformation driver. We’re here to help people move from fear to curiosity. From resistance to resilience. From following processes to challenging them. In every team, in every company, HR is uniquely positioned to ignite the only kind of revolution that lasts: the one that starts inside people.
We must teach not just systems, but mindsets. Mindsets that embrace ambiguity. That spark innovation. That create cultures where people are not just ready for change—but driving it.
To support this shift, we’ve created Disrupt Mindset, powered by HR World—a platform of workshops, tools, and conversations that awaken teams, challenge assumptions, and equip organizations with the courage to rethink everything. It’s not just a methodology—it’s a movement.
And in the pages ahead, we’ll tell you more about it. Because when the mindset shifts, everything can. Let’s begin.
Nevena Stanisavljević Editor-in-Chief
06 AI GREAT AI IS ONLY ABOUT GREAT INPUT
ALEX DOGLIOTTI, CHRO AND COO, MINDVALLEY
13 AI
BRIDGING THE AI SKILLS GAP: HOW HR PROFESSIONALS ARE ADAPTING
DR MARNA VAN DER MERWE, ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, DR DIETER VELDSMAN CHIEF HR SCIENTIST, AIHR
20 AI
LEADERSHIP IN THE AGE OF AI: WHY GREAT LEADERS ARE MORE ESSENTIAL THAN EVER SKYLER SHAH, CEO AND FOUNDER, KIND.
23
GENPULSE WHAT IS ‘BOOMERANG HIRING’ AND HOW CAN IT HELP YOU FILL JOBS? MITCH SULIVAN, ENTREPRENEUR, COPYWRITING FOR RECRUITERS
26 BUSINESS DECISION MAKING HR NEMANJA ĐERKOVIĆ, PARTNER, GROWIUS
38
BUSINESS HR WEEK: THE ROLE OF GENERATIVE AI IN SHAPING THE FUTURE OF WORK
MAJA PANTIĆ, DEAN OF COMPUTING, NEOM UNIVERSITY
MARIJA MIKIĆ, VP OF AI FOUNDATIONS, CRUISE MICHAEL MANDIĆ, FOUNDING PARTNER, ANDERSON WISE
48 AI
32 INTERVIEW
ELDAR BANJICA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MANPOWER SEE
35 MODERN HR THE STATE OF PLAY IN TIMES OF CRISIS DR. KONSTANTIN MITGUTSCH, CEO & FOUNDER, PLAYFUL SOLUTIONS
CHATBOTS VS TRADITIONAL PSYCHOMETRICS: A NEW ERA IN HIRING DANILO ĐUKANOVIĆ, CEO, RECREWTY DARIO KRPAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
50 ARE NON-DESK EMPLOYEES TUNED IN? – NEW PERSPECTIVES ON INNOVATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION BLUE COLIBRI
52
LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATION
BUILDING BRIDGES IN THE ORGANIZATION THROUGH CONFLICT MANAGEMENT DANIJELA ĐURIĆ, OWNER, GROWTH CODE
56
AI
AI IN HIRING: BEYOND HYPE, FEAR, AND FAILURE VLADIMIR BOŽOVIĆ, CEO, ZENHIRE
70 TRENDS HOW FAMILYFRIENDLY POLICIES IN THE WORKPLACE CONTRIBUTE TO EMPLOYEES, CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH VESNA SAVIĆ ĐUKIĆ, UNICEF
74
HR COMMUNITY GENERALI - THE MOST INCLUSIVE EMPLOYER GENERALI
59
HR HOW HR TRANSFORMED OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS ALEKSANDAR ZEMUNIĆ, MANAGING PARTNER, SELECTIO
78
LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIO THE ART AND SCIENCE OF UNCOVERING LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL NELICA BOGUNOVIĆ, MELINA KNEŽEVIĆ TACKTMI, GIGROUP HOLDING COMPANY
84
LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATION
THE ART OF GIVING: 5 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT LEADERSHIP DR SARA KUBURIĆ, EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPIST, MILLENIAL THERAPIST
91 L&D FROM TRADITIONAL TO DIGITAL THE POWER OF AUTOMATED TRAINING ANA PEGAN, PRODUCT MANAGER, WAY2LRN
95 TRENDS
86
HR COMMUNITY
UNITED IN PURPOSE: HOW CKB BUILDS A CULTURE OF BELONGING ACROSS GENERATIONS SLAĐANA KALEZIĆ, DIRECTOR OF HR DEPARTMENT DANIJELA PETOVIĆ, TEAM LEADER FOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, CKB
GENERATION Z: DOES IT BRING A REAL CHANGE TO THE BUSINESS WORLD? IVANA BRKLJAČA, FOUNDER AND TRAINER, IB MANAGEMENT
62
TRENDS
HR TRENDS TODAY: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF WORK SAP SUCCESSFACTORS
89
BUILD YOUR TEAM, FUEL SUCCESS JELENA ŠĆEKIĆ, INSTORE
102 COLUMN BEYOND THE MOTHERHOOD PENALTY: SHARING THE COST OF CARE
DANICA RISTIĆ, HR CONSULTANT, ZDRAVA KARIJERA
Great
Alex Dogliotti, CHRO and COO, Mindvalley
is Only About Great Input
This
brings us to a key point: the focus in the AI
era moved beyond crafting the best output—that’s the easy part because AI is exceptionally good at that.
Instead, the real challenge lies in providing the best input. It’s about understanding the problem
you’re trying to solve,
organizing your data effectively, and asking the right questions in the right way. It’s a fundamental shift in thinking that requires us to approach AI as a partner, not a tool.
Let’s start with a simple question: If you had the most powerful AI at your fingertips, what would you envision it doing? Most people immediately think of the output—predicting the stock market, writing the next bestseller, or revolutionizing a business strategy. But here’s the catch: no matter how advanced the AI is, its output is only a mirror of the input you provide. Rarely do we consider that the true power of AI lies not in what it produces, but in what it’s given to work with.
AI operates on a principle as old as computing itself: garbage in, garbage out. If you give vague instructions, biased data, or poorly framed problems, the output will be flawed, no matter how sophisticated the system is. This is, simply, a reflection of how we, as humans, collaborate with machines. Remember this: in the AI era, it’s less about what the machine can do, and more about how we work with it to ensure the best results.
Take a well-known example: AI in hiring. In 2018, Amazon developed an AI-driven recruitment tool to streamline its hiring process. However, the company discovered that the system exhibited a bias against female candidates. This bias arose because the AI was trained on resumes submitted over a decade, during which the tech industry was predominantly male. Consequently, the AI learned to favor male applicants and penalized resumes that included terms like “women’s,” such as “women’s chess club captain.” Recognizing this issue, Amazon discontinued the use
of the tool to prevent perpetuating gender discrimination in its hiring practices. Make no mistake though. This wasn’t a failure of the AI itself—it was a failure in the input
Now compare that to the use of AI in personalized medicine
In healthcare, AI systems analyze vast datasets of patient records to identify potential treatments tailored to an individual’s unique genetic makeup and medical history. Here, the inputs are meticulously curated: clean, representative data from diverse populations. As a result, the AI can produce life-saving insights that might otherwise have been missed. The difference? The quality and thoughtfulness of the input.
This brings us to a key point: the focus in the AI era moved beyond crafting the best output—that’s the easy part because AI is exceptionally good at that. Instead, the real challenge lies in providing the best input. It’s about understanding the problem
AI-ready thinking builds on the foundation of computational thinking but adds two critical pillars that reflect the realities of working with AI systems: Data Literacy and Partnership with AI Tools.
Employees are racing ahead, experimenting with AI in their day-to-day work, but they’re doing so in isolation. Without organizational support, their efforts risk being siloed, fragmented, and ultimately less impactful
you’re trying to solve, organizing your data effectively, and asking the right questions in the right way. It’s a fundamental shift in thinking that requires us to approach AI as a partner, not a tool. And here’s where organizations are falling behind. While individuals within companies are eagerly adopting AI tools— whether automating repetitive tasks, generating reports, or using chatbots to streamline workflows—organizations as a whole are slower to integrate AI into their DNA. Why? Because many companies still see AI as a technical upgrade rather than a cultural and structural transformation. They underestimate the importance of input and overestimate the ease of achieving great output.
This lag has serious implications. Employees are racing ahead, experimenting with AI in their day-to-day work, but they’re doing so in isolation. Without organizational support, their efforts risk being siloed, fragmented, and ultimately less impactful. Meanwhile, companies that fail to prioritize input quality—whether by investing in data infrastructure, training employees to frame problems effectively, or fostering collaboration between teams and AI—will struggle to compete in a world where AI-driven insights increasingly define success.
So, what does this mean for the future of work? It means we need to stop obsessing over what AI can do for us and start focusing on what we can do for AI. Inputs are everything. They determine whether AI becomes a force for innovation or a tool that amplifies our existing flaws.
FUTURE-PROOFING EMPLOYEES WITH AI-READY THINKING
If input is the key to unlocking AI’s potential, the next question is: Who provides those inputs? This is where the spotlight shifts to people—specifically, to equipping them with the skills they need to work effectively with AI. In other words, adopting AI tools is the easy part, but preparing employees to partner with them is a different ball game.
Let’s call it ‘ AI Thinking' the framework is designed to futureproof employees in an AI-driven world. Understanding AI thinking helps us to look back at where this journey started: with computational thinking . Computational thinking became popular as a way to teach people how to work with computers. It focused on four key pillars:
• Decomposition: Breaking down complex problems into manageable pieces.
• Pattern Recognition: Identifying trends and similarities to simplify problem-solving.
• Abstraction: Filtering out irrelevant details to focus on the core issue.
• Algorithmic Thinking: Designing step-by-step instructions to solve a problem.
These skills were groundbreaking for their time, and they remain essential today. They taught us how to think in ways computers could understand. But the AI era demands more. Traditional computational thinking was about creating tools and systems for predefined tasks. Now, with AI, we’re not just building tools; we’re partnering with them (we are, quite literally, talking to them!).
AI-ready thinking builds on the foundation of computational thinking but adds two critical pillars that reflect the realities of working with AI systems: Data Literacy and Partnership with AI Tools.
Data Literacy: In a nutshell, data is the lifeblood of decisionmaking. It’s what powers machine learning algorithms and enables AI systems to generate insights. If the data is flawed, so are the results. Employees across every department—not just IT or data teams—need to understand what makes data clean, unbiased, and actionable.
For example, imagine an HR team using AI to analyze employee performance data. Without an understanding of data quality, they might inadvertently feed the system incomplete or skewed datasets, leading to recommendations that are unfair or ineffective. Data literacy empowers employees to evaluate the inputs they provide, ensuring that AI systems deliver outputs that are both accurate and meaningful.
Collaboration with AI Tools: Here’s where evolution truly comes into play. Traditional computational thinking was about telling computers what to do. AI Thinking, on the other hand, is about partnering with AI systems to achieve better outcomes. It’s an active collaboration. Employees need to understand the capabilities and limitations of AI tools, knowing when to trust their recommendations and when to intervene with human judgment.
Imagine a marketing team using AI to predict customer behavior. The AI might identify trends and recommend strategies, but it’s up to the team to interpret those recommendations, refine the inputs, and adapt the outputs to fit the brand’s voice and goals. This partnership between human intuition and machine intelligence is where the magic happens. AI becomes a collaborator, amplifying human creativity and decision-making.
When you combine these two new pillars—Data Literacy and Collaboration with AI Tools—with the traditional pillars of computational thinking, you get a powerful framework for the modern workforce. AI Thinking is about understanding that AI is here to work with us.
HOW COMPANIES CAN FUTURE-PROOF THEIR WORKFORCE
So, how does a company go beyond understanding the importance of AI Thinking to embedding it into its workforce? It starts with deliberate, actionable steps that transform how employees approach AI, ensuring they have the skills and mindset to thrive in an AI-driven world.
First, prioritize interdisciplinary skills at the intersection of AI and business. In other words, companies should focus on developing core competencies that empower employees to interact effectively with AI systems. A strong foundational training program could include:
• Data Literacy: Teaching employees to recognize clean, unbiased, and representative data and understand why data quality is critical for AI outputs.
• Problem Framing: Helping teams break down business challenges into precise, actionable questions that AI can tackle effectively.
• B ias and Ethics Awareness: Ensuring employees understand how to identify and mitigate bias in AI systems to promote fairness and accountability.
• AI Collaboration Skills: E quipping employees with the knowledge to work alongside AI tools, refining inputs, and interpreting outputs.
• A daptability and Experimentation: Building a culture of curiosity and encouraging employees to test and explore how AI can enhance their roles.
These programs don’t need to be overly technical. Instead, they should focus on practical applications tailored to specific roles, ensuring relevance and engagement across departments.
This
is a problem of commitment. It’s easy to talk about adopting AI, but are organizations willing to challenge their assumptions, overhaul their training programs, and rethink how humans and machines work together? That’s the real question. The truth is, AI is transforming people from simple users (of tools) to collaborators.
Second, embed AI Thinking into your company’s culture. Leadership plays a critical role here. Executives and managers must demonstrate curiosity, adaptability, and openness to AI-driven innovation. When leaders champion AI as a collaborative tool, employees are more likely to view it as an ally rather than a threat. This cultural shift requires consistent messaging, opportunities for experimentation, and a clear vision of how AI integrates into the company’s goals. Finally, encourage cross-functional collaboration and hands-on experimentation. AI works best when teams with different perspectives and expertise come together. Companies can create collaborative spaces where employees from marketing, HR, finance, and operations work on shared AI initiatives. By experimenting with AI tools and refining their inputs, employees not only develop technical skills but also learn to think creatively about how AI can transform their workflows.
CLOSING THE GAP—A CHALLENGE TO ORGANIZATIONS
A survey by IBM’s 2023 AI Adoption Index found that 42% of enterprise-scale companies had adopted AI early on, yet 40% were still exploring or experimenting with it. Among early adopters, 59% are accelerating their AI use or investment, indicating a proactive approach at the individual level. However, the remaining 40% lag behind, often due to challenges such as limited AI skills, data complexity, and ethical concerns.
Similarly, a report by the Boston Consulting Group revealed that 74% of companies struggle to achieve and scale value from AI initiatives. The study attributes approximately 70% of these
challenges to people- and process-related issues, including change management and workflow optimization, rather than technological hurdles.
So, let’s be blunt: most organizations are not ready for the AI era yet. Employees are already ahead, adopting AI tools to optimize their work, streamline processes, and enhance decision-making. But companies? They’re lagging. And the gap between individual experimentation and organizational integration is widening every day.
Why? Because most companies are stuck in an outdated mindset. They view AI as a shiny new tool rather than a transformative force that demands fundamental human and structural change. They underestimate what it takes to make AI work—failing to invest in the right skills, workflows, and cultural shifts that enable AI to reach its full potential.
This is a problem of commitment. It’s easy to talk about adopting AI, but are organizations willing to challenge their assumptions, overhaul their training programs, and
Employees are racing ahead, experimenting with AI in their day-to-day work, but they’re doing so in isolation. Without organizational support, their efforts risk being siloed, fragmented, and ultimately less impactful.
rethink how humans and machines work together? That’s the real question. The truth is, AI is transforming people from simple users (of tools) to collaborators.
The solution starts with a radical shift in priorities. Companies must focus less on having AI and more on adopting AI Thinking. This means:
• Investing in comprehensive training programs that embed AI Thinking across the organization.
• Redesigning workflows to integrate AI effectively, ensuring that humans and AI complement each other.
• Fostering a culture of adaptability, experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration, where employees are encouraged to explore how AI can amplify their work.
The organizations that embrace these changes will redefine their industries, not because they have the best AI tools, but because they have the best-prepared people. Meanwhile, those who cling to old ways of thinking will be left behind, outpaced by their inability to use technology effectively.
BRIDGING THE AI SKILLS GAP IN HR WHY ARE WE NOT THERE YET?
Dr Marna van der Merwe, Organizational Psychologist, AIHR • Dr Dieter Veldsman, Chief HR scientist, AIHR
Artificial Intelligence has been hailed as the silver bullet that will forever change HR, transforming how we work and the value we deliver. The promise of increased productivity, access to new capabilities, and improved quality led many to believe that AI is the key to a new era for HR—one that is more personalized, efficient, and strategically impactful.
But this transformation has yet to materialize. HR professionals have been slow to adopt AI tools, leaving much of its potential untapped.
This article explores the underlying reasons for this reluctance, the unspoken challenges hindering AI adoption, and guidance for HR on how to bridge the gap.
But this transformation has yet to materialize. HR professionals have been slow to adopt AI tools, leaving much of its potential untapped.
This article explores the underlying reasons for this reluctance, the unspoken challenges hindering AI adoption, and guidance for HR on how to bridge the gap.
FOUR INFLUENCING FACTORS THAT SHAPE AI ADOPTION
AIHR’s research shows four key factors that influence AI adoption in HR These factors determine how effectively HR professionals incorporate AI into their work. In turn, it affects the overall AI capability of HR:
1. SKILLS, COMPETENCE AND CONFIDENCE
The ability of HR professionals to adopt and apply AI is directly influenced by their skills and confidence in using technology. Research done by AIHR with over 25,000 HR professionals highlights two critical gaps in their skill sets: data literacy and digital agility. These deficiencies limit their ability to leverage AI effectively and hinder their capacity to implement technology-driven,
evidence-based solutions. Without confidence and competence in these areas, HR professionals struggle to execute through technology and unlock AI’s full potential.
2. INTEGRATION INTO HR PROCESSES
For AI to drive meaningful adoption in HR, it must be embedded into existing workflows at multiple levels. While AI can be a powerful companion for
enhancing personal productivity, its true potential lies in deeper integration across HR practices and processes. 61% of HR professionals report minimal AI integration in their daily workflows. Instead, AI use remains primarily confined to personal productivity tasks such as generating content, summarizing data, and drafting communications. Without systemic integration, AI’s impact on HR remains limited.
3. EXPOSURE TO AI
The extent of direct experience HR professionals have with AI tools within their roles and teams significantly influences adoption. HR teams that engage with AI firsthand are more likely to integrate it effectively into strategic and operational functions. However, 38% of HR professionals learn about AI through self-exploration, which can limit exposure to best practices, peer learning, and broader use cases. Without structured learning or collaborative insights, many fail to fully grasp AI’s potential and application across HR functions.
4. PERCEPTION OF AI
HR practitioners’ perception of AI—as either an enabler or a threat—plays a crucial role in adoption. Organizations that cultivate a positive, supportive AI culture are far more likely to achieve successful integration. However, many HR professionals still mistakenly believe that AI will fully replace HR, leading to fears of diminished career opportunities and reluctance to engage with the technology. Overcoming these misconceptions is key to fostering AI adoption and unlocking its true potential in HR.
