At Valoria, we have conducted a survey that captures the perspective of company leaders about the situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. The survey launched today by Valoria identifies their perception of the current context, their expectations regarding the recovery time of companies after this crisis, and the skills of the management team essential to overcome challenges.
According to the survey, 55% of companies consider that the situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania is critical and very critical. Of the 440 responding companies, 41% say that in the coming months of this year, things will evolve extremely unfavorably in Romania. For 29% of the responding companies, the estimated recovery period is 9-12 months, but 37% estimate that it will be 12-24 months.
“The survey captures the adaptability of companies and employees. The rapid adoption of operations in the digital environment has dislocated routines and generated some resistance in the first phase. Subsequently, anxiety related to job security and lack of socialization has led to demotivation. The installation of new skills has become mandatory from three points of view: operational, as a motivating factor for people, and as a means of training for the effective management of remote teams. Having trained employees means increasing the company’s involvement, productivity, and competitiveness. The study shows that training topics that support these objectives are preferred “, says Constantin Măgdălina, Emerging Trends & Technologies Expert, Co-author of the research.
In the context of digitization accelerated by the migration of many operations in the online environment, companies are aware of the new challenges. For employees, updating their knowledge for efficient and sustainable work from home is mandatory. For managers, decision-making skills, project management, and remote team management are essential.
Redefining the ways of maintaining the organizational culture of the company through virtual interactions and making decisions in conditions of uncertainty are also new challenges for managers. Thus, the responding companies consider that for the team of executive directors the most relevant skills to master are: decision-making strategies (79%), financial management in the context of the crisis (75%), remote team management (71%).
The heavy virtualization of the work environment have stimulated companies to consider even more the topics related to communication skills which are relevant for their managers. Thus, the training topics considered relevant by the companies responding to the Valoria survey for their managers are the following: successful delegation in virtual teams (72%), advanced sales and negotiation techniques (71%), feedback, and feedforward online (70%).
“Investing in the human capital of the company shows vision. Through this survey, we find out what is the vision of decision-makers about the training of people in their companies. The results are all the more interesting as the answers came in during a turbulent context of the pandemic. Now the focus is on employee safety and how to adapt to this new context. Maintaining competitive advantages, organizational culture, company reputation, and ensuring positive results depend on learning new skills. Companies that, even in this situation, will focus on training will only gain in the short, medium, and long term “, says Elena Badea, Managing Partner Valoria.
