Discovering Professional Stories
Natallia, Lead HR Manager at Ailet, expertly integrates HR processes for international teams. With a background in international law and extensive experience in HR and document administration, she excels in cross-cultural communication and problem solving. Natallia is passionate about continuous learning and driving social change.
How long have you been in the world of Human Resources?
While I didn't take the traditional path, my past experience in customer relations, document administration and complaint resolution for a major cruise line gave me a unique intercultural perspective. Then I worked for one of the NGOs in administration. I found that I was always drawn to projects that involved helping my colleagues, working with trainees, improving internal communication, organizing the events and many other activities. I always enjoyed the one-on-one sessions too as it gave me a chance to share my ideas and be heard within the organization.
I joined Ailet in 2022 and have been here ever since, with the intention of continuing my professional development. My focus has been on creating an excellent environment for our fast-growing international team. By that time we already offered flexible schedules, allowing teams to work remotely and in different time zones, as well as implemented the "enjoy your national holidays" rule. Since we are very excited to establish Ailet as a people-focused company - those steps have been of crucial value for our multicultural employees which are spread across more than 10 countries as of now. And we’re not gonna stop here!
What is the main priority you can identify in Human Resources from your point of view?
We should always treat people as individuals, not just as resources to be exploited. Therefore, Human Resources should not only concentrate on fulfilling company departments KPIs or compliance procedures, but also on valuing people and fostering a positive company culture. By seeing employees as individuals, they are more likely to be happy and productive. Moreover, this approach can help in retaining top talent within the company.
What’s the right way for Human Resources to build the corporate culture? Any recipe for colleagues from different companies?
Culture refers to the underlying way in which the whole organization operates, and it is crucial to be intentional in supporting the desired culture. Obtaining support in the chosen cultural direction from all the team members, and particularly senior leadership, is essential. This means that the culture approach will be successful where everyone in the organization takes responsibility for that.
Also, it is important to reflect on the desired culture, discuss it, and ensure that everyone takes tangible steps to embody it. For example, if Ailet says that the main feature of Ailet's cultural code is partnership, it means that every leader practices this concept in their respective departments and this is the natural state that we have. We should value everyone’s contribution to the big company goal as well as be the safe space for employees to speak up with their ideas.
What types of things do you do that help drive engagement at Ailet?
The Ailet team faces a unique situation as all team members work remotely. However, we are confident in our ability to maintain effective engagement practices despite this difference from on-site companies. We understand the challenges that come with remote work and have developed strategies to overcome them.
For example, we always have video-meetings so even though we’re not together we get to see each other face to face. We try fun things like company photo contests, book clubs etc.
Speaking about the International Holidays like World Compliment Day, Earth Day, International Day of Culture (we have the whole list of them), we are not only congratulating employees but doing something fun to celebrate. For example, for the World Compliment Day we offered employees to make compliments to other Ailetians. We gathered all the compliments, then prepared the cutest ever cards and shared them with the team. In general we promoted Compliment Day with the slogan “Together, we can make every day a World Compliment Day!”. We have received a 71% participation rate among the employees.
Also, last Christmas we explored what the end-of-year festivities are like in different countries by interviewing the employees and sharing the cultural traditions with the team. This was an enlightening experience for all of us, as some of the festivities were unfamiliar to many of us.
Off-line gatherings are the hard part for us due to being a completely remote international company. At the same time our employees living in the same city meet each other too, some of them gather to work together, some - go for lunch or dinner sometimes. Also we help to organize corporate lunches, or other corporate events too.
Also, we are incorporating volunteer activities that people can participate in. Recently we have organized a tree planting activity and garbage cleaning for the Earth Day celebration. We are planning to plant 9 oaks that our Marketing Director personally grew from the seeds.
Another simple step is sending the company merch to employees everywhere. It is always nice to have a hoodie, cup or wireless speaker with Ailet’s logo. Employees feel included in the community of Ailetians.
Collaborating with team members from all over the world can be challenging, but we are sure there are plenty of ways to make it work. By taking all necessary steps and facing these challenges head-on, we can still collaborate effectively and achieve great results!
Are there any activities or benefits at Ailet that encourage employees to grow professionally and develop new skills?
At our company, we are proud to offer a range of activities that are not only enjoyable but also provide excellent opportunities for personal and professional growth.
We believe in investing in our employees, which is why we offer tailored books in the corporate library and internal courses to match their interests. Any employee can request the specific book for professional development they would like to read and we’ll get it. Also, we offer compensation for learning the foreign languages to our employees. At this time our employees already learn Spanish, Portuguese, English and other languages too.
Additionally, our team leads and managers together with HR work closely with each Ailetian to create individualized development plans that help them achieve their professional goals.