UNDERSTANDING HR’S AI ADOPTION PERSONAS
These influencing factors shape how HR professionals approach AI adoption, leading to the emergence of four distinct AI adoption personas . To successfully bridge the skills gap and drive AI integration, organizations must move away from a one-size-fits-all approach and develop targeted AI adoption strategies for each persona. Each AI adoption persona has its perceptions and behaviors, requiring a tailored approach to AI education, exposure, and confidence-building. Across all four personas, the need for upskilling remains to bridge the gap in
THE RELUCTANT USER
What they do:
• Works in an environment where AI is present but engages with it minimally.
• Faces adoption challenges due to a lack of understanding, budget constraints, or integration difficulties.
• Learns through self-exploration or relies on IT/tech teams for AI guidance.
THE ADOPTION CHAMPION
What they do:
• Actively integrates AI across multiple HR functions, reporting efficiency gains and improved decision-making.
• Works in AI-supportive environments with investment in training and tools.
• Views AI as a strategic enabler and engages in formal learning through courses, vendor training, and collaboration with tech teams.
THE SKEPTICAL AVOIDER
What they do:
• Does not actively use AI or integrate it into HR processes.
• Views AI as unnecessary or unhelpful.
• Lacks motivation to develop AI-related skills and may hold negative or indifferent attitudes toward AI in HR.
THE ACTIVE EXPLORER
What they do:
• Uses AI for specific tasks like content creation, research, and automation.
• Recognizes AI’s benefits but lacks structured opportunities to experiment.
• Operates in an environment with limited AI investment and primarily learns through self-driven exploration.
What they need:
• Education on the benefits of AI
• Low-risk application opportunities in processes that the individuals are confident in already
What they need:
• Provide opportunities to explore new use cases
• Act as a champion and coach to other colleagues
• Create opportunities to share success stories
What they need:
• Educate on the potential of AI use, aligned to specific pain points the individual experiences
• Incentivize use of AI
What they need:
• Create specific use case exploration areas where these individuals can lead
• Involve them in crafting an AI strategy and roadmap for the business
• Rotate them into other areas to learn from where AI has already been adopted successfully
knowledge and skills related to data, digital, and AI. However, in our work with clients, we have seen that a more targeted and intentional approach is required to consider the personas above and allow for a more personalized upskilling strategy.
A TARGETED APPROACH TO AI ADOPTION
Not all HR professionals require the same skills to use and apply AI. Many organizations make the mistake of assuming that everyone in HR requires the same level of proficiency in AI. Context should guide the type of skills and proficiency required .
BASE SKILLS FOR GENERAL USERS
Most HR professionals require foundational skills for use within their roles. They need a basic understanding
However, many HR professionals still mistakenly believe that AI will fully replace HR, leading to fears of diminished career opportunities and reluctance to engage with the technology. Overcoming these misconceptions is key to fostering AI adoption and unlocking its true potential in HR.
of how they can leverage AI, confidence in where and how to apply AI safely, and the ability to use essential AI tools. Some of the key skills required are:
• AI fundamentals and functionality to understand the core principles of AI and their applications in business and HR.
• Ethical and responsible AI usage to ensure AI is used transparently, fairly, and responsibly.
• Basic data literacy to support informed decision-making.
• Prompt design for effective AI interaction.
• Adaptability, curiosity, and problem-solving to cultivate a mindset that embraces change, explores possibilities, and applies critical thinking.
TECHNICAL SKILLS FOR BUILDERS AND MAINTAINERS
These HR professionals typically have roles that build, configure, manage, and optimize AI applications within HR functions, such as HR technology specialists, HRIS analysts, and some HR Center of Excellence functions. These roles require more specialized skills, including:
• Machine learning fundamentals to grasp how AI learns and improves over time.
• Business analysis and AI integration to align AI solutions with strategic goals to drive efficiency and innovation.
• Data management to ensure accuracy, accessibility, and compliance for AI-driven decision-making.
• Programming and system optimization to develop, refine, and optimize AI systems.
• Communication and stakeholder collaboration to translate AI concepts for diverse audiences.
ADVANCED SKILLS FOR DEVELOPERS AND INNOVATORS
The last category encompasses a small percentage of professionals specializing in AI research, development, and security. These roles are at the forefront of AI advancements, developing proprietary models, and ensuring ethical and legal compliance. Although not applicable to most HR roles, these advanced skills are essential for HR professionals developing HR technologies. These skills include advanced AI model development, cybersecurity in AI-driven HR applications, and analytical and critical thinking applied to complex problemsolving for AI optimization. This also includes identifying inefficiencies, troubleshooting AI system errors, and enhancing AI performance through continuous refinement and innovative solutions.
GETTING STARTED
We propose a four-pronged approach to HR upskilling, addressing different levels of expertise while balancing the needs of each persona, the required skills for their role, and the integration of AI into daily work. This approach ensures HR professionals understand AI conceptually and develop the confidence to apply it effectively in their workflows.
1. EDUCATE: Before HR professionals can effectively use AI, they need a strong foundational understanding of what AI is, what it can do, and how it applies to HR. Build foundational AI knowledge, including its capabilities, risks, and limitations, through structured learning and real-world exposure.
To successfully bridge the skills gap and drive AI integration, organizations must move away from a one-size-fitsall approach and develop targeted AI adoption strategies for each persona.
2. EQUIP: Provide AI tools, guidelines, and structured opportunities to experiment in a safe, supportive environment. This phase focuses on practical application in a low-risk, supportive environment.
3. EXPOSE: Gradually embed AI into daily HR workflows, encouraging social learning and knowledge-sharing.
4. ELEVATE: Expand AI integration across the HR value chain, transforming HR into a strategic, AI-driven function. This means moving from isolated use cases to a systematic and scalable AI-driven HR strategy.
AI holds significant promise for HR professionals, but a one-size-fits-all approach will not drive sustainable adoption. By first understanding the different adoption personas, HR leaders can design more intentional upskilling strategies beyond skill development to foster long-term adoption and tangible value creation.
HR WORLD
COMMUNITY
LEADERSHIP IN THE AGE OF AI:
WHY GREAT LEADERS ARE MORE ESSENTIAL THAN EVER
Skyler Shah, CEO and Founder, Kind.
AI isn’t just the future—it’s right here, reshaping industries and redefining success. In this fast-paced world, powerful, impactful leadership isn’t a luxury; it’s the absolute cornerstone of thriving organisations. Now, more than ever, leaders need to step up, embracing change boldly and leading their teams through uncertainty with confidence and charisma.
1. AI CHANGES EVERYTHING—BUT LEADERSHIP DEFINES SUCCESS When global healthcare provider HealthTech implemented AI-driven diagnostic tools, efficiency surged, but morale initially plummeted. Employees felt uncertain about their roles and concerned about potential job losses. Recognising this, CEO Maya Rodriguez stepped in decisively. Through transparent communication and inspiring leadership, she reassured her team that AI was there to complement, not replace, their expertise. By personally addressing employee concerns and clearly articulating a vision where AI-enhanced human capability, Maya transformed apprehension into excitement. Under her leadership, HealthTech saw unprecedented growth, innovation flourished, and employee satisfaction soared.
2. WHAT AI CAN’T REPLICATE: THE POWER OF HUMAN LEADERSHIP
Consider the case of Alan Chen, the charismatic CEO of Innovate Corp, whose deep empathy and emotional intelligence guided his company through a complex
technological shift. When Innovate Corp introduced AI-powered customer support systems, the technical transition was smooth, but emotional disconnection threatened team cohesion. Alan proactively spent time with his employees, genuinely listening to their worries and ideas, and swiftly took action to integrate human oversight with technology. His ethical judgment and intuitive leadership fostered a culture of trust and collaboration. This blend of empathy and decisive action led to increased employee loyalty, lower turnover, and higher overall performance, proving that genuine human leadership drives success in ways AI alone cannot.
3. THE WINNING FORMULA: BALANCE TECH INNOVATION WITH HUMAN CONNECTION
At FinTrust Bank, CTO Emma Carter spearheaded the adoption of advanced AI algorithms aimed at improving customer experience. Initially met with resistance, Emma recognised the critical role human connection would play in successful adoption. Instead of dictating changes, she involved her teams in cocreating the implementation
process, combining innovation with genuine human interaction. Her approach created an environment where employees felt valued and empowered, resulting in an enthusiastic and engaged workforce. FinTrust Bank quickly became an industry benchmark for seamlessly integrating technology with personal service, illustrating perfectly that leaders who balance AI innovation with human connection build resilient, successful organisations.
4. INVESTING IN LEADERSHIP: YOUR BEST DEFENCE AGAINST UNCERTAINTY
Global logistics firm TransGlobal faced unprecedented disruption as AI reshaped its industry landscape. Recognising the need for agile and resilient leadership, CEO Mark Johnson prioritised extensive leadership training focused on digital fluency, strategic thinking, and adaptability. This proactive investment proved invaluable as his leadership team skillfully navigated disruptions, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. TransGlobal not only sustained operations during uncertain times
but also emerged stronger, more competitive, and better prepared for future disruptions. Mark’s commitment to leadership development underscored a powerful truth: investing in leadership isn’t an expense— it’s the best strategic defence against uncertainty.
CONCLUSION: The age of AI isn’t just about technology—it’s about extraordinary leadership. Powerful leaders aren’t merely navigating change; they’re leveraging it, turning disruption into opportunity. Now is the moment to elevate your leadership and inspire your organisation to achieve unprecedented success.
THIS BLEND OF EMPATHY AND DECISIVE ACTION LED TO INCREASED EMPLOYEE LOYALTY, LOWER TURNOVER, AND HIGHER OVERALL PERFORMANCE, PROVING THAT GENUINE HUMAN LEADERSHIP DRIVES SUCCESS IN WAYS AI ALONE CANNOT.
WHAT IS ‘BOOMERANG HIRING’ AND HOW CAN IT HELP YOU FILL JOBS?
MITCH SULIVAN, ENTREPRENEUR, COPYWRITING FOR RECRUITERS
Assessing which candidates are the most likely to succeed in your organisation is an onerous task. But there’s a certain category of people who are much easier to assess than the usual types of candidates that respond to your job postings or are sent to you by recruitment agencies.
They’re ex-employees – otherwise known as ‘Boomerang Hires’. Studies indicate that over 50% of people would consider working for a previous employer. Here we’ll explore the benefits and how to make it work for you.
The concept of hiring an ex-employee seems to be more popular in the US than it is in the UK. Why is open to debate and any number of cultural vagaries – but logically, there is no reason why it shouldn’t work equally well in Europe as it does in the US.
A few years back, a national survey in the US by the Workforce Institute at Kronos of more than 1,800 HR professionals, managers, and employees revealed that 75% of HR professionals and 65% of hiring managers say they are more accepting of hiring ‘boomerang’ employees than they were previously. It was this same survey that revealed that over 50% of workers would consider returning to a place they used to work. I suspect those numbers are even higher today.
The chronic staff shortages in some job disciplines and candidate frustration with recruitment practices may be driving this shift in attitude.
There can be a tendency to view anyone who leaves your organisation to join another as being disloyal – but this is a somewhat parochial view of workforce mobility in general and your employees in particular. Everyone has the right to manage their career as they see fit and to exert as much advantage from it as possible; be it more training, better pay, or simply a different challenge. But sometimes, they will make a mistake, and the grass will not always be greener somewhere else.
These people are a vital (albeit niche) candidate type for some of your future job vacancies. Naturally, you’re not going to want to re-hire someone who previously did a sub-standard job or was disruptive in some way – so a little digging
through your HR records and some judicious conversations with previous work colleagues of a potential boomerang hire will save a lot of pain later.
Here are seven benefits of re-hiring some ex-employees:
1. BETTER PERFORMANCE
When ex-employees return from having worked with one or more other companies, they bring with them new knowledge and fresher perspectives as a result of those other employment experiences. They may also have learned enough to realise that they shouldn’t have left in the first place.
2. LOWER FAILURE RATES
A boomerang candidate has one thing other candidates don’t have: their future work performance is much easier to predict. Given that their reasons for wanting to return to your organisation are valid, the failure rate of a previously top-performing employee is practically negligible. Non-valid reasons why an ex-employee would want to re-join you would include them being under the threat of redundancy, being unemployed (and therefore desperate for a job), or them wanting a new position in your company that they have no track record in doing.
3. HIGHER RETENTION RATES
Having left once, they’re probably less likely to leave again – at least not in the short term. It may also send the message to other employees that the grass isn’t always greener somewhere else and that your organisation is better than some of them have previously thought.
4.BETTER CULTURAL FIT
This one is easy, because you’re simply never going to court an ex-employee who didn’t previously get on well with the team and produce good work. They will already be familiar with your culture, the management team, and your values and should fit in seamlessly. In fact, their gratefulness may make them the ideal cultural fit.
5.THEY CAN BRING NEW THINKING
Whilst you may be proud of your own “best practice”, it’s entirely feasible that a boomerang hire will bring back with them other methods of working and methodologies that could improve your company on a much broader level than just their own job function.
6.IT’S
INEXPENSIVE
If you were to fill a vacancy that pays €50,000 with an ex-employee, that’s probably somewhere between €7-10,000 you’ll have saved in agency fees. Pound for pound, hiring an ex-employee could easily be the best hiring decision you ever made.
7.IT’S
EASY TO IMPLEMENT.
The concept of boomerang hiring is incredibly simple and any organisation of any size can do it. It’s so easy, it doesn’t even need a recruiter. Obviously, not everyone is going to be right to return to your organisation. You first have to vet carefully those that are likely to have the skills to do a particular job before approaching them, for there’s possibly nothing worse than re-hiring an ex-employee, only for them to leave again quite soon afterward – or worse, cause disruption and damage morale.
But when used well, it has the power to leverage previously overlooked talent that has a number of distinct advantages over other candidates – namely, they’re not strangers. It’s a practice that big management consultancies like Booz Allen Hamilton and McKinsey have been using for many years, and it could quite easily become another source of highly qualified candidates for those business-critical roles you may otherwise struggle to fill easily.
decision makingHR
NemanjaĐerković,Partner,Growius
Decision-making HR doesn’t waste time wrangling data but leverages automated reports to track KPIs, direct action, and foster improvements. Data literacy is part of their core skill set. They can translate the impact of their work into numbers and communicate results in monetary terms, fully aware of their influence on business outcomes and how to drive them.
And last but hardly least, they are a tech enthusiast and understand the potential of AI and Machine learning in HR, already exploring how to apply these models within the organization. Can you see yourself in this picture?
The trend of posting action figure packs of themselves has taken the world of social media by storm. That inspired me to start this text with a similar idea—what would the action figure of a decision-making HR professional look like? Or in other words, what competencies define decisionoriented HR today?
It’s someone who presents projects, ideas, and actions in a structured way, demonstrating both business acumen and strong quantification skills. Someone who speaks straightforwardly, uses measurable terms, and anticipates key questions before they’re asked.
Decision-making HR doesn’t waste time wrangling data but leverages automated reports to track KPIs, direct action, and foster improvements. Data literacy is part of their core skill set. They can translate the impact of their work into numbers and communicate results in monetary terms,
fully aware of their influence on business outcomes and how to drive them.
And last but hardly least, they are a tech enthusiast and understand the potential of AI and Machine learning in HR, already exploring how to apply these models within the organization.
Can you see yourself in this picture? If not, here’s the good news: it’s not rocket science. It simply takes a willingness to embrace the discomfort that comes with building new processes and routines. Let’s break these competencies down step by step.
STRATEGIC STORYTELLING
This competency requires a blend of crafting persuasive business presentations with a solid
Throughout my career, I’ve often heard engineers, technologists, marketers, sales and commercial teams, supply chain experts, and other departments confidently express the outcomes of their work in numbers— cost reductions, productivity gains, margin gains, shortened delivery times, savings through automation. But I’ve heard this far less from HR professionals, even though the impact of HR decisions often ripples through the entire organization.
Not every idea is equally easy to implement, nor will each bring the same level of value to the organization. Some require large volumes of high-quality data, complex systems, or significant budgets. Others can be piloted quickly with minimal resources. Create a simple cause-and-effect matrix to evaluate your options—and start with the lowhanging fruit that offers a realistic, high-impact win. Early success stories build momentum and boost confidence in the topic.
understanding of the business drivers and the organization’s strategy. Let’s bring this competency down to a personal level to better understand decisionmaking. Imagine someone close to you—your partner, sibling, child, or parent—planning to invest their life savings in an apartment to rent out via Booking.com.
They describe the apartment in detail—the layout, view, furniture—but focus only on the emotional appeal. You want to support them, but something’s missing: the numbers. How much will it cost? What are the projected earnings? Can they handle ongoing expenses? Without these details, it’s hard to back the plan, no matter your good intentions.
The same applies in the workplace. Decision-makers don’t have to like you personally, but they do care about minimizing risk. You propose, they decide. If your pitch lacks clarity, data, or context, they’ll default to caution. Without solid information, approval is unlikely.
SO, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO TO SELL YOUR IDEAS AND GET APPROVALS?
► Know your decision-makers. Just like in your personal life, you adjust your story based on who you're talking to—and the same goes for work. Some want hard numbers, others a big-picture summary. One might need a single key fact; another prefers a full narrative with visuals. Shape your message to fit their style.
► Create the right context . Don’t just present the decision, frame it. Outline the key details, the risks, and the benefits. Are you highlighting a threat or unlocking an opportunity?
Make sure the relevance is crystal clear.
► Quantify whenever possible. Numbers bring credibility. Even a basic estimate or one strong data point can make your case more convincing. Lead with numbers that anchor your point—then you can build in the broader story around them.
► Present visually. You don’t need sophisticated graphics; sometimes a simple breakdown in a table or a quick chart is enough. Visuals help communicate structure, show the work behind your thinking, and leave a stronger impression than words alone.
Examples of Strategic Storytellingretention challenges:
HR Professional A says: “People are leaving; we need to raise salaries.”
HR Professional B says: “People are leaving, and we’ve done some research. Four out of five competitors in our area offer salaries that are 10% higher. We risk turnover that costs about €3,000 per new hire, not to mention the onboarding and training expenses, bringing it to €4,000. We should raise salaries by 10% to remain competitive, or we’ll incur much higher long-term costs.”
Preparation is essential for making strong decisions, and it requires time. That leads us to the second competency: a skill that helps us save time in the long run, work more efficiently, and build credibility through clear, consistent, and structured communication.
2
DATA LITERACY AND AUTOMATION
Data literacy goes beyond technical know-how; it’s a shift in mindset. It’s
defined as: ability to read, understand, create, and communicate data as information. Data-driven HR uses automation, keeps data well-organized and clean, and relies on reporting to make smarter decisions, track progress over time, and react on time.
