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Ivana Ivić, Head of HR Department at UniCredit Bank Serbia

Benefiting From Diversity

UniCredit SpA’s strong operating presence in 16 countries throughout Europe is one of the bank’s main competitive advantages

By benefiting from the local knowledge and expertise of its own staff, UniCredit develops strong cooperation and fully exploits the best practices of each region, adapting them to other local markets.

UniCredit SpA has 6,600 branches and over 123,000 staff worldwide. What principles is its HR system in Serbia based on, and do they differ from market to market?

The diversity of our business is no impediment, but rather stimulates us to follow the vision of our mother company which is One Bank, One UniCredit. Although our HR Strategy is fully coordinated with that of the Group, it is also adjusted to the needs of the local market and working environment.

The diversity of our business is no impediment, but rather stimulates us to follow the vision of our mother company which is One Bank, One UniCredit

As an example of this, I can mention Smart Working Concept we have recently implemented.  This is a Group project with certain local modifications, and UniCredit Bank Serbia is one of the first members of our Group to have implemented it.

Besides state-of-the-art design and technology, it helps us become more digitalized, more mobile and easier to work with. Instead of having working premises focused on the archive, we wanted to create a space where our staff are at the centre of attention.

This new layout that we created in the new offices we moved to last year allows us more frequent cooperation, increases our creativity and innovation, and supports corporate sustainability via reduction of paper use and increased digitalization, but it also provides the options of working from home and flexible working time.

 Are you satisfied with the profiles, knowledge and motivation of typical candidates, and what kind of training is needed to “fit them in” to the bank’s work?

UniCredit Bank’s HR Strategy is focused on the development of young talent. Our general employment profile is therefore usually the graduate. They have the opportunity to use their knowledge and expertise to progress through their careers. We regularly organize several initiatives that support us in finding young talent, our summer practice for students is certainly one of them.

Over a period of usually 2 to 3 months, we are able to identify the ones who show the highest motivation and achieve the best performance and offer them the opportunity to join us. We do not choose staff for specific positions but we employ those whom we recognize as having the desire to grow and develop together with the bank. So on top of the basic training needed for regular operations, we create an individual career development plan for each staff member, which we continuously monitor and regularly improve.

 What are the most important qualities a candidate must have to become part of the UniCredit Bank Serbia team?

Briefly: motivation, ambition, innovation, desire to learn and improve, and of course flexibility. The banking sector is extremely dynamic and diverse and requires a variety of skills. It is therefore important that our staff can keep track of all our activities and quickly adapt to different business scenarios. We want UniCredit Bank to be recognized as the best place to work!

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