What makes employees return to a company even after they have tried the “mirage” of a higher salary? The answer lies in organizational culture. We continue our series of articles that shine a light on organizations with healthy relationships with their employees, today presenting the story of Ezugi.

Adela Popescu, Talent Acquisition Manager, takes us behind the scenes of an organization in full expansion, where everything, from recruitment processes built and refined from scratch to benefits focused on mental health, is designed to offer a healthy and predictable work environment.

1. What was your first day at Ezugi like, and how would you describe your journey up to today?

My first day at Ezugi was filled with emotion. I was stepping onto a path that had been unfamiliar to me until then, one I had avoided for quite some time. It involved recruitment and people management.

Today, after four years, I can say I am grateful that this experience has continued to shape my development and has shown me how much I enjoy recruiting people and how good I am at reading them.

I have been through a lot in just four years: building recruitment processes from scratch, working with different people in the team, seeing the team go through different sizes, facing challenges on many levels, managing higher or lower workloads, taking on new roles assigned to the team, shaping ways of working and best practices, and going through management changes.

All of these came to receive the best I had to offer, but also to test me, refine me and teach me what I did not yet know.

2. What