In order to benefit from data, a few key foundations need to be in place:
Centralized reporting and KPIs. Core metrics and reports like turnover, absenteeism and vacations, training hours, efficiency, payroll, employee performance, etc., should be automated, centralized, and easily accessible. Additionally, the entire organization needs to be aligned when it comes to data gathering and reporting.
Multi-layer reporting. Metrics should be broken down by organizational levels so that everyone understands how their role contributes to the bigger picture. This helps people focus on the improvements they can influence, and the ones that truly matter.
Data management. Accuracy, completeness, and a shared understanding of what the data means are non-negotiable. Without this, any conversation quickly runs pointless, and no progress is achieved.
Once data is clean, automated, and accessible, the next step is to turn it into a language everyone understands and make a measurable story out of it. That brings us to a third competency – How to use numbers to tell the story for you?
MEASURABLE EXPRESSION
The third competency is about how we understand, frame, and communicate the results of our work—and consequently, how others perceive us.
Throughout my career, I’ve often heard engineers, technologists, marketers, sales and commercial teams, supply chain experts, and other departments confidently express the outcomes of their work in numbers—cost reductions, productivity gains, margin gains, shortened delivery times, savings through automation. But I’ve heard this far less from HR professionals, even though the impact of HR decisions often ripples through the entire organization. What’s stopping us from quantifying our own results?
In many cases, it’s simply about building the habit—switching on “Quantification Mode” and keeping it on. Once you train your mind to look for numbers, you'll start seeing them everywhere.
HOW TO MAKE IT A HABIT
1. Understand the business impact.
This is where your HR expertise shines. You already know how your work influences the business. Take turnover: reducing it lowers recruiting costs, saves time, boosts team cohesion, improves customer relationships, and preserves knowledge.
2. Quantify the effects.
Find the outcomes you can measure—cost savings, time, efficiency gains. Not sure how? Partner with finance or controlling to help translate results into numbers. The more you quantify, the more credibility and impact your work will have. Numbers don’t just support your story—they strengthen it.
3. Show it visually.
Dashboards, graphs, or clean tables make your results easier to grasp and more compelling. Don’t just report a turnover drop—show it. Start with measurable outcomes, then add qualitative effects like better morale or customer experience.
When paired with data, these carry more weight and tell a stronger story. Numbers bring credibility, so make sure your work is seen, measured, and understood. And the last phase is all about focusing on the future - how can the data of our company’s past predict what will happen next?
4. AI & ML Readiness
AI and machine learning are trendy topics, and it’s expected to feel uncertain about what’s expected from HR in this space. But rest assured: you don’t have to be a tech expert to start preparing.
Step 1: Understand the Basics
Familiarize yourself with how AI and machine learning work at a high level— enough to speak the language and understand basic concepts.
Step 2: Identify Organizational Needs and Data Gaps
Do you know where would AI or ML make the most value in your current HR processes? Here are a few use cases to get you started:
► Predictive Analytics for Turnover:. A simple model that uses historical data on employee demographics can predict those at risk to leave based on patterns in the past. All you need is clean, structured data and an algorithm to spot these trends, not at all deep AI infrastructure.
► Absenteeism prediction: Let’s say you have historical absenteeism data and basic employee information. A ML model could help you flag teams, employees or time periods where absenteeism spikes are high, allowing you to act before it becomes a problem.
► Recruitment
Automation: Using
chatbots or algorithms to filter applications and schedule interviews. They would read and flag those resumes that best match your job descriptions.
► AI agents for employee service questions: A chatbot that automatically handles routine answers. It doesn’t predict the future, but it improves efficiency.
► Performance and Engagement Insights: Analyzing large sets of data on productivity, engagement, and wellbeing to spot trends or risks early.
Step 3: Rank identified Use Cases by Feasibility, Impact and Effort
Not every idea is equally easy to implement, nor will each bring the same level of value to the organization. Some require large volumes of high-quality data, complex systems, or significant budgets. Others can be piloted quickly with minimal resources.
Create a simple cause-and-effect matrix to evaluate your options—and start with the low-hanging fruit that offers a realistic, high-impact win. Early success stories build momentum and boost confidence in the topic.
Step 4: Collaborate Across Functions
Partner with IT, finance, and other departments to get the data and technical support you need. The more cross-functional input you have, the more likely you’ll develop AI and ML solutions that truly meet business needs.
Step 5: Communicate the Insights
Finally, remember to present your AI/ ML findings just like any other strategic HR outcome: focus on the metrics and how they impact the business. A wellprepared visualization and narrative can demonstrate the value of your AI or ML driven initiative more effectively than abstract tech jargon.
AS A CONCLUSION….
Becoming a decision-making HR professional doesn’t require reinventing yourself, it requires evolving the way you think, speak, and act using the similar expertise you have today. By mastering strategic storytelling, embracing data literacy and automation, adopting measurable expression techniques, and building readiness for AI and machine learning, you’re not just supporting the business—you’re shaping it.
You don’t need to master everything overnight. But the moment you start combining your HR expertise with business language and data clarity, you’ll notice a shift. People will listen differently. Decisions will come faster. And your work will resonate more broadly across the organization.
Small steps. Smart habits. Big impact.
Once data is clean, automated, and accessible, the next step is to turn it into a language everyone understands and make a measurable story out of it. That brings us to a third competency – How to use numbers to tell the story for you?
Eldar BANJICA
Managing Director, Manpower SEE
WHAT ARE THE KEY FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN BUILDING A LONG-TERM BUSINESS STRATEGY?
1
A long-term business strategy begins with a well-defined vision—one that clearly articulates where the company aims to be in the future. This vision should be tangible and compelling, allowing stakeholders to fully grasp what success will look and feel like once achieved.
With a strong vision in place, the next step is to build the strategic foundation by defining the product and service portfolio, identifying target market segments, analyzing competitive dynamics, and establishing market-winning tactics. Equally important are the organizational and operational structures needed to execute the strategy effectively. However, in today’s fast-evolving business environment, agility is critical. Companies must be prepared to adapt quickly to market shifts, emerging trends, and industry disruptions while staying true to their core strategic objectives.
HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE DECISIONMAKING DURING TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY OR RAPID CHANGE?
2
In times of uncertainty, I anchor decision-making in the company’s strategic framework. Every choice must reinforce our core business model and operational priorities. I always ask myself and my team: Which decision best aligns with our long-term strategy? This approach ensures consistency and prevents reactive, short-term thinking that could derail progress.
At the same time, adaptability is key. I believe in iterative decisionmaking—testing, learning, and refining based on real-time feedback. While the overarching strategy provides direction, maintaining flexibility and responsiveness allows us to navigate unexpected challenges effectively.
HOW
DOES ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE INFLUENCE THE EXECUTION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF BUSINESS STRATEGY?
3
WHICH LEADERSHIP QUALITIES ARE MOST CRITICAL FOR SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTING A BUSINESS STRATEGY?
Organizational culture and business strategy are deeply intertwined, forming a reinforcing cycle that can propel a company forward— or, if misaligned, create obstacles. A well-crafted strategy must account for the existing culture while also shaping it in a way that supports long-term goals. A strong culture fosters engagement, accountability, and resilience, all of which are essential for successful strategy execution. Conversely, a poorly aligned culture can hinder progress, leading to resistance and inefficiencies. When strategy and culture evolve together in harmony, they create a powerful momentum that drives both business success and long-term sustainability.
4
Executing a business strategy requires a combination of vision, decisiveness, and consistency. A great leader must inspire and align teams with the company’s strategic direction while ensuring that execution remains focused and disciplined. Equally important are adaptability and resilience, as challenges and disruptions are inevitable. Leaders must be capable of making tough decisions in dynamic environments while remaining committed to the long-term vision. Finally, clear and transparent communication ensures that teams stay engaged, understand strategic priorities, and are empowered to contribute to the company’s success.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE HR LEADERS TO BETTER ALIGN THEIR INITIATIVES WITH OVERALL BUSINESS OBJECTIVES?
5
HR leaders need to deeply understand the business’s strategic priorities and ensure that talent acquisition, employee development, and company culture align with those objectives. HR should move beyond administrative functions and become a strategic partner in driving growth and innovation. The focus should be on attracting, retaining, and developing talent that directly contributes to achieving business goals.
In times of uncertainty, I anchor decision-making in the company’s strategic framework. Every choice must reinforce our core business model and operational priorities. I always ask myself and my team: Which decision best aligns with our long-term strategy? This approach ensures consistency and prevents reactive, short-term thinking that could derail progress.
7 FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT MAKES A STRONG PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN HR AND THE LEADERSHIP TEAM?
6
Trust and shared vision are essential. When HR is seen merely as an administrative function, it misses the opportunity to drive meaningful business impact. HR should be proactive in shaping workforce strategy, leadership development, and organizational design. At the same time, HR must fully align with the business goals of the company. A strong partnership is built when HR and leadership team collaborate closely to ensure that people strategies support business objectives.
WHAT BUSINESS BOOK(S) WOULD YOU RECOMMEND HR PROFESSIONALS READ?
• “Drive” – Daniel Pink (on employee motivation and engagement)
• “Good to Great” –Jim Collins (on how companies transition from average to exceptional)
• “Playing to Win” – A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin (on setting and executing company strategy)
The State of Play in Times of Crisis
Mitgutsch, CEO & Founder, Playful Solutions
Dr. Konstantin
crisis?
Is there room to play in times of deep
We live in a time of crisis - humanitarian, political, economic, spiritual, and ecological. Wherever we look, things don’t appear to work anymore - or even worse, maybe they never worked, but now it fully comes to the surface (yes, capitalism and patriarchy, I look at you). At work, and before that in my research, I followed the question of whether play can foster transformation. If we can grow and learn by playing. To cut it short - yes, we can.
First: The willingness of the player to immerse in the game or playful setting. The power of play comes from a state of openness and freedom to engage in it, to let go for a moment and accept the game as a reality with certain rules, limits an opportunities.
Second: The context of the playful engagement, the setting and who we engage with. It matters how we engage in the game, if we care about the people and if we can create a context, that allows the learning of the play experience to transfer into the “real” world. People need to feel safe to do so, sometimes need support in the transfer or just space to reflect what happens and the ability to translate.
Third: Kairos - the old Greek word for the “right moment”. Learning and transformation can’t be forcedit’s like a jigsaw puzzle, suddenly things click. Therefore, games and play are an invitation, an opportunity to grow, no guarantee. Otherwise, they would lose their magic, their power, their potential. They are spaces created for a specific time, and only exist through the players that allow them to be - now. They are very present, and therefore allow us to be present. And at the right moment, they can cause a deep shift in us.
I believe the jigsaw puzzle of transformation play has some golden puzzle pieces to offer. It’s not that we will always consciously know it, but when we enjoy what we play, open up to it and experience something new - different than our patterns, it allows other puzzle pieces to twist and turn. But then the crisis comes, the stress, the worry, the existential battle, the heaviness, and hopelessness, and it feels like there
is no space to play. Or even worse, playing almost feels like a sin. How can we have lightness, joy, or escape when the crisis asks for our attention? The drama of the crises almost feels like to counterpart of playfulness, like its enemy. So what now? Play or fight? Stay worried and serious or allow playfulness and joy in?
I think this is a very difficult question to answer, particularly in times like these. How do the people in crisis feel if someone is asking for more playfulness? Which is why I will only share three questions that spark something in me:
(1) H ow would our world look like today, if there had been more space to play? If we didn’t think that life is a problem to solve, but an opportunity to experience. What if we had been more explorative, less fixated, and not always so goal-driven but playful? Where would we be?
(2) What if we could create play spaces within the crisis, to allow ourselves to escape for a moment and then share what we found? What if it would give the tightness of the drama some breathing space and new perspectives. What if we would return differently from playing and see the world newly and maybe discover alternatives to what is going on?
(3) What if we see the crisis as a game too? What kind of game is it? What rules do we follow? What can we change and what can’t we? And who said we can’t change that? What if the crisis is the state of play that asks for transformation the most? What if we never needed play more than now that we can’t?
Answers to these questions will not change the times of crisis we are in, but maybe they will give us hope and trigger our curiosity and openness. Because, without that, we can’t get out of any crisis - we get stuck within it. So to answer my initial question, yes, there is room for play in crisis. But we need to open this room and explore it, and I believe it’s worth it.
I BELIEVE THE JIGSAW PUZZLE OF TRANSFORMATION PLAY HAS SOME GOLDEN PUZZLE PIECES TO OFFER. IT’S NOT THAT WE WILL ALWAYS CONSCIOUSLY KNOW IT, BUT WHEN WE ENJOY WHAT WE PLAY, OPEN UP TO IT AND EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEWDIFFERENT THAN OUR PATTERNS, IT ALLOWS OTHER PUZZLE PIECES TO TWIST AND TURN.
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HR WEEK: THE ROLE OF GENERATIVE AI IN SHAPING THE FUTURE OF WORK
Maja Pantić, Marija Mikić, Michael Mandić
HR Week C-level interview
Last November, on the 6 th edition of HR Week, the closing panel gathered two incredible thought leaders in the AI space. The audience got to hear conclusions, predictions, and first-hand experience from Maja Pantic, Dean of Computing at NEOM. University and former Generative AI Research Director at Meta London, as well as Marija Mikic, Vice President of AI Foundations, Cruise and former Senior Director of Engineering at Google. Michael Mandic, founding partner at Anderson, carefully moderated their conversation. Below you will find the accommodated transcript of their conversation and the most valuable insights. First, Michael invited his speakers to introduce themselves in a bit more detail.
Maja Pantic:
I’m a computer scientist by training, with a background in pure mathematics from Belgrade and advanced degrees in AI from the Netherlands. My expertise is in automating human behavior—analyzing facial expressions, vocal cues, and speech.
After my PhD, I became a professor at Delft University of Technology and later joined Imperial College London, where I still work as a Professor of AI. About six years ago, I moved into industry, founding Samsung’s human-centric AI center in Cambridge—now one of their leading hubs for mobile-focused AI.
Later, I joined Meta to work on generative AI. The rise of deep neural networks in 2012 and transformer models in 2017 revolutionized the field, laying the groundwork for tools like ChatGPT. This tech has even contributed to two recent Nobel Prizes.
At Meta, I continued developing facial analysis tools, including mapping human faces to avatars— technology used by over a billion people. We also created photorealistic avatars that move and speak like real individuals, a powerful and uncanny advancement.
Now, I’ve joined NEOM University to rethink how we teach. Education hasn’t kept pace with technology, and I envision using photorealistic avatars as
adaptive, engaging teachers to revolutionize learning for future generations .
Marija Mikic:
Like Maja, I began my studies in Serbia, earning a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade, before completing a PhD in software engineering at USC.
AI wasn’t part of my formal education, but I immersed in it at Google, working first on human computation platforms that support machine learning training. Later, I led ML teams focused on classifying web content and ads—key to delivering relevant and
age-appropriate advertising, especially on YouTube.
Most recently, I worked in Core Labs, helping apply generative AI internally at Google— demonstrating its potential not just for products, but for transforming how organizations operate.
After 20 years at Google, I’ve joined Cruise, a GM-backed self-driving car company, where AI is central to vehicle behavior. My role supports the foundational systems that ensure models are fast, reliable, and capable of real-time decisions. The goal is to bring autonomous driving into the mainstream—so one day, commuting won’t require sitting behind the wheel.
In the short term, AI will remain an assistant, with experts stepping in to steer it toward the right outcomes. As we gather more diverse data across roles and workflows, we’ll start to see greater efficiency and, eventually, more autonomous AI systems. At that point, the role of the human will shift—much like a manager oversees a team, we’ll supervise fleets of generative AI agents. These agents will report progress, flag issues, and seek direction, while humans will guide them to stay on course.
Michael Mandic:
Excellent, thank you both for your introductions. You've already touched on several points that have fundamentally changed the world as we know it—especially the world of work. Let us focus more concretely on the near future. Based on your work and experience, what changes have you seen recently with the rise of AI models and tools in our everyday work?
Maja Pantic:
So, I will not talk about the next big leap. I think anybody who claims they can predict the next big leap is someone who doesn’t know enough. The issue is that technology is moving so fast, you simply can’t predict what will happen in, say, three years.
However, I can tell you what’s happening now, and let us focus on HR. Strong HR departments are typically found in law firms, accounting firms, finance, and management consulting.
Let’s take law firms. Thomson Reuters recently acquired a company that automated a large portion of financial law. This
automation is entirely AIbased, using large language models to generate answers and fill out forms the way legal consultants used to. Once they scale this up and roll it out broadly, those law firms won’t need the same human capacity anymore. You’ll still need curators to review what's been done—but not many. If the documents are filled out well, you don’t need a whole team to check them.
Accounting is also fascinating. Take Ernst & Young, for example. They have 40,000 accountants. And yet, if the rules can be codified, automation becomes easy. I’m not even talking about generative AI or large language models— just standard automation. Again, you’ll need curators, but certainly not that many, perhaps just a 1000.
Let me give you two more examples. First, art. A study was published last week— 11,000 people were asked to judge and rank art pieces. Fifty were created by artists— some well-known—and fifty by AI. The result? People preferred the AI-generated work over the human-created one. Even those who consider themselves AI skeptics, who claimed they’d never like AI-generated art, still ranked it higher.
The second example also comes from medicine. A recent study—just a few days ago—looked
at diagnostic accuracy. Participants were given advice from three sources: AI-only, human-only, and human supported by AI. AI alone had an accuracy of 96%. Human doctors alone had 65%. But when humans used AI assistance, their accuracy dropped to around 76%. In other words, human input reduced AI accuracy by 20%. That’s an incredible result. It shows just how far these models have come, and how important it is to keep building and applying them.
That doesn’t mean we’ll all be living in an AI world. Creativity will remain— and it must. AI can only learn from what we give it. Anything that’s truly original or creative still belongs to us. But tasks that are rule-based or rely on established know-how— those can b e automated, and very effectively.
Michael Mandic:
There’s one element that always comes to mind whenever we talk about moving toward and adopting new technologies—and that’s our adaptability as a species in the 21st century. Even basic forms of automation haven’t been widely adopted in many practices that are already changing how we work today.
If you’ll agree with me, take something as simple as mail merge—a process introduced in Windows 95, 25 years ago. It could take someone’s name and gender, plug it into a Word document, and send a personalized mass email, often on behalf of an assistant or an office manager. And yet, even today, many people still do this manually.
So the question is: how adaptable are we really, in this fast-paced environment we live in? And if we’re still slow to adopt older, simpler technologies, how are we going to react to AI—which is, in my view, a quantum leap beyond automation?
How do you see this affecting our everyday work—if we even have what we now call “everyday work” in the future?
Maja Pantic:
So this is exactly the topic that Yuval Harari talks about. Homo Sapiens is all about this—the idea that the pace of technological progress is moving far too quickly for the human brain to keep up. The human brain follows a classical evolutionary process—we need time to adapt. But now, we just don’t have that time. And we better get ready for that. And I
truly believe—we will have to start thinking about survival as being equal to adaptability. People who won’t be able to adapt simply won’t be able to survive this current surge in technological advancement.
Marija
Mikic:
Over generations, we've seen that adaptation to technology has become far more intuitive for children growing up with it. In contrast, those of us who didn’t have internetconnected devices at our fingertips often experience more resistance to change. Newer generations, who communicate primarily through digital tools, are much more open to experimenting with emerging technologies.
While I agree with Maja that the pace of change is staggering, the real concern lies in the downstream effects of relying too heavily on generative AI. These tools can significantly boost productivity—for example, when I joined Cruise, I was handed hundreds of documents in my first weeks. Using Google's Notebook LLM, I fed all those documents into the system and was able to query and understand them without reading every page. The key difference, though, is that I had the domain expertise to
judge whether the answers I got were accurate. The risk emerges when people rely on generative AI in areas where they lack expertise. If AI provides a diagnosis or recommendation, and the user can’t evaluate its validity but acts on it anyway, the consequences can be serious. That’s why, as Maja pointed out, expert verification is essential. We need additional training and oversight to make these tools truly reliable.
At this stage, generative AI is still assistive—it can accelerate workflows within enterprises by optimizing tasks like scheduling, email management, or time tracking. But when workflows involve ambiguity and decision-making based on context, the technology still falls short. The more complex the task, the more human oversight is needed to guide or correct the AI.
In the short term, AI will remain an assistant, with experts stepping in to steer it toward the right outcomes. As we gather more diverse data across roles and workflows,
we’ll start to see greater efficiency and, eventually, more autonomous AI systems. At that point, the role of the human will shift—much like a manager oversees a team, we’ll supervise fleets of generative AI agents. These agents will report progress, flag issues, and seek direction, while humans will guide them to stay on course.
Michael Mandic:
That’s a very interesting point, Maria, and one that resonates strongly.
You both mentioned training. I agree—the idea of an allknowing, always-available AI tutor is incredibly appealing It could teach us
anything—new jobs, new skills, even entirely new fields—on demand and at scale.
But I also admit I’d miss the human side of learning—the water cooler chats, workshops, and offsite trainings that have shaped how we grow. It raises the question: how do we preserve those collaborative and social elements in an AIdriven learning world?
I’d love to see data comparing the success of online learning vs. in-person sessions—and how both stack up against AI-led training. That kind of insight could really inform the best hybrid learning strategies.
And then there's the matter of
security. You’ve both worked on systems with serious real-world impact—Marija through ads at Google, and Maja through her academic and industry leadership.
As AI becomes more embedded in how we work and learn, how do we safeguard data, trust, and control?
Maja Pantic:
On the topic of security— first, I have to respond to what you mentioned earlier about an "omnipresent AI". The truth is, we already have it. It’s right in
front of us—our smartphones. Whether it remains our phone or evolves into something like augmented reality glasses is almost irrelevant. The computing power is already there to support the kind of AI-driven learning you imagined. And we’re seeing tangible results. Online training alone has shown dramatic improvements in learner performance. But what you’re referring to—the inperson workshops, offsites, and human interaction—is something else entirely. That’s about developing social skills. And we absolutely still need that. We’re social beings, social apes by evolution. We thrive through connection.
In fact, success today often hinges more on likeability and innovation than on technical knowledge alone. Very few people achieve massive success purely through expertise in AI or any other field. It's more often about how well we relate and collaborate.
Now, on to the concerns you raised. I fully agree with what Maria said earlier—we have the tools, but we’re still hesitant to fully use them. And rightly so. We don’t implement something like autopilot on planes until we are completely confident it can fly and land safely. The same goes for AI.
When it comes to security, are we talking about today, or the future? Today, for example, you might already
be interacting with photorealistic avatars of Marija and me without knowing it.
Right now, technology is progressing faster than our safety systems. Security hasn’t caught up with these advancements. But if we look ahead, I believe the solution is already in our hands—literally. Our phones can recognize us and should be the core of a decentralized identity system, verifying who we are and sharing secure tokens across devices. It’s simple in concept, but no one has implemented it at scale yet.
Maja
Pantic:
I want to build on that from my experience in ads privacy and safety. For years, I worked on models designed to prevent misuse and protect users—and I want to echo Maja’s earlier point: investment in safety has consistently lagged behind investment in the technology itself.
With tools like transformers and generative AI becoming widely accessible, the risks are increasing. We’ve already seen past machine learning models misused—from financial fraud to spreading misinformation. Companies like Google and Meta have large teams dedicated to detecting abuse, but it’s nearly impossible to eliminate it entirely. The
goal is early detection, damage control, and swift corrective action.
A major challenge is data integrity. These models are only as fair as the data they’re trained on. And that raises a broader question: how accurate—and unbiased—is that data?
AI bias isn’t new. Studies have shown it clearly—for example, in credit and loan assessments where AI favored white applicants over black ones. Not because race was explicitly included, but because models picked up patterns from historically biased proxy data like zip codes. These problems predate generative AI and stem from a long-standing failure to prioritize fairness as much as innovation.
Too often, tech moves fast— and society is left cleaning up the consequences.
Michael Mandic:
Absolutely. It’s a key issue— the boundaries around what information AI is trained on. Even something like Wikipedia, while valuable, is contributor-driven and inherently subjective.
That illustrates the challenge: if AI learns from a mix of accurate and misleading content without context, its responses can become
diluted or even wrong. Here’s a scenario I’ve been thinking about: I use AI to write a job application, and the recruiter uses AI to review it. Suddenly, there’s no human interaction at all. If generative AI handles both sides of the exchange, we risk losing something essential.
That could create a new kind of value proposition: imagine companies advertising “No AI here—human-only service”. That might actually become a selling point.
Do you think this AImediated interaction is inevitable, or is there still space to preserve human input in how we work and communicate?
We’re already seeing hints of this—like graffiti on construction sites saying “AI, can you finish this?” It’s a reminder that, for now, some jobs still need people. But for how long? When it’s AI talking to AI, where does the human voice fit in ?
Marija Mikic:
That’s such a thoughtful question—and actually, the kind of scenario you’re describing is already happening. In some systems today, we have AI agents talking to each other to complete higher-level tasks. And in robotics, there is even more disruption: In
places like China, robots are already constructing bridges and doing complex builds with minimal human intervention. But here’s the key point: we can’t accurately predict where we’ll be even three to five years from now because the pace of technological advancement is just that fast.
What we can be sure of is this: most professions will transform in some way. Whether it’s through automation, augmentation, or completely new workflows, the nature of work is changing. That means we’ll need to rethink how we upskill and reskill people—not just to keep up, but to focus on the kinds of tasks that AI can’t do well. Things like creativity, intuition, emotional intelligence.
The goal isn’t just to offload mundane tasks—it’s to reclaim time for deeper, more meaningful work. That’s where humans continue to have the edge: in shaping the direction AI takes, in imagining what it hasn’t yet seen.
Michael Mandic:
Excellent insights! What I wonder is given your experience building teams in some of the top companies driving this space—should a company today invest in proprietary solutions like ChatGPT or one of the many other large models available? Or is open source the smarter path forward?
Maja Pantic:
I believe that open-sourcing large language models— like Meta has done with LLaMA—is an incredibly smart and strategic move. First, from a societal perspective, this democratizes the technology. That’s powerful. But it’s also brilliant from a company standpoint.
When you open source a model, universities, researchers, and developers around the world start working on it. They contribute improvements, develop new tools, and build on top of your foundation.
In fact, success today often hinges more on likeability and innovation than on technical knowledge alone. Very few people achieve massive success purely through expertise in AI or any other field. It's more often about how well we relate and collaborate.
Compare that to closedsource models, which can only improve based on the work of their internal teams.
This global collaboration is why Meta, just 18 months ago, was seen as behind in the generative AI race—but now, we’re leading. The momentum is exponential when you open the doors.
Marija Mikic:
Absolutely, Maja. And just to build on that—Michael, you might be pointing to the enterprise side of this discussion, which is important.
Here’s the thing: these large language models have general knowledge, but they don’t know your company’s internal data— your documents, contracts, resumes, or proprietary workflows. That’s where real value lies.
This is where technologies like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) come in. You can take a general model and feed it with your company’s private data—securely— so it can provide relevant, high-quality answers for your specific needs. But building your own model from scratch? The resource cost is immense.
What we can be sure of is this: most professions will transform in some way. Whether it’s through automation, augmentation, or completely new workflows, the nature of work is changing. That means we’ll need to rethink how we upskill and reskill people—not just to keep up, but to focus on the kinds of tasks that AI can’t do well. Things like creativity, intuition, emotional intelligence.
The goal isn’t just to offload mundane tasks—it’s to reclaim time for deeper, more meaningful work. That’s where humans continue to have the edge: in shaping the direction AI takes, in imagining what it hasn’t yet seen.
So the future, as I see it, aligns with Maja’s perspective: we’ll probably rely on a handful of strong foundational models— hopefully open-source— serving as a base for innovation across many domains like medicine, law, chemistry, etc.
Then, companies will augment those models with their own data to create tailored AI experiences. Your internal data becomes your competitive edge—but the foundation is shared. That’s efficient, powerful, and a smart use of both human and computational capital.
Michael Mandic:
Thanks, Marija. A quick follow-up—you mentioned AIs are already building on each other’s capabilities. As a recruiter, I’m facing a common dilemma: should we stick with our current CRM AI, add LinkedIn’s AI, keep using CoPilot, and tools like ChatGPT, Clive, Canva, etc.?
There seems to be a new AI tool every day. Given our hardware (mostly laptops), bandwidth, and energy constraints—are we actually creating inefficiencies? Do these tools collaborate, overlap, or conflict? How do we navigate this?
Marija Mikic:
Great question—and one many face. I agree with Maja: the pace of change is so fast, it makes long-term decisions tricky.
Take LLaMA. Two years ago, no one would have chosen it—it lagged behind. Now? It’s leading. So the “best” tool today might not be best in a few months. Startups worldwide—not just in Silicon Valley— are building specialized solutions. That means the smartest strategy is ongoing reassessment.
Maja Pantic:
Let me add one final thought, especially for recruitment.
Right now, the dominant model is company-driven: you post a job, candidates apply. But there’s no “Airbnb” model in hiring— no global, intelligently organized pool of candidates matched automatically with job roles based on dynamic, AI-powered criteria.
That’s the real opportunity. Imagine a platform where talent and opportunities are continuously matched, not just manually listed. That’s the kind of innovation still missing—and it could revolutionize recruitment.
HR Meets AI: A Match That’s Built to Last
As 2024 came to a close, HR World conducted a survey to gain a more profound understanding of HR’s adoption of AI, along with the obstacles and challenges they faced. Close to 60 companies participated in the research, from 10 different industries, although IT and technology dominated with 42% of participants. The majority of companies had more than 500 employees, and it was usually the managers who filled out the questionnaire.
of HR professionals are partially ready to implement AI
of HR leaders are confident that AI can improve the efficiency of their department
of HR professionals list time-saving as the most significant benefit of using AI
of HR workforce is optimistic about AI
of HR professionals admit their company isn’t using AI in their HR processes
of HR team members aren’t trained to use AI
This issue of HR World magazine offers insightful perspectives on AI adaptation, a detailed breakdown of the skills required for both HR professionals and the entire organization to adopt AI, and several examples where human intervention made a significant difference. The research, use cases, and personal stories are all here at your fingertips, so make sure to use them in order not to fall on the wrong side of the data shown above. Scan the code and download the full report!
CHATBOTS VS TRADITIONAL PSYCHOMETRICS:
A NEW ERA IN HIRING
Danilo Đukanović, CEO, Recrewty Dario Krpan, Associate Professor in Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Can AI match or exceed traditional methods in both speed and predictive power? Can it accurately infer a candidate’s potential or personality from a resume summary, or is it merely a sophisticated text processor? These are not just theoretical questions; they matter deeply in hiring decisions. A recent study by Đukanovic & Krpan (2025), conducted in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE, directly investigated these concerns. The study was enabled through a partnership between Fabrile, a no-code AI chatbot platform, and Recrewty, a startup combining AI and psychometrics to enhance recruitment.
AI has transformed hiring, automating tasks that once required a human touch: from candidates using ChatGPT to write resumes to companies employing specialized models to read them. Companies rapidly adopted AI for its scalability and efficiency, but this speed has a trade-off: unlike psychometric tests, long regarded as the gold standard for predicting job performance (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998) - Generative AI lacks decades of scientific validation.
This raises a key question: can AI match or exceed traditional methods in both speed and predictive power? Can it accurately infer a candidate’s potential or personality from a resume summary, or is it merely a sophisticated text processor? These are not just theoretical questions; they matter deeply in hiring decisions. A recent study by Đukanović & Krpan (2025), conducted in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE, directly investigated these concerns. The study was enabled through a partnership between Fabrile, a no-code AI chatbot platform, and Recrewty, a startup combining AI and psychometrics to enhance recruitment.
TRADITIONAL METHODS: EVERYONE’S TRYING TO LOOK GOOD
Tests effectively predict job success, especially traits like extraversion and conscientiousness. However, they face a major limitation: in high-stakes hiring contexts, candidates often distort their responses. This tendency has been established and is referred to as social desirability bias (Grimm, 2010). In other words, everyone lies, or at least distorts the facts to make themselves seem like the "ideal candidate."
This raises an important question: are we truly assessing a candidate’s personality if they respond to tests with the answers they think an employer wants to hear?
AI PERSONALITY INFERENCE THROUGH CONVERSATION
AI chatbots are now available. Our study used a conversational chatbot that evaluates
personality traits using open-ended questions, one question for each element of the Big Five personality model, as an alternative to requesting candidates to complete a questionnaire. For example, a candidate may be asked how they usually interact with new coworkers in order to gauge "sociability," a subtrait of extraversion. The chatbot evaluates language patterns in the response and derives a score using Fabrile's bespoke interface and a refined version of OpenAI's GPT-4. This approach mimics a real interaction more than a static test. It also creates less room for candidates to reverse-engineer the system. Unlike psychometric forms, there’s no obvious "right" answer.
WHAT WE FOUND: LESS BIAS, BUT TRADE-OFFS REMAIN
The findings were unambiguous: AI chatbots lessened the bias towards social desirability. In self-report assessments, candidates in our recruiting group (those who are actively applying for jobs) showed significantly higher scores in Social Desirability bias than a matched control group. But such disparities vanished when the chatbot evaluated it. This implies that chatbots are able to understand people more accurately, not only how they wish to be perceived.
There's a catch, though. The chatbot did a good job at recognising traits like conscientiousness and extraversion, but it had trouble recognising traits like neuroticism and agreeableness. More significantly, when it came to realworld outcomes like education level and work seniority, the chatbot's conclusions had poorer
predictive validity than those of traditional assessments. This implies that the chatbot is not yet more accurate at forecasting real work performance, even if it is able to detect personality with less bias.
IMPLICATIONS: TOWARDS SMARTER, FAIRER AI IN RECRUITMENT
While this does not imply that chatbots should take the place of conventional testing, it does suggest that the two may eventually complement one another. Traditional tests may still be more effective in predicting performance, but AI may be better at minimising bias. Authentic evaluations with predictive power could be the best-of-bothworlds option if both are combined. Moreover, this study breaks new ground by being the first of its kind conducted in non-English languages like Montenegrin and Serbian. This is a crucial step toward making AI tools more inclusive, ensuring they can be used meaningfully in diverse linguistic and cultural contexts - far from Silicon Valley.
THIS APPROACH MIMICS A REAL INTERACTION MORE THAN A STATIC TEST. IT ALSO CREATES LESS ROOM FOR CANDIDATES TO REVERSEENGINEER THE SYSTEM. UNLIKE PSYCHOMETRIC FORMS, THERE’S NO OBVIOUS "RIGHT" ANSWER.
FINAL THOUGHTS: THE FUTURE IS (STILL) HUMAN + MACHINE
Employing AI is not a dystopia. HR specialists won't be replaced by it anytime soon. Instead, it presents a chance to eliminate some of the guesswork and games and make hiring more equitable, quicker, and possibly more human.
As we did with traditional psychometrics decades ago, we must continue to validate, test, and improve these tools if we want AI to actually help us see applicants for who they are. Efficiency isn't the only factor in hiring, after all. Accuracy, equity, and comprehending the individuals submitting the applications are key considerations.
Are Non-Desk Employees Tuned In? – New Perspectives on Innovative and Effective Internal Communication
Streaming services and social media platforms curate content based on our habits and interests, ensuring we receive relevant and engaging material. In a nondesk work environment, modern corporate internal communication must adopt similarly personalized approaches to be truly effective. How can we reach employees in warehouses, on production lines, in the field, or on the go using innovative tools? What does successful internal communication look like when employees are not working behind a desk?
The simple workplace poster next to the coffee machine was once a groundbreaking innovation. Today, however, employers are competing for attention in an overwhelming global noise filled with countless stimuli and information. This means corporate internal communication— especially in workplaces with a high proportion of blue-collar, non-desk employees—requires new approaches. Let’s explore what innovative internal communication looks like in a non-desk environment!
Blue Colibri
“Continue
on your mobile...” – On-demand, Multi-Channel
Access
Despite the shift to online communication, traditional corporate newsletters and emails have not become more effective for employees who do not work at a computer. Social media and smartphones have changed the game—everyone is now reachable. Employee communication and engagement should no longer depend on whether they pass by a poster or have access to a company computer. It is now an essential expectation that corporate internal communication platforms are accessible from any device (mobile phone, tablet, laptop, kiosk, etc.), enabling employees to access updates anytime, anywhere, using the device that suits them best.
“You
may also like this...” –Personalized Content
Popular video, music, and social platforms use algorithms to recommend content based on individual preferences. Translating this into corporate internal communication means that while general messages may still be relevant, segmentation can significantly enhance effectiveness. When non-desk employees receive content tailored to their interests and needs, they are more likely to return to the internal communication platform regularly to stay informed.
“Trending now...”
–Analytics, Data, and Interaction
Using an internal communication platform that provides detailed analytics about user behavior can offer valuable insights for fine-tuning communication strategies. Which content is most popular? Which topics generate the most engagement? How
many employees have seen a specific message? This analytical approach enhances communication effectiveness by revealing employee preferences and enabling the creation of more relevant content. Additionally, the best platforms allow employees to react directly to content through emoji reactions, comments, or other interactive features.
“Browse by format...” –Diverse Content Formats
From text-based messages to infographics, videos, and podcasts, there are numerous ways to create content for an internal communication platform. This variety is not just about keeping things interesting—it also caters to different learning and engagement styles. Some employees prefer reading detailed PDFs, while others enjoy listening to company podcasts during their commute or workouts. Others favor quick, visually appealing content or short, informative videos. By using a mix of content formats, companies can ensure every employee finds a suitable way to engage with internal communication.
“Full-screen mode” – Aligning Internal Communication with Corporate Culture
Online internal communication is most effective when it aligns with employee needs, modern content consumption habits, and the corporate culture. New trends and ideas constantly emerge, but organizations must select those that genuinely support their internal communication goals.
To effectively engage non-desk employees and elevate internal communication, companies should choose a platform that meets these modern requirements.
Reach your entire workforce with Blue Colibri App
Trusted by:
Building bridges
in the Organization through CONFLICT Management
part 2
Danijela Đurić, Owner, Growth Code
Having a framework to look at the conflict proves to support HR professionals in many ways:
We tend to look at conflicts as a lack of the skills of one person. In the organizational context, it is good to know that usually there is a trigger elsewhere that invites that kind of behavior.
We tend to see conflict as something that must be resolved immediately. We expect people to make peace with each other, which often decays the relationship further.
In the previous article (HR World magazine #12) I have described three theoretical models that may be used for conflict management in the organization:
► 4 levels of the system: individual, interpersonal, team, and organizational level.
► The Cycle of reconciliation (Salters, 2015), and
► Functional Fluency Model (Temple, 1999).
Having a framework to look at the conflict proves to support HR professionals in many ways:
► We tend to look at conflicts as a lack of the skills of one person. In the organizational context, it is good to know that usually there is a trigger elsewhere that invites that kind of behavior.
► We tend to see conflict as something that must be resolved immediately. We expect people to make peace with each other, which often decays the relationship further.
I will present the part of the project I’ve been involved with the client in supporting the conflict resolution.
CASE STUDY
Mila is a Brand Manager in the Commercial team, and a new season is approaching. The principal brand she manages has recently undergone a management restructuring, and they are once again behind schedule with the agreed deadlines for goods delivery. Although the company has detailed contracts with its Principals (brands), it has never enforced the agreed-upon penalties.
Mila has a relatively new assistant, Marko, who works part-time with her and parttime with another Brand Manager. When Mila delegates tasks to Marko, he tends to
take too many liberties and does not adhere to the agreed standards, and this forces Mila to step in and work long hours to resolve the issues.
Mila also has another assistant, Iva, with whom there are no conflicts. However, in the past month, several conversations between Mila and Marko have ended in conflict, and there has been no improvement. The Commercial Director has advised Mila to pursue individual coaching.
After an initial introduction to Mila (a fictional name) and understanding her needs, we scheduled a meeting with her manager (Commercial Director) to set the scope and goals of the intervention. My initial observation indicated that the presented cause of the problem in Marko’s and Mila’s communication skills was merely a signal of other challenges in the organization. An important question was, how open is the organization to seeing this conflict as a signal that something else in the organization was triggering this conflict? The lack of
onboarding for Marko, the ambiguity surrounding his role and position in the team, and the external pressure from the principal without any organizational response to that pressure were not part of the original request. However, these factors could significantly influence the conflict dynamics within the organization and impact the resolution of this situation.
During the goal-setting meeting, I presented my observations. It turned out that the Commercial Director was interested in addressing the root cause of the conflict at the organizational level. In addition to individual coaching with Mila, we arranged a special session to discuss the challenges the organization faces in its functioning.
The entire project is presented in Figure 1. and it was tackling all levels of the system.
I will present part of the interventions I did with the Organization: interpersonal level, and individual level.
Figure 1. Consulting process
INTERPERSONAL LEVEL
”COME ON, MAKE PEACE WITH EACH OTHER, YOU TWO”
The conflict between Mila and Marko caused impatience and frustration in their working environment. There was pressure to resolve the dispute immediately because 'they are both mature people’. In this situation, I used a model to navigate my thinking - The Cycle of Reconciliation (Salters, 2015, Figure 2). It was clear to me that rushing into ”making peace with each other” would harm their relationship. I informed the client about this, inviting them to evaluate the situation a nd choose the approach. The Commercial Manager decided to give time for this process, and Mila was involved in the individual coaching to find her way of dealing with this situation. Through individual coaching with Mila, we analyzed aspects of the conflict with Marko. When asked to draw how she perceives her team, Mila drew herself closer to Iva, another team member. She placed Marko on the edge of her
team. This served as a solid basis for analyzing the situation. How does Marko feel on the edge of the team? Is he welcome? How does he satisfy his need for belonging and recognition? These questions opened space for Mila to consider her role in relation to Marko and build self-awareness. Marko’s unclear role, and the fact that he worked for two Brand Managers at the same time without clear guidelines on when to do what, created space for him to choose to stay closer to the other team and engage less in projects with Mila and Iva. This insight positively influenced Mila’s motivation to talk to Marko and to consider the relationship with her peer Brand Manager. Considering that her typical reaction had been blaming and fault-finding up to that point, we opened the topic of communication and relationship building. We used the theoretical framework of Functional Fluency (Temple, 1999, 2004) to examine Mila’s communication style and how she uses energy in work relationships (Figure 3). Before starting the coaching sessions, Mila completed the TIFF questionnaire
based on the Functional Fluency model. During the 1:1 feedback session, she looked with me at her results and gained significant insights into her approach to collaborating with Marko. It turned out that her intrapersonal dialogue mostly begins from the Dominating mode, meaning she tends to be judgmental and punitive toward herself in stressful work situations. In her internal dialogue, the Dominating mode triggers the Compliant Mode—anxious and submissive reactions, leading her to neglect her own needs, excessively worry, and accept tasks without questioning. In her relationship with Marko, she also acts in the Dominating mode, often blaming, fault-finding, and bossy. Under her pressure, Marko sometimes responds by taking the blame for unfinished work (Compliant Mode) but also reacts from the Resistant Mode, sabotaging task completion on time and being rebellious.
By exploring the golden modes of communication, Mila identified strengths she could leverage in this situation. Her ability to account for the situation, assess it, be aware, and make choices best suited for their relationship, and to involve Marko in discussing how they can best collaborate, was used in her preparation for the conversation with Marko. Through understanding her functioning style, Mila realized that she used guiding and directing much more than looking after herself and others. To build a psychologically safe work environment, both elements of social responsibility are needed. Developing skills in empathy, compassion, and understanding helped her use more of the Nurturing mode in communication with herself intrapersonally and with Marko.
After five coaching sessions, Mila was ready to discuss their relationship and collaboration with Marko. She arranged to meet with Marko outside the office and offered him the choice
Figure 2. The Cycle of Reconciliation
of the meeting location. This approach left enough space for Marko to make a choice and co-create the environment for the conversation. Awareness of the power dynamic between manager and employee is a crucial aspect of the relationship. By doing this, Mila avoided dictating all the terms of the conversation using the power of authority, which would have repeated the Dominating – Compliant/ Resistant dynamic they had previously. Mila started the conversation by expressing her appreciation for setting aside time to discuss their relationship (Compliant Mode). She was aware of her tendency to dominate, so she paid attention to her non-verbal behavior (Accounting). She presented the situation from her perspective and acknowledged her mistakes, such as the lack of onboarding and team integration. She shared with Marko that it would be difficult for her to adapt to a new team, putting herself in his shoes (Nurturing mode), and offered concrete suggestions for improving their relationship. She invited Marko to use this meeting to analyze what happened between them and what they could learn from the previous situation (Accounting) and to plan how they would work together in the future (Structuring). This approach
encouraged open communication between them, which further resulted in improved relations and conflict resolution.
The call for individual coaching in this case study was a signal that a pattern sabotaging efficiency, success, and well-being in the organization was occurring. It is up to us, who deal with human resources and organizational development, to recognize such conditions and support the organization and its leaders in doing something about it. The conflict may help individuals build healthy bridges between each other. It can also indicate that the organization is not building safe bridges and is leaving people to come out of conflict with bruises or perhaps more serious injuries.
LITERATURE:
Temple, S. (1999). Functional Fluency for Educational Transactional Analysts. Transactional Analysis Journal. 29:3, 164-174.
Temple, S. (2004). Update on the Functional Fluency Model in Education. Transactional Analysis Journal, 34:3, 197204.
Salters, D. (2015). Transactional Analysis and Conflict Management. Transactional Analysis Journal. 45:4, 260-265.
Just like a surgeon who can save or destroy a life with his bladesrecruitment professionals carry the HR karmic scalpel as every hiring decision shapes the destiny of a human life. However, as of lately, the recruitment scalpel is increasingly being held by AI. HRs are struggling to understand: how can we choose our AI responsibly and not allow dystopian blackbox systems to dictate the future?
Moreover, a Mercer study of 4,000+ employees found that HR leaders have more influence than the CEO and CIO when convincing teams to adopt new technologies. And yet, only 13% of HR leaders actively speak up in key business decisions. HRs are superheroes, but they are afraid to wear their capes.
AI Hype vs. AI Fear: Where’s the Truth?
Every major technological shift has faced fear and scepticism. Socrates fiercely combated the notion of writing, arguing that it would destroy human memory and turn us into animals. The printing press & newspaper were seen as the killer of social gatherings - “What’s the point of meeting up and gossiping if we can read it all up in the newspaper?” people protested. Fast forward to today, and AI is crucified between two extremes: 1) The optimist - “Save the world through AI” or 2) The pessimist - Orwellian dystopian nightmares similar to the Terminator. One thing that optimists and pessimists have in common is that they are both emotional and not rational.
Take this example: Tesla’s AI-powered driving system has been blamed for killing a pedestrian, true. However, statistically, if all cars were autonomous, traffic deaths would drop from 40,000 to just 5,000 per year. That’s why we must approach the AI topic with data and statistics, not emotions.
it learns from and the meticulous algorithm protection that business-savvy engineers can embed into it (if they are aware of potential risks).
Fixing AI’s Failures: Solutions for HR
While AI hiring tools have flaws, they can also be less biased than humans—if built correctly.
Some key solutions include:
- Safe Machine Learning Over Deep Learning: Instead of black-box deep learning, HR should use transparent machine learning that allows for explainability and bias control. “Why was this score given?” - should be part of the solution.
The reality? AI is neither savior nor villain—it’s a tool. And HR must understand it and learn to wield it intelligently.
AI in hiring is facing a similar debate. Some claim it will eliminate bias and create a hiring utopia, while others fear it will reinforce discrimination and dehumanize the process. The reality? AI is neither savior nor villain—it’s a tool. And HR must understand it and learn to wield it intelligently
Understanding AI: Rule-Based vs. Learning Systems
Traditional software follows rigid rules: If X, then Y. AI, however, learns from patterns in data—and that’s where the risks emerge.
Take Amazon’s AI hiring tool: it was trained on historical hiring data dominated by men and began downgrading resumes with words like “women’s soccer team.” Amazon shut it down, but the lesson remains: AI is only as good as the data
- Feature Engineering to Remove Bias: ZenHire, for example, excludes sensitive parameters like gender, race, and ethnicity, focusing solely on objective verbal and para-verbal cues—micropauses, filler words, WPM, and other linguistic markers—for fair and accurate AI interviews.
- Human + AI Synergy: AI should measure candidate aspects, not decide. Instead of making hiring decisions, AI should provide structured data points, leaving HR to apply human judgment more efficiently.
- Ethical DEI-Driven Filters: AI can increase diversity by ensuring candidate pools accurately reflect gender and demographic representation before final selections and by removing sensitive parameters from the decision-making process.
The Future of Hiring: AI as an Ally, Not a Threat
Now imagine a future where AI handles the grind, and HR leaders become the builders of relationships, cultures, and workplaces where people truly thrive. If you choose your AI wisely, it won’t replace you; it will partner with you and help you amplify what makes you human.
That’s why you, HRs, have a responsibility to guide AI’s development—not fear it. And if all goes well? You will be a true superhero, and your organization will thrive.
HOW HR TRANSFORMED OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS
Aleksandar Zemunić, Managing Partner, Selectio
The shift of the HR role was driven by several key factors, such as increased competition and globalization, that compelled organizations to recognize the importance of their people as a source of competitive advantage. Technological advancements, particularly in data analytics and HR technology, provided HR professionals with tools to measure their impact and contribute more strategically. Furthermore, a growing understanding of the link between human capital and business performance pushed HR to become more involved in strategic decision-making. Regulatory changes and an increased focus on talent management and employee engagement also played crucial roles in this evolution.
The HR function has undergone a significant (r)evolution over the last 20 years, transitioning from a primarily administrative role focused on personnel management to a strategic function deeply integrated with the overall business objectives. This transformation has, in many organizations, seen HR evolve into a business partner, contributing to organizational success in tangible ways. Today, in 81% of Employer Partner companies 1, the HR function is involved in business decisionmaking and strategic planning at the organizational level with other members of top management.
The shift of the HR role was driven by several key factors, such as increased competition and globalization, that compelled organizations to recognize the importance of their people as a source of competitive advantage. Technological advancements, particularly in data analytics and HR technology, provided HR professionals with tools to measure their impact and contribute more strategically. Furthermore, a growing understanding of the link between human capital and business performance pushed HR to become more involved in
strategic decision-making. Regulatory changes and an increased focus on talent management and employee engagement also played crucial roles in this evolution. For companies whose HR function remains more operational than strategic, several steps can be taken to elevate their HR to a strategic level.
Firstly, there needs to be a shift in mindset at the leadership level, recognizing HR as a strategic asset rather than a cost centre. Leaders and managers, involve your HR leadership in strategic planning from the start, ensure they have the resources and support they need to develop their capabilities, and recognize the critical role of human capital in achieving your business goals.
Secondly, HR departments need to develop a deeper understanding of the business itself, including its goals, challenges, and competitive landscape. HR professionals, invest in your strategic capabilities, including skills in business strategy, financial literacy, change management, and communication and marketing. Employer Partner companies set a good benchmark; they all have an employer branding strategy or
1 Companies that are certified by SELECTIO Group for high-quality HR management.
guidelines, and as many as 34% of them have a multi-year employer branding strategy.
Continuous professional development and business acumen allow HR to align its initiatives with strategic priorities. Investing in HR technology and data analytics capabilities is crucial for demonstrating HR's impact on key business metrics. By tracking and analysing data related to recruitment, retention, performance, and learning and development, HR can provide evidencebased insights to inform strategic decisions. For example, companies with Employer Partner certificate use an average of 8-9 recruitment channels, and in the last 3 years we have seen a significant increase in companies using internal referral programs. In 2024, 84% of certified companies have a welldefined referral program.
For HR managers, the advice is to be proactive in demonstrating their strategic value. Develop a deep understanding of your organization’s business strategy and identify how HR can contribute to its success. Seek opportunities to partner with other business functions, use data to inform your decisions and demonstrate impact, and continuously develop your strategic skills. Embrace the r(E)volution of HR and position yourselves as strategic leaders within your organizations.
Investing in HR technology and data analytics capabilities is crucial for demonstrating HR's impact on key business metrics. By tracking and analysing data related to recruitment, retention, performance, and learning and development, HR can provide evidence-based insights to inform strategic decisions.
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HR TRENDS TODAY: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF WORK
SAP SuccessFactors
In the dynamic world of human resources, staying ahead of trends and predictions is crucial for organizational success. Each year, HR research scientists at SAP SuccessFactors conduct research to understand the top HR and workforce trends facing organizations and share their perspective on what HR teams should consider as they look to help their companies address these trends.
Do standard knowledge levels remain consistent?
EMPLOYEE STRESS, BURNOUT, AND DISTRUST OF LEADERSHIP ARE AT HIGH LEVELS, AMPLIFIED BY MACROECONOMIC AND SOCIOPOLITICAL STRESSORS. THIS DISCONNECT GOES BEYOND SIMPLE ENGAGEMENT ISSUES; IT CAN LEAD TO HIGHLY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIORS IF LEFT UNADDRESSED.
In 2025, the team at SAP has analyzed data from 40 global and regional business press sources, identifying 254 individual trends and predictions grounded in their own research and data. From this analysis, they have outlined key meta-trends that will shape the future of work in 2025 and beyond. This article sheds light on what HR teams should focus on to capitalize on these trends and navigate the everevolving landscape of the workforce.
1. Reconnecting the Disconnected Employee
Employee stress, burnout, and distrust of leadership are at high levels, amplified by macroeconomic and sociopolitical stressors. This disconnect goes beyond simple engagement issues; it can lead to highly counterproductive behaviors if left unaddressed. To reverse this trend, HR leaders should focus on fulfilling the psychological contract by understanding and meeting the employee needs that are currently unmet, as well as supporting people managers by ensuring they are equipped to provide support and reassurance to their teams.
2. Moving from AI Hype to AI Impact
The focus on AI (including but not limited to AI in HR) is shifting from pilot projects to enterprise-wide implementations, with an increased demand for measurable value and ROI. In 2025 and beyond, companies will narrow
in on their key AI value drivers, as the time to assess its true impact has arrived. This focus will help guide businesses in selecting use cases that are likely to see strong AI adoption.
3. Striking a Balance to Steer Skills Forward
Rapid AI advancements are widening skills gaps, necessitating a more strategic approach to skills development. HR teams, therefore, could focus on adopting skills-based practices by fostering reskilling and upskilling through robust learning cultures and meaningful learning experiences, emphasizing human skills by encouraging critical thinking, communication, emotional intelligence, and leadership as unique differentiators against AI, as well as prioritizing AI literacy as a critical long-term success strategy for both HR and the broader workforce.
When it comes to SAP, through SAP SuccessFactors, a suite that provides cloud HR solutions for core HR and payroll, talent management, analytics & planning, and employee experience management, organizations can use AI to support data-driven decision-making, eliminate inefficiencies, and increase employee productivity. A few examples of what AI can achieve in SAP SuccessFactors relate to generating job descriptions and interview questions, identifying best candidates for a job, as well as generating time-saving insights and providing tailored career growth recommendations.
What are the specifics of employment law and contractual obligations?
In the talent mapping process, who furnishes the responses and through what means?
What are the standard benchmarks for compensation, benefits, and incentives?
What constitutes the prevailing tech stack in use?
Is there uniformity in the quality of services, or do variations exist, and if so, to what extent?
How and where can we track and understand the progress of AI advancements?
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The Disruptive Mindset How Companies Can Embrace Change Without Losing People
Disruption is no longer a buzzword—it’s a necessity. The world moves fast, and those unwilling to adapt risk becoming irrelevant. But fostering a disruptive mindset in an organization is easier said than done. It requires space for change, tolerance for mistakes, and a culture that values experimentation over perfection.
Learning Disruption from Machines
Artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, presents an intriguing parallel. It allows us to step into another person’s mindset, understand their thought processes, and even model their behaviors. But can a machine truly help us become more disruptive thinkers? AI can accelerate learning and challenge conventional thinking, but it lacks the human element—the courage to take risks and the resilience to handle failure.
Creating an Affirmative Environment for Change
A company that embraces disruption must create an environment where change is not only accepted but also celebrated. This means creating a psychologically safe environment so that employees feel comfortable experimenting. It also means recognizing that truly disruptive people are often misunderstood. Their ideas may challenge the status quo, and not every experiment will succeed. However, if organizations fail to support them, these individuals may leave, taking their innovative potential with them.
The Risk of Losing Disruptors
Too often, companies highlight disruptors as valuable assets but abandon them when their ideas fail to materialize. This erodes credibility, discourages risk-taking, and leaves the company with employees who are hesitant to take on new challenges. True transformation happens when organizations celebrate the effort, not just the outcome. A culture of experimentation means recognizing that failure is not the opposite of success—it’s part of the journey.
Finding the Right Balance
Disruption doesn’t have to be radical to be effective. Even a 10% shift in mindset can make a difference if it reaches all levels of an organization. The key is to ensure that employees can absorb change. without feeling overwhelmed. This requires building internal support systems that help people navigate uncertainty.
To thrive in a disruptive world, organizations must learn to strike a balance: encouraging change without alienating those who drive it. The future belongs to those who are ready to experiment, fail, learn, and try again.
HOW FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES IN THE WORKPLACE CONTRIBUTE TO EMPLOYEES, CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
Vesna Savić Đukić, UNICEF
Mental health is a global issue, a silent emergency of our time, especially for adolescents and young people. It is impacted by a range of complex family, cultural, societal, economic, and environmental factors that put the mental health of young people, as well as parents and caregivers, at elevated risk.
Mental health affects how we think, feel, and act. It determines our ability to manage stress, relate to others, and make choices that affect our health. For children, it’s the bedrock of emotional resilience, influencing their ability to form meaningful connections, learn, and grow. With more than one in seven
adolescents living with mental health conditions globally and one in four children living with a parent who has a mental disorder, understanding the critical connection between caregiver mental health and child and youth mental health and well-being is paramount.
Research consistently demonstrates the impact of unaddressed parents’ mental health conditions on the mental health of children and youth under their care. They can have a lasting impact on children’s long-term emotional and physical development. It is imperative to recognize the impact that workplace
Adolescence, the British television psychological crime drama series released on Netflix in March, raises tough questions for parents all over the world. How do we stay connected to our teens? How do we address issues around the mental health and well-being of our children? Support for mental health and psychosocial wellbeing within HR policies is becoming more and more urgent.
With more than one in seven adolescents living with mental health conditions globally and one in four children living with a parent who has a mental disorder, understanding the critical connection between caregiver mental health and child and youth mental health and wellbeing is paramount.
From ‘reducing parental stress’ to ‘enhancing family well-being’, social structures and the work environment have been shown to affect stresses associated with parenting. Family-friendly policies can help to reduce parenting stress and promote wellbeing among caregivers, particularly among women.
practices and family-friendly policies can have on caregiver mental health, and by extension, on child and youth mental health.
In fast-paced and demanding work environments, caregivers often face significant challenges in balancing their work responsibilities with their caregiving duties. The stress, fatigue, and burnout experienced by parents can directly affect their ability to provide nurturing and supportive environments for children. Moreover, untreated mental health issues among parents can put pressure on the relationships in the family and can sometimes increase the risk of exposure to adverse childhood experiences. Repeated exposure to these experiences can lead to repercussions on child and
1 Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.
youth mental health and emotional and psychological well-being. Furthermore, decent 1 work plays a crucial role in safeguarding mental health by providing a livelihood, confidence, purpose, and positive relationships. Supporting individuals with mental health conditions is particularly important as issues such as poor work scheduling and negative workplace characteristics pose mental health risks. Emphasizing the importance of decent work, therefore, becomes fundamental for mental health protection and recovery globally. From ‘reducing parental stress’ to ‘enhancing family well-being’, social structures and the work environment have been shown to affect stresses associated with parenting. Familyfriendly policies can help to reduce parenting stress and promote wellbeing among caregivers, particularly among women.
These policies, which encompass initiatives such as paid parental leave, quality and affordable childcare, and flexible working arrangements, not only alleviate the burden on parents, but also contribute to improved mental health outcomes. They have been shown to enhance employee retention, productivity and overall workforce well-being, ultimately contributing to a more positive workplace culture and bolstering the bottom line of businesses. In conclusion, it leads to better businesses, happier families and healthier children and young people.
UNICEF’s brief explores workplace practices and family-friendly policies that support caregiver mental health and, by extension, child and youth mental health. It highlights the importance of adopting these policies as a shared responsibility among businesses, policymakers, and society, with a focus on the role of the private sector.
It is imperative to recognize the impact that workplace practices and family-friendly policies can have on caregiver mental health, and by extension, on child and youth mental health.
GENERALI INSURANCE
The Most Inclusive Employer of 2024
Generali Insurance Serbia has been honored with the title of “Most Inclusive Employer” for 2024. This award, established by the Responsible Business Forum and Smart Kolektiv with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), recognizes companies that create inclusive workplaces where all employees enjoy equal opportunities and feel accepted and valued in every aspect of their professional lives.
“We want a workplace where everyone, without exception, feels welcomed and respected. Inclusion and equal opportunity are embedded in our strategy, but more importantly, they are part of our daily practice and culture at Generali. We believe this reflects not only our commitment to being a company of good people, but also our effort to raise awareness about the importance of building a society where equality and diversity allow everyone to reach their full potential,” says Milan Nestorović, Head of HR and Organization.
Generali Insurance Serbia was also recognized with a special award for its outstanding contribution to the employment of persons with disabilities, in the category of large companies. Both honors reflect a series of initiatives dedicated to building and strengthening an inclusive workplace culture.
The company has introduced a customized benefits package for employees with disabilities. These colleagues are entitled to reimbursement for costs related to obtaining official disability status, five additional days of paid leave, and an annual allowance of RSD 120,000, which can be used for medication, supplements, rehabilitation, or insurance products.
Generali has also adapted its recruitment process to be more accessible to persons with disabilities, introduced internships for young people with disabilities, and partnered with the Youth with Disabilities Forum. Company-wide training sessions on inclusive hiring have been held to raise awareness among all employees, and internal Guidelines on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion have been adopted.
“An inclusive workplace is about more than just hiring people with disabilities. It’s a long-term strategy and a continuous commitment to supporting our colleagues,” say representatives from Generali. “By fostering an inclusive culture, we’re helping to break down prejudice and shape a society where everyone has an equal chance to contribute to shared success. These awards are a meaningful sign that our efforts are being seen. They confirm we’re on the right path—and encourage us to go even further.”
The art and science of uncovering leadership potential
Nelica Bogunović, Melina Knežević TackTMI, a GiGroup Holding Company
Companies usually understand the key importance of highpotential employees for successful succession planning, development of business, optimization of objectives, and long-term success. However, only 3-5% of highly productive employees are being recognized as the ones with characteristics needed for leadership roles (Ready, Conger & Hill, 2010). These figures might arise out of a general leadership deficit, but also due to certain shortcomings in the assessment approach and in failing to take some wider factors into consideration.
THE THING WITH POTENTIAL LEADERS IS TRICKY, THEY THRIVE FOR CHALLENGES, SELF-DEVELOPMENT, AND REACHING HIGH STANDARDS, BUT THEY ARE ALSO USUALLY AWARE OF THEIR OWN POTENTIAL, MEANING THEY COULD LEAVE IF THEY DO NOT FULFIL THEIR GOALS AND ASPIRATIONS.
Companies usually understand the key importance of high-potential employees for successful succession planning, development of business, optimization of objectives, and long-term success. However, only 3-5% of highly productive employees are being recognized as the ones with characteristics needed for leadership roles (Ready, Conger & Hill, 2010). These figures might arise out of a general leadership deficit, but also due to certain shortcomings in the assessment approach and in failing to take some wider factors into consideration. Therefore, timely, efficient, and most importantly, valid identification of potential leaders is becoming the first step in making this company treasure more visible. Furthermore, the development of those individuals is fundamental in retaining existing talents and ensuring the business benefits from their ability.
The question is – are companies putting enough effort into identifying and developing potential shining stars among people who are already on their team? Or perhaps they reach outside, trying to find the perfect, “ready-made” leaders on the market. They have different approaches to identifying that potential, and might even define it differently, but a missing piece of the puzzle is also how much employees are aware of their own potential and to what extent they are able to recognize it. So, how does your company approach the identification of individuals with determination, stamina, a high level of skills and abilities?
How to discover a potential star?
When analysing high potential, employers usually have in mind highly productive and high-achieving employees. They often focus on those employees who had already been considered for promotion. When evaluating their competences, companies may rely on general impressions and immediate feedback of their managers and peers, even the intuition of assessors. Those methods are bringing valuable information, but some of them can be subjective or even misleading.
PART 1: PRODUCTIVITY VS LEADERSHIP
Let`s consider high productivity as a criterion for the existence of high potential. Do highly productive employees also have high potential? The problem is that people with high potential almost as a rule, achieve high results, but it does not necessarily mean the other way around - highly productive people are not by default good leaders. For example, highly productive sales representatives can easily
and regularly hit and overcome targets, but that doesn`t mean they would be suitable for leading the team and understanding and developing people`s capacities. Also, a manager can select the person based on their impression, or intuition, and that person can become a great performer, but the question remains whether its success is based on highly developed competencies or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy?
PART 2: WHERE THE SCIENCE TAKES THE LEAD
All those characteristics of high potential visible in everyday work, such as growth capacity, adaptivity, resilience, aspiration, or willingness to learn, are being thoroughly scientifically analysed and organized into measurable and reliable categories – personality traits, competencies or behavioural dimensions which are helping us to better understand, select, develop, follow-up and mentor the capable and promising ones.
The Big Five model of personality is perhaps the most prominent and reliable model of personality, extensively used to measure potential across the globe.
For Ian McRae and Adrian Furnham, it was a starting point for the exploration of specific personality traits that could be valid predictors of success and high potential on a leadership level. They had conducted extensive longitudinal research that lasted more than 5 years, on more than 100 senior leaders, and they had identified six personality traits that were
THE PROBLEM IS THAT PEOPLE WITH HIGH POTENTIAL ALMOST AS A RULE, ACHIEVE HIGH RESULTS, BUT IT DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND - HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE ARE NOT BY DEFAULT GOOD LEADERS.
Ambiguity acceptance – Ability to
methodology (High Potential Trait Indicator or HPTI) is based on the optimality model, meaning that the optimal level of a trait is defined concerning the requirements of the job role or a position, such as senior executive leadership. Too much or less than optimal output on traits implies potential advantages or disadvantages for a person in a leadership position.
PART 3:
ASSESSMENT AS A PART OF WIDER HR PROCESSES
And what happens after we identify potential leaders?
Assessment of high potential is merely the beginning of the process of developing and
Figure 1. Visual representation - level of personality traits (Thomas Personality Assessment Hub Data Sheet Version 1 Revision 1, 2021)
nurturing key individuals in the team. The thing with potential leaders is tricky, they thrive for challenges, self-development, and reaching high standards, but they are also usually aware of their own potential, meaning they could leave if they do not fulfil their goals and aspirations. Wise companies think ahead, planning the development of high-potential employees and assessing their competencies systematically, following Richard Branson`s words, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”
PART 4: BEST PRACTICES OR HOW TO PROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY
„Our employees had an opportunity for individual feedback that raised awareness of their strengths and built the commitment for taking the responsibility for individual development.“ Ivana Idei Todorić, Talent Manager, Nelt Grupa
Nelt, one of Southeast Europe’s most successful business systems in the FMCG industry, has recognized the six HPTI traits as a good measure of their own company leadership model. They wanted to map key working strengths of their leadership team and define areas for development for leaders of different seniority. Feedback on assessment results helped their managers individually to raise awareness regarding leadership competencies, but also to build commitment and define priorities and focus for further development. Also, this motivated employees to define and articulate their own career goals and aspirations and create a meaningful connection between them and their characteristics. Furthermore, assessment of high potential was essential in understanding compatibilities on the team level. Assessment of high potential traits proved to be useful in performance
WHEN ANALYSING HIGH POTENTIAL, EMPLOYERS USUALLY HAVE IN MIND HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE AND HIGH-ACHIEVING EMPLOYEES. THEY OFTEN FOCUS ON THOSE EMPLOYEES WHO HAD ALREADY BEEN CONSIDERED FOR PROMOTION. WHEN EVALUATING THEIR COMPETENCES, COMPANIES MAY RELY ON GENERAL IMPRESSIONS AND IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK OF THEIR MANAGERS AND PEERS, EVEN THE INTUITION OF ASSESSORS. THOSE METHODS ARE BRINGING VALUABLE INFORMATION, BUT SOME OF THEM CAN BE SUBJECTIVE OR EVEN MISLEADING.
management as well, giving insights and contributions to employee reviews. This has helped senior managers to better understand employees’ potential and adjust group development plans.
“Thomas HPTI assessment tool has provided us with valuable insights into the possible directions for further development, by indicating a wide spectrum of personal characteristics and behaviour patterns.” Ivana Idei Todorić, Talent Manager, Nelt Grupa
PART 5: HEADING FOR HIGHER GOALS
By correctly identifying potential leaders, companies have an opportunity to build talent pools for effective recruitment for senior leadership positions and successors in key roles. Assessment tools such as HPTI are helping them to get summarized, explicable, and systematic information, which can help employees to become aware of their abilities and potential. This makes the first step in creating a thriving culture with highly engaged leaders and committed employees.
Being truly devoted to developing leaders through individual and group development
programs, giving regular feedback and raising self-awareness related to their potential, allowing them to pursue their individual goals and even make a few mistakes on that road, companies can set the path towards establishing a nurturing, psychologically safe and high-performing business environment.
To do all that, questions to ask at the beginning of the process might be – what makes someone a great leader in our company, how can we recognize and support them and how can we let them know that they can be a great leader?
Sources
Beaumont-Oates, W. (2024). Characteristics of high potential employees. https://www.thomas.co/ resources/type/hr-blog/characteristics-high-potentialemployees
Stimpson, D. (2024). How to identify high potential Employees. https://www.thomas.co/resources/type/hrblog/how-identify-high-potential-employees
Ready D.A, Conger J.A. & Hill L.A. (2010). Are you a high potential? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr. org/2010/06/are-you-a-high-potential
dr Sara Kuburić, Millenial Therapist
When I first found myself in a leadership position, it wasn’t because I set out to lead. In fact, it was the last thing I expected. My career had always been about helping others in a quieter, more behind-the-scenes way. But as life unfolded, I found myself stepping into more visible roles, making decisions, and carrying the responsibility of guiding others. I began to question: What does it really mean to be a leader? Over the years, I’ve learned five important lessons.
1 Leadership is about serving others, not just directing them.
One of the first things I learned is that leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about being the one who listens, and who helps others feel heard and valued. The best leaders I’ve encountered were those who were deeply invested in the success and well-being of their teams, offering support rather than just instruction.
2 A good leader knows when to step back.
It’s tempting to think that leadership means always being at the forefront, making all the decisions. But I’ve learned that sometimes, the best way to lead is to step back and let others take charge. Empowering others to step into their own leadership roles is crucial. It creates a sense of ownership and fosters a collaborative environment where everyone thrives.
EMPOWERING OTHERS TO STEP INTO THEIR OWN LEADERSHIP ROLES IS CRUCIAL. IT CREATES A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP AND FOSTERS A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYONE THRIVES.
3
Leading by example is far more powerful than leading by words.
I realized early on that leadership isn’t just about telling people what to do. It’s about showing them how to do it. When I was able to model the values and behaviors I wanted to see in my team, those actions spoke louder than any directive. Leadership is a practice, not just a position.
4 Vulnerability builds
trust.
For a long time, I thought I had to be perfect and have all the answers to be a good leader. But the most powerful lesson I’ve learned is that vulnerability is a strength. When I showed up with my own doubts and challenges, I saw others feel safe to share theirs. Trust wasn’t built through my certainty but through my openness.
5 Leadership is about giving, not taking.
My greatest leadership lesson came from Adam Grant’s work in Give and Take, shifting my understanding of leadership. I always thought leadership meant taking—accumulating power or influence. But Grant’s idea that the most successful leaders are givers changed everything. He showed me that leadership, when done well, is about generosity. A leader doesn’t hoard resources or opportunities for themselves; they elevate those around them. As Grant puts it, “The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed.” This idea resonated with me so deeply—it’s not just about being at the top, but about lifting others up along the way. That’s the type of leadership I can get behind!
Leadership is a journey of discovery. As you navigate your own path, consider: How do you define a leader? Who are your role models, and what strengths and weaknesses do you bring to the table as one?
UNITED PURPOSE: How CKB Builds a Culture of Belonging Across Generations in
Slađana Kalezić, Director of HR Department, CKB
Danijela Petović, Team Leader for Learning and Development, CKB
With 617 employees and a presence throughout Montenegro, CKB is the country’s largest bank and a clear example of how organizations can successfully navigate growth, transformation, and cultural evolution. For CKB, adaptation is not a trend but a way of working, where learning and change are continuous and inclusive.
DIVERSITY AS A STRENGTH
Over the past four years, 36% of CKB’s current employees joined during a wave of significant organizational change, including the introduction of new departments and agile collaboration models. This transformation has strengthened—not diluted—the bank’s commitment to diversity.
CKB’s workforce spans four generations, from 21 to 63 years old, with 65% women, 80% employees holding higher education degrees, and a mix of leadership and operational roles. This multigenerational, multidisciplinary, and multinational mix is more than a demographic fact—it’s a driver of shared values.
Diversity is embodied in the bank vision, TU SMO, and values - simple, safe, caring Senior colleagues embody reliability and mentorship, providing continuity and deep expertise in practicing safe principles. Others bring structure and simplicity to complex processes, helping maintain market leadership and living TU SMO each day. Many reflect the “caring” value, fostering an empathetic and supportive culture. The youngest colleagues set digital and agile standards, challenging traditional processes and accelerating innovation, introducing principles of simple
INVESTING IN FUTURE TALENT
Recognizing the importance of early engagement, CKB opens its doors to young talent through school visits, internships, and hands-on workshops. The CKB Academy—launched last year—
focuses on data analysis, IT excellence, and banking innovation, blending mentorship with real-world challenges. Of the 15 participants in the pilot, more than half continued their careers at CKB; this year’s cohort includes 25 new participants.
EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE AS STRATEGY
CKB’s "We Are Here" philosophy reflects a deep commitment to employee well-being and experience. It’s not just a slogan—it’s embedded in practice:
► Psychological safety is nurtured through open communication, feedback loops (360-degree evaluations, engagement surveys, working groups), and regular town halls.
► Development opportunities span from digital learning and international programs to coaching and cross-border exchange with OTP branches.
► Tailored benefits address diverse life stages, including flexible loan terms and family support.
► Well-being programs cover physical and mental health, creativity, and stress management, with team activities such as hiking, community marathons, or live sessions with experts in medicine, sports, and healthy lifestyles.
PUTTING THE CLIENT AT THE CENTER
Client-centricity is both an external and internal priority. The “100 HQ Calls” initiative enables non-sales managers to directly engage with dissatisfied clients, while CX workshops help support back-office teams connect with frontline realities. Bonus systems are linked to client satisfaction, and design thinking workshops with clients have directly informed new products for key segments such as youth and seniors.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AS A CORE VALUE
CKB actively fosters employee involvement in community and environmental initiatives— nature cleaning efforts with OTP Albania and inclusive projects with the Red Cross and Paralympic Committee. CSR at CKB isn’t an afterthought—it’s integrated into the company’s DNA, encouraging participation both during and beyond working hours.
A CULTURE THAT GROWS TOGETHER
CKB shows that when diversity is nurtured, learning is constant, and purpose is shared, employees don’t just adapt—they thrive. Across differences in age, background, and experience, one thing unites them: They are here, together, with intention.
“Build Your Team Fuel Success” “Build Your Team, Fuel Success”
Jelena Šćekić INTEAM powered by INSTORE
In an era where the value of teams within the company is finally in focus, empowering them should be the fundamental principle of a mature organization. This process should be driven by altruism to support employees and create opportunities for education, inspiration, and team bonding.
Among many tools, the most effective are shared activities, especially those involving fun, competition, and engagement. Team building (TB) is the most impactful form of it, and in its widest sense, TB is all events that contribute to team cohesion and growth.
Studies reinforce the crucial role of TB in a company’s success.
The top five benefits are:
► E ngaged employees can boost productivity by 17% and profitability by 21%.
► Team socializing can improve communication by over 50%, ensuring smoother workflows.
► TB drives innovation, leading to a 34% improvement in product quality.
► Ov er 54% of employees stay in companies due to a strong workplace community.
► TB helps cr eate meaningful connections, so employees with close friendships at work are 2x more engaged.
Sources:
Flair, Invite Japan, Gallup
The necessity of incorporating TB into a company’s calendar is undeniable. However, this doesn’t always mean hosting largescale, high-budget events. A combination of medium and smaller activities can create long-lasting and remarkable effects. Creative workshops, CSR initiatives, orienteering and hiking, skill-based learning sessions, food tastings, visits to unique locations, and engaging games may seem simple, but when shared as a team, they become powerful bonding experiences. Large gala events are also valuable, as they offer an opportunity to highlight that a company owes its success to its teams. No matter what format you choose, always remember: investing in your team is never an expense—it’s a long-term investment in success. Being a compass for companies on this journey brings us pure joy!
BUSINESS ENGLISH & COMMUNICATION SKILLS
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FROM TRADITIONAL TO DIGITAL: THE POWER OF AUTOMATED (COMPLIANCE) TRAINING
Ana Pegan, Product Manager at Bridgewater Labs
Training plays a crucial role in every company, from onboarding and leadership development to job-specific skill-building. However, compliance training stands apart due to its mandatory nature, regulatory oversight, and direct impact on business operations. While most organizations have adopted online platforms, cloud-based solutions, or LMS tools for general training, compliance training remains largely manual. While online training cuts costs by 40-60% (LinkedIn Learning), many companies still rely on manual methods, despite 46% already conducting compliance training entirely online.
Training plays a crucial role in every company, from onboarding and leadership development to job-specific skill-building. However, compliance training stands apart due to its mandatory nature, regulatory oversight, and direct impact on business operations. While most organizations have adopted online platforms, cloud-based solutions, or LMS tools for general training, compliance training remains largely manual. While online training cuts costs by 40-60% (LinkedIn Learning), many companies still rely on manual methods, despite 46% already conducting compliance training entirely online ( Graph 1 ). Based on dozens of interviews with HR and HSE professionals, we found that many companies still rely on spreadsheets, email reminders, and paper-based records—even in industries where compliance is critical for legal and safety reasons.
In smaller and mid-sized businesses, compliance training is often outsourced. However, larger enterprises typically run in-house programs with dedicated HSE teams. Industries such as manufacturing, construction, oil & gas, logistics, energy, and pharmaceuticals operate under strict safety and regulatory frameworks. This means staying on top of:
► Ongoing compliance training to meet industry regulations.
► Site inductions for employees and subcontractors.
► Audits and inspections to ensure safety and avoid legal risks.
Automating compliance training reduces workplace incidents by up to 50% (OSHA, Graph 2 ). With stricter regulations and growing safety demands, digitalization is no longer optional— it’s essential.
A Digital Compliance Training Solution: Real-World Insights
In our November 2024 interview, the Safe MIND project team at Lafarge Serbia shared their journey in launching the platform, highlighting the steps taken from the idea to full implementation.
The company’s leadership recognized the need for change early on.
For us, health and safety are very, very important. This is not the case where you can calculate the ROI, but you can see how much time and money is spent on the training done regularly. Our CEO approved the project right away because he truly believes in the health and safety culture.
With management buy-in secured, the next challenge was finding the right vendor—a process that took six months. Implementation, including testing, content development, and system deployment, lasted less than a year.
Counting everything in—the test phase, the preparation of
the materials, and the training recording, the development—it took less than a year from the CEO's decision to do it until the full implementation.
The shift to automation eliminated logistical inefficiencies and gave employees direct access to compliance materials without depending on HR or safety officers.
They don’t have to call our safety department to ask questions; they can just go to the platform and see everything they want to know.
By digitizing compliance training, Lafarge Serbia streamlined operations, reduced costs, and ensured continuous workforce safety.
Final thoughts
Many companies implement global LMS solutions that fail to adapt to their processes. This choice limits flexibility, especially for industries requiring localized content and aligning the app flow with the local regulations. From our experience, companies that invest in customizable platforms save time and costs, improve compliance and workforce engagement, ensuring a safer, more efficient workplace.
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GENERATION Z:
Ivana Brkljača, Gen Z & Young Talents Expert and Business Consultant, IB Management
We talk about Generation Z, and we often wonder how old they are and why there is so much focus on them, especially after they finish their education. Until the moment they step into the working world, they are perceived as young people full of dreams and ambitions, but without much questioning of their own values and role models. No, with the first steps into professional life, a sudden change occurs – they become the generation everyone talks about, as their priorities, way of thinking, and expectations from employers change the rules of the game.
WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF GENERATION Z?
We talk about Generation Z, and we often wonder how old they are and why there is so much focus on them, especially after they finish their education. Until the moment they step into the working world, they are perceived as young people full of dreams and ambitions, but without much questioning of their own values and role models. No, with the first steps into professional life, a sudden change occurs – they become the generation everyone talks about, as their priorities, way of thinking, and expectations from employers change the rules of the game. Depending on the author, Generation Z includes young people born between 1995 and 2012. They grew up in a digitally connected world, where information is available in an instant, and global connectivity
is not just an option but a way of life. Social media has become their primary means of expression, connection, and professional development. Their courage to be authentic, to question norms, and to constantly seek better solutions makes them key drivers of change. Young talents of this generation do not want to fit into existing frameworks; instead, they want to expand and redefine them. They do not accept the status quo – they are innovators, creatives, and leaders of the future. Their entry into the job market brings freshness and new energy, highlighting the importance of flexibility, work-life balance, competitive compensation, and rapid career advancement, as well as the pursuit of meaningful work. No, employers are rightly asking themselves – are their expectations realistic and achievable? Is the value system, attachment, and loyalty changing with this generation?
A GENERATION THAT CHANGES THE RULES OF THE GAME
Generation Z brings new expectations and challenges to traditional business models. Now the question remains whether the business world changes them or they change the business world. Their flexibility, innovation, and desire for change make them exceptionally valuable members of the modern business world. Employers who recognize and embrace these characteristics will not only attract the best talent but will also secure the future of their organization. Generation Z is not just a workforce; they are agents of change, creators of the future, and catalysts for innovation. Their energy, digital literacy, and desire for constant progress can be the greatest strength of organizations that recognize their value.
The key question is whether employers will be visionary enough to support them, empower them, and provide them with space to grow. Time will tell whether their wishes are sustainable in the long run or if they will have to adapt to the realities of the business world. No, one thing is for sure: this generation does not wait for opportunities but creates them.
THEIR
COURAGE TO BE
AUTHENTIC,
TO
QUESTION
NORMS, AND TO CONSTANTLY SEEK BETTER SOLUTIONS MAKES THEM KEY DRIVERS OF CHANGE. YOUNG TALENTS OF THIS GENERATION DO NOT WANT TO FIT INTO EXISTING FRAMEWORKS; INSTEAD, THEY WANT TO EXPAND AND REDEFINE THEM. THEY DO NOT ACCEPT THE STATUS QUO – THEY ARE INNOVATORS, CREATIVES, AND LEADERS OF THE FUTURE.
THE POWER OF CHANGE AND ADAPTATION IN THE BUSINESS WORLD
Generation Z is not just looking for a job, but for a work environment that inspires and motivates them. Work is not just a means to earn a living, but a platform for personal and professional development. Flexibility is extremely important to them because the balance between work and private life is no longer a privilege, but a basic necessity. Authenticity and transparency are key elements that attract employers who want honest, open, and two-way relationships with their superiors and colleagues.
Continuous learning and professional development are becoming one of the main criteria when choosing an employer. Generation Z does not want to work in a stagnant environment; they seek opportunities for improvement and advancement. Their need for quick and concrete feedback is a result of the dynamic world in which adults live (Nenadić, 2022).
They don't want to wait months for an evaluation of their work; they want to know right away how they can be better and more effective. Employers who provide this opportunity will create engaged and motivated employees.
Their relationship with technology is completely natural (Chareewan et al., 2020).
Employers who do not keep up with digital trends risk losing their attention and interest. Working in a digital environment is not an option; it is a necessity. No, what truly drives them is not the technology itself, but the way they can harness its potential for innovation, creativity, and the improvement of business processes.
Don’t buy what’s easiest − invest in what truly ts.
COMMUNICATION MODEL ADAPTED FOR GENERATION Z
Generation Z is changing the way business communication works; it must be clear, fast, and two-way (Tulgan, 2013). Their world is based on instant feedback, visual communication, and digital tools. They prefer precise and concise communication without unnecessary formality, emphasizing efficiency. Digital platforms such as email, chat applications, and virtual workspaces are becoming the primary tools for their collaboration. Companies that do not integrate modern digital channels into their business processes risk losing their engagement. Their visual literacy also plays an important role, as almost 80% of them process information better through images and video content than through long textual reports (Hilcenko, 2020). Companies that want to ensure their productivity must adapt the way they present information by using modern, interactive methods of knowledge transfer.
As we all know, email is a formatted, structured communication tool in which an official tone is often used for formal information, reports, and communication with external partners. But today's generation is closer to fast, informal, and often two-way
communication, which is why chat format tools are suitable for everyday coordination, quick questions, and building team dynamics, and where an immediate reaction is expected. That's why we need to accept that digital communication is no longer just a tool for work, it also shapes team culture, and by introducing small, simple activities into the daily routine, especially digital ones that are close to Generation Z, we build an organizational climate in which employees feel seen, connected and motivated. There are different ways for employees to connect. Some of them may be shy, especially if they are new to the team or haven't met their colleagues live yet. However, companies can easily initiate moments through virtual socializing, especially in organizations that operate remotely, but also with international teams, because they do not have physical spaces for informal interactions such as a kitchen, meeting in the hallway, or other shared spaces. Therefore, this type of getting to know and connecting is moving into the digital framework of communication platforms. In this context, the phenomenon of so-called virtual coffee corners is emerging, i.e., informal communication spaces within digital channels that enable spontaneous and socially oriented interaction between employees. Below, we bring examples of good practices that can easily be implemented within any team, regardless of the location, age, or position of the members. Real-life messages and stories that mean a lot as #smallthings for #bigsteps.
Monika from marketing shares photos of her cookies with messages she baked over the weekend every Monday and shares her sweet and savory experiences, and messages with each other.
EDUCATION SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED TO THE INITIAL ONBOARDING PROCESS BUT MUST BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE WORK CULTURE. MENTORSHIP, SPECIALIZED TRAINING, AND DIGITAL LEARNING PLATFORMS ARE BECOMING KEY TOOLS THAT NOT ONLY ATTRACT YOUNG TALENT BUT ALSO RETAIN THEM WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION. COMPANIES THAT RECOGNIZE THE POWER OF CONTINUOUS EDUCATION CREATE MORE LOYAL, ENGAGED, AND PRODUCTIVE TEAMS.
Marjan from the legal depart ment started sharing his playlist and encouraged his colleagues to share the song of the week, so colleagues listen to songs from colleagues they have never met in person, for example, and
get to know each other through the style of music.
Ivana from sales posts a picture of her dog Hugo every Friday, which has become a ritual, so everyone knows who likes cats, who likes dogs, and who has some other type of animal. Marin from IT organized a game where you find out that a colleague plays the violin, and a colleague has been to Iceland.
These small things are a big step towards a more empathetic and humane work environment and strengthen authentic communication between colleagues, and the way of communication is natural and unobtrusive. Investing in such small rituals means investing in culture, satisfaction, and employee retention.
FLEXIBILITY AND HYBRID WORK MODEL IN FOCUS
Generation Z is increasingly seeking flexible working conditions, including a hybrid work model that allows them greater freedom and a balance between work and personal life. Their expectations are not just a trend, but the result of clear research that shows the positive effects of such work arrangements. According to Ergotron's report (2022) 1, employees working in a hybrid model prioritize health and well-being more than ever before. The study showed that this way of working positively affects mental health, allows for a better work-life balance, and encourages a more active lifestyle during the workday. Similarly, Prodoscore's research (2020) 2 showed that employee productivity remains strong even in remote work. The study revealed that
workers who were highly productive in the workplace maintained the same level of efficiency at home, while those with lower productivity at work also showed a decline in productivity when working remotely. This research highlights the need to adapt work models in order to optimize employee efficiency and maintain business continuity.
WORK ENVIRONMENT: BALANCE, COLLABORATION, AND AUTONOMY
Generation Z is aware that longterm success is not measured solely by working hours, but also by the quality of life. They value a work atmosphere where feedback is quick and constructive, and where technology is a tool that connects people rather than a factor of alienation (Nguyen Ngoc et al., 2022). Their involvement in work processes is not just desirable; it is essential. Active participation helps them better understand what is expected of them, while structured onboarding allows for easier adjustment and quicker achievement of their full potential within the organization (Hilčenko, 2020; Nenadić, 2022).
This generation brings dynamic energy to teamwork, while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of individual freedom and autonomy. They want to work together, and learn from colleagues but also have the space to showcase their ideas and initiatives (Chareewan et al., 2020). Their productivity increases in heterogeneous, intergenerational teams, where the exchange of knowledge and experiences enriches all participants (Bejtrovský, 2016). However, they are more
1 Ergotron. (2022). Hybrid employees prioritize health and wellness more than ever. Ergotron. https://www. ergotron.com/en-au/resources/resource-details/6302, accessed 25.01.2025.
2 Prodoscore. (2020). Productivity of remote workforce remains strong during pandemic. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201217005250/en/Prodoscore-Research-Productivity-ofRemote-Workforce-Remains-Strong-During-Pandemic, accessed 25.01.2025
motivated by short-term projects, where they can quickly see the results of their work, than by long-term, static business strategies (Tulgan, 2013).
ADAPTATION OF THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
The data clearly shows that adapting the business environment to flexible work models is no longer just an option, but a necessity. Flexibility enables better productivity, greater employee satisfaction, and long-term sustainability of organizations. No, the key to success lies not only in the work model but also in understanding the individual needs of employees. Successful companies recognize that the best results are achieved through a combination of flexibility and teamwork. However, it is important not only to enable freedom in the way of working but also to encourage
GENERATION Z IS NOT JUST A WORKFORCE; THEY ARE AGENTS OF CHANGE, CREATORS OF THE FUTURE, AND CATALYSTS FOR INNOVATION. THEIR ENERGY, DIGITAL LITERACY, AND DESIRE FOR CONSTANT PROGRESS CAN BE THE GREATEST STRENGTH OF ORGANIZATIONS THAT RECOGNIZE THEIR VALUE.
collaboration, adaptation, and mutual understanding. While younger employees may face challenges with engagement and motivation, the more experienced ones have developed strong self-management skills, which allow them to adapt more easily to new working conditions. For this reason, organizations need to develop strategies that will help young talents build work habits and achieve greater professional security in the workplace.
INVESTING IN EDUCATION – THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Continuous learning is not just a convenience; it is the foundation of a long-term business strategy. Generation Z values employers who invest in the development of their employees, encourage them to improve their skills, and provide opportunities for professional advancement. Education should not be limited to the initial onboarding process but must be an integral part of the work culture. Mentorship, specialized training, and digital learning platforms are becoming key tools that not only attract young talent but also retain them within the organization. Companies that recognize the power of continuous education create more loyal, engaged, and productive teams. Developing a culture of lifelong learning enables organizations to remain competitive in a constantly changing world. The future of business will depend on the ability to adapt, innovate, and understand the needs of new generations of employees.
Time will tell whether their wishes are sustainable in the long run or if they will have to adapt to the realities of the business world. No, one thing is certain – this generation does not wait for opportunities but creates them.
THE DATA CLEARLY SHOWS THAT ADAPTING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT TO FLEXIBLE WORK MODELS IS NO LONGER JUST AN OPTION, BUT A NECESSITY.
FLEXIBILITY
ENABLES BETTER PRODUCTIVITY,
GREATER
EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION,
AND LONG-TERM
SUSTAINABILITY
OF ORGANIZATIONS. NO, THE KEY TO SUCCESS LIES NOT ONLY IN THE WORK MODEL BUT ALSO IN UNDERSTANDING THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF EMPLOYEES.
LITERATURE
Bejtkovský, J. (2016). The employees of baby boomers generation, generation X, generation Y and generation Z in selected Czech corporations as conceivers of development and competitiveness in their corporation. Journal of competitiveness.
Chareewan, S., Grunhagen, M., Pološki Vokić, N., & Dlačić, J. (2020). Differences in work expectations of generation Y and generation Z: An empirical investigation in Croatia. Journal of Business, Industry and Economics, 25, 1-32.
Hilčenko, S. (2020). How Generation “Z” Learns Better?. European Journal of Social Science Education and Research, 7(1), 01-16.
Ho, T. C., Choo, L. S., Teo, P. C., & Kaliappen, N. (2020, November). Attracting Gen Z to small and medium enterprises (SMEs): A view through the Job Characteristic Model. In 2020 international conference on decision aid sciences and application (DASA) (pp. 142-145). IEEE.
Kirchmayer, Z., & Fratričová, J. (2020). What motivates generation Z at work? Insights into motivation drivers of business students in Slovakia. Proceedings of the Innovation management and education excellence through vision, 6019, 6030.
Nenadić, K. (2022). Gen Z Onboarding Experiences and Career Intentions (Doctoral dissertation, RIT Croatia).
Nguyen Ngoc, T., Viet Dung, M., Rowley, C., & Pejić Bach, M. (2022). Generation Z job seekers’ expectations and their job pursuit intention: Evidence from transition and emerging economy. International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 14, 18479790221112548.
Martinović, M., Barac, Z., & Pirić, V. (2023). Attitudes and behaviors of the young generations in the context of the sharing economy concept in Croatia. Zbornik Radova Ekonomski Fakultet u Rijeka, 41(2), 521-548.
Ozkan, M., & Solmaz, B. (2015). The changing face of the employees–generation Z and their perceptions of work (a study applied to university students). Procedia Economics and Finance, 26, 476-483.
Pekica, G. (2020). Expectations of Generation Z When Entering the Job Market in Croatia.
Rampen, D. C., Pangemanan, A. S., & Mandagi, D. W. (2023). The X-factors behind Gen Z employee performance: A systematic review. Jurnal Mantik, 7(2), 668-680.
Ružić, E., Benazić, D., & Paliaga, M. (2022). EMPLOYER BRANDING: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION OF THE ATTRACTIVENESS DIMENSIONS AMONG GENERATION Z MEMBERS IN CROATIA. Finance, Economics and Tourism-FET 2022, 22, 29.
Raguž, N. (2023). Impact of Feedback on Intrinsic Motivation and Persistence in Generation Z (Doctoral dissertation, RIT Croatia).
Tulgan, B. (2013). Meet Generation Z: The second generation within the giant" Millennial" cohort. Rainmaker Thinking, 125(1), 1-13.
Beyond the Motherhood
Penalty: Sharing the Cost of Care
Danica Ristić, HR consultant Zdrava karijera
Do you know this story? You surely do. It’s a tale as old as time. You drop off your perfectly healthy kid at daycare. You rush through traffic, endlessly reviewing the presentation you are due to deliver that day. As you are about to enter your office and do one last dry run, you get a call. The call. We all know the call.
The daycare is letting you know that your kid is sick—you-have-to-come-pick-him-up kind of sick. There is a high fever, a runny nose, an irritating cough, and the whole shebang. And then your mind starts to race—can someone else pick him up? Dad, grandparents, the nanny? Most likely, it will still have to be the mom knocking on your boss’s office door with another—Hey, I need to take off, my kid is sick. Yet again.
But, it’s not just them being sick. It’s the regularly scheduled doctor’s and dentist appointments, leaving early, clocking in late, and struggling not to miss any important event.
If you are a working parent, there is always something. And if you are with them, well, you are not at work. So, who pays that price? That price actually has a name. It is called the motherhood penalty.
Do you know this story? You surely do. It’s a tale as old as time.
You drop off your perfectly healthy kid at daycare. You rush through traffic, endlessly reviewing the presentation you are due to deliver that day. As you are about to enter your office and do one last dry run, you get a call. The call. We all know the call. The daycare is letting you know that your kid is sick—you-have-to-come-pick-himup kind of sick. There is a high fever, a runny nose, an irritating cough, and the whole shebang. And then your mind starts to race—can someone else pick him up? Dad, grandparents, the nanny? Most likely, it will still have to be the mom knocking on your boss’s office door with another— Hey, I need to take off, my kid is sick. Yet again.
But, it’s not just them being sick. It’s the regularly scheduled doctor’s and dentist appointments, leaving early, clocking in late, and struggling not to miss any important event.
If you are a working parent, there is always something. And if you are with them, well, you are not at work. So, who pays that price? That price actually has a name. It is called the motherhood penalty. And the brunt part of it is paid by, well, mothers.
The burden falls on the colleagues and not on the company. It is the colleagues who take on extra shifts, extra work, extra anything that is needed. Especially those who aren’t parents, the type of workers from whom everything is expected without even asking
Women who choose to have children have to, at least, delay and pause if not halt their careers altogether. They are passed for promotion, growth opportunities, and strategic initiatives. Even after their maternity leave is over and they are back to work, the fact that there is something aforementioned makes them, in the eyes of many, a subpar employee. There are, actually, a couple of scenarios here.
The worst one is to never hire women at all.
But let’s just not go there at all. The second worst one is to hire her, make an issue every time she has to miss work due to her being a parent, and either fire her or force her to quit. So, back to option one, and we are skipping that one again.
So, let’s focus on the most common onekeep the mom as an employee, allow her to take as many absences as needed, and
never adjust her career progression to her motherhood. Give her all the so-called privileges, but make sure that she pays for them. However, in that case, she is not the only one who pays. The burden falls on the colleagues and not on the company. It is the colleagues who take on extra shifts, extra work, extra anything that is needed. Especially those who aren’t parents, the type of workers from whom everything is expected without even asking. Their availability is assumed, and their willingness isn’t questioned. Who would dare say no to a mother of a sick child? That would, simply put, be unacceptable. So, the work still gets done, the mom still gets to take care of their kid, and the employer has acted not only legally but morally as well. Except that the price was still paid. Just by someone else. Since we can all agree that this solution, the one we most frequently default to, is still a faulty one, let us debate a fairer
If you are a working parent, there is always something. And if you are with them, well, you are not at work. So, who pays that price? That price actually has a name. It is called the motherhood penalty. And the brunt part of it is paid by, well, mothers.
GOOD CASE PRACTICES OF SHARING THE COST OF CARE:
GOVERNMENT POLICIES:
approach to this. To begin, it is necessary first to agree on something. Children need to be born, they inevitably get sick, and it’s a parent's duty and responsibility to take care of them. In parallel, a company has obligations towards consumers and clients and those need to be met as well. When one hinders the other, who is paying the price? Well, the fairest solution will always be for the price to be, in small sums, paid by all.
In some cases, parents will arrange for someone else to take care of the kids, so they can get the work done. In other cases, colleagues will step in and cover for their absence. Some situations will be covered by the employer’s planning ahead and better resource allocation and prioritization. And at last, the price is paid by clients as wellsometimes the work simply won’t be done on time, or at all. When everyone suffers a little, no one actually suffers at all.
So, what is needed for this kind of solution to be implemented? More than anything else, it requires a mindset shift, one where all stakeholders step out of their comfort zone, and turn to less comfortable solutions, ones that make them afraid, anxious, and worried. A parent needs to be okay, occasionally, for someone else to take care of their sick child. A colleague needs to be able to offer help without anything in return, the company to think and plan,
and the client to hear no. All positions where we relinquish power and control, in the name of the greater good. Now that takes courage, vulnerability, bravery, well, something. But for sure, it takes far less than the price that we all collectively pay, one way or another. Because a society where half of the population is constantly put in impossible situations isn’t really much of a society at all.
Even though children are known to derail careers left and right, they are a welcome, wanted, and adorable inconvenience. Many things that prevent employees from being fully present and engaged aren’t. There are employees who are taking care of a sick loved one, managing a chronic illness, or facing miscarriage, loss, addiction, or divorce. Unlike parenthood, these struggles are often hidden, fought in silence, too afraid to ask for help. Though the struggles differ, the solution remains the same. Employers must create a space where everyone can speak up, and the cost, once shared, becomes almost unnoticeable.
And as overwhelming and complex as these issues are, they are, most certainly, fixable. There are plenty of good examples but it’s up to us to be brave enough to seek them, to adapt them and to implement them. It is up to all of us.
Women who choose to have children have to, at least, delay and pause if not halt their careers altogether. They are passed for promotion, growth opportunities, and strategic initiatives.
Sweden - The country promotes gender equality in caregiving by offering 480 days of paid parental leave per child, which parents can share. Additionally, public childcare is guaranteed and operates on a full-day basis, with fees scaled to family income and size.
Netherlands - Part-time employees receive the same benefits as full-time workers, including healthcare and retirement plans. This policy enables parents, especially mothers, to work reduced hours without sacrificing essential benefits.
United Kingdom - The UK's Childcare Payments Act 2014 allows eligible parents to pay into an online childcare account, which the government tops up, reducing the burden of childcare costs. This scheme encourages parents to take paid employment by making childcare more affordable.
CORPORATE INITIATIVES
Goldman Sachs, Morgan & Stanley, and Toyota, as well as Orange Moldova, offer on-site childcare or nurseries close to their offices.
Volvo Cars, USAA, and Johnson & Johnson all offer a variety of stipends for p arents , from direct deposits to reimbursement programs for specific milestones.
Authors
Danica Ristic
Danica Ristic is an HR consultant, writer, and the founder of Healthy Careers. She is on a mission to help individuals achieve their ambition through sustainable practices, and companies create scalable processes that benefit all. Her particular focus is the overlap between parenthood and careers. She has collaborated with HR World, Infostud and many other businesses.
Alex Dogliotti
Alex Dogliotti is CHRO & COO at Mindvalley, with 20+ years in Tech, Telecom, and Digital Marketing. He drives organizational growth, optimizing processes and leading global change. A thought leader on leadership and evolving work models, he advocates shifting from productionfocused to innovation-driven organizations. An investor in prop-tech and nuclear energy, Alex holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and shapes dynamic, high-performance workplaces.
Ivana Brkljača
Ivana Brkljača is a Gen Z expert, business consultant, and owner of IB Management, specializing in business education and consulting. With 23+ years of experience, she bridges academia, business, and consulting. She was Executive Director at ZŠEM's Business Academy and spent 18 years in banking (UniCredit & Suzer Group). A PhD student in strategic communication, her research explores Gen Z motivation and the link between golf and management. She helps organizations attract young talent and shape the future of work.
Danijela is a member of EMCC Global, accredited as an individual supervisor and senior practitioner in individual and team coaching. She has held directorlevel HR roles in both domestic and international companies.
Dr. Sara Kuburić
Dr. Sara Kuburić is an existential psychotherapist, advisor, writer, USA Today columnist, and founder of STET Publishing. Known as @ millennial. therapist, she has 1.7M+ followers. Born in Yugoslavia and raised in Canada, she is passionate about helping people navigate change. Her interest in psychology stems from personal experiences of war, complex relationships, and a lifelong pursuit of understanding what it means to be human.
Eldar Banjica
Eldar Banjica is a seasoned business executive and entrepreneur with extensive experience in technology, business process outsourcing (BPO), and workforce solutions. He currently serves as the Managing Director for Manpower in South-Eastern Europe. Prior to this role, he was a CEO of Mtech, a technology division of Mplus Group. Eldar also founded Trizma, Serbia’s first independent BPO company. His leadership experience includes CEO roles at Geomant and NF Innova, focusing on customer experience and digital banking solutions.
Ana Pegan
Ana Pegan is a seasoned product management professional currently serving as Product Manager at Bridgewater Labs. She also holds the role of Product Coach at Productwize. rs and is the founder of the Serbian Product Community. With over a decade of experience in product development within the software industry, Ana is dedicated to fostering community engagement and advancing product management practices. She actively shares insights on product leadership and development, contributing significantly to the growth of the local product management community.
Mitch Sullivan
Mitch Sullivan is a Recruiter, Trainer, and Writer with over 30 years in recruitment. He has managed agencies, led search campaigns, and worked in-house for both corporates and SMEs. An early advocate of Employer Branding, he founded Copywriting For Recruiters.com in 2016, training nearly 2,000 recruiters to write better job ads. His expertise spans agency and inhouse, contingency and retained search. In 2017, he published "On Recruitment", a book that remains widely read today.
Vladimir Božović
When he's not contemplating the mysteries of the universe in meditation or perfecting his balance on the yoga mat, Vladimir Božović is a seasoned AI engineer (BSc) with an MSc in Management Engineering and a five-time serial entrepreneur. As the Founder and CEO of ZenHire, a cutting-edge AInative recruitment platform, he is on a mission to transform hiring from stressful to Zen. With seven years of experience in technology, HR consulting and human-centric AI, Vladimir previously led digital transformation projects at NTT Data, working with Fortune 500 giants like Unilever and Boston Scientific.
Slađana Kalezić
Slađana Kalezić has rich HR experience in foreign companies, both in the telecommunications industry and in the banking sector. She began her career in 2002 at the European Agency for Reconstruction, then joined Telenor’s HR team in 2006. In 2014, she became HR Director at Societe Generale Bank, spending six years in the French banking group. In 2020, she joined Crnogorski Telekom as HR Director and Management Committee member. Since February 2023 she is holding position of HR Director in CKB bank, part of OTP Group in Montenegro. She is a member of various domestic and HR communities.
Dr. Dieter Veldsman
Dr. Dieter Veldsman is the Chief HR Scientist at the Academy to Innovate HR and a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg. He is an organizational psychologist with 17+ years of experience across the HR value chain and lifecycle, having worked for and consulted with various organizations in EMEA, APAC, and LATAM. He has held the positions of Group Chief People Officer, Organizational Effectiveness Executive, Director of Consulting Solutions, and Chief Research Scientist. He is a regular speaker on the topics of Strategic HR, Future of Work, AI in HR, Employee Experience and Organisational Development.
Dr. Marna van der Merwe is an Organizational Psychologist and leads the Thought Leadership and Insights Practice at the Academy to Innovate. She has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources, Employee Experience, Organizational Effectiveness, and Strategic Talent Management. She is a researcher, published author, and regular conference speaker on the future of work, the impact of AI on work, talent management, experience design, and the changing nature of careers.
Dr. Marna van der Merwe
Melina Knežević
Melina Knežević, HR Consultant @ TackTMI, a GiGroup Holding Company
Melina’s business acumen from the HR perspective, and work style have been shaped by the diverse experience she has gained across multiple industries. As an HR Consultant, Melina is particularly focused on people development, with strong focus on competency assessment, and promotion of mental health in teams and organisations.
Nelica Bogunović
Nelica Bogunović, Senior HR Consultant @ TackTMI, a GiGroup Holding Company
Nelica has 18 years of experience in HR consulting, helping companies build data-driven strategies and tactics in talent, leadership, and succession development. Throughout her career, she has been working on competency assessment, as well as culture/ organisation climate assessments, initiating and managing processes to tackle the biggest challenges in ever everchanging business environment.
Aleksandar Zemunić
Over the last 20 years, Aleksandar Zemunić, Managing Partner of the leading HR consulting company in Croatia, successfully completed some of the most significant projects for the labor market in the region. He earned a degree in human resource management from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom and a degree in financial management from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Osijek. He is a lecturer on numerous HR topics and a certifier of HR excellence as part of the Employer Partner project. He is also a recipient of the Chevening scholarship, administered by the British Council. His areas of expertise include organizational and personnel analysis, HR management strategy and executive search.
Skyler Shah
Skyler Shah is a communications expert with 10+ years of experience in human behavior, specializing in effective communication, success coaching, and public speaking. His detailed approach to leadership and development ensures training is impactful, engaging, and long-lasting. With a natural intuition for high-performance communication, he tailors coaching to be personal and results-driven. Skyler has worked with clients worldwide, building strong connections across cultures. His passion and enthusiasm drive him to create positive outcomes in both work and life.
Dr. Konstantin Mitgutsch
Dr. Konstantin Mitgutsch is a researcher, author, and game designer specializing in transformative learning and digital games. He is the founder of Playful Solutions, a Viennese game design agency creating meaningful experiences for organizations and educators. He has worked at the MIT Game Lab and was a visiting professor at the University of Vienna. Currently, he lectures on experience and game design at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. A columnist for Der Standard, his publications include Schauplatz Computerspiele, Sports Video Games, and Lernen durch Enttäuschung.
Vesna Savić Đukić
Vesna Savić Đukić has worked with UNICEF for 30 years. She is the Fundraising Specialist for UNICEF Serbia and Regional Partnership Manager for HighImpact in Europe and Central Asia. She leads private sector engagement to drive impactful fundraising and programs for children. A strong advocate for child rights, she promotes responsible, rights-based, and sustainable business practices. Vesna holds a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Belgrade and completed the Dynamic Leadership Programme from Harvard Business Publishing.
Nemanja Đerković
Nemanja Đerković has 15+ years of experience in auditing, consulting, and CFO roles across national and multinational companies, including Big4 and S&P 500 firms. He led financial functions, general management, and cross-country projects. A PwC MBA lecturer for over a decade, he now coleads Growius, specializing in business and financial consulting. His focus is on applied business analytics and decisionmaking across Sales, Finance, HR, Logistics, and Marketing, helping companies become data-driven.
Danilo Dukanovic
Danilo Dukanovic is the CEO of Recrewty, a Techstars-backed startup helping companies hire smarter by assessing candidates’ skills, personality, and cultural fit using AI and behavioural science. With years of experience in HR consulting, he’s passionate about making hiring and L&D more accurate and bias-free.
Dario Krpan
Dario Krpan is an Associate Professor in Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He was trained in social and cognitive psychology at Webster University Vienna and the University of Cambridge. His research explores transformative behavioural change— major shifts in behaviour— especially in the context of sustainability and new technology. At LSE’s Inclusion Initiative, he contributes to the AI and Future of Work Hub
Marija Mikic
Marija Mikic is VP of AI Foundations at Cruise. Previously, she spent 20 years at Google as a Senior Director of Engineering, leading ML and human computation teams in Core and Ads. She co-led the Google LA office and championed university outreach. Marija holds a PhD in Software Engineering from USC and remains active in software engineering research and academia.
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Maja Pantic
Maja Pantic is Dean of Computing at Neom University and Special AI Advisor to the Neom President. She is also an AI Advisor to NatWest Bank and Professor at Imperial College London. Formerly, she was Generative AI Research Director at Meta and Co-founder of Samsung AI Centre Cambridge. She has 500+ papers, 55K+ citations, and an h-index of 106. A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, IEEE, and IAPR, she has won awards including the IAPR Maria Petrou Award (2020) and BCS Roger Needham Award (2011).
Michael Mandic
Michael Mandic, founding partner at Anderson Wise, has 20+ years of experience in banking, finance, and executive search, specializing in Private Banking and Wealth Management in Switzerland and Luxembourg. With a background in Business Administration and Psychology, he is a strategic advisor in talent acquisition. Known for his personal approach, he supports clients and candidates through interviews, salary talks, and contracts. He speaks Serbian/ Croatian and English, with basic Russian and German.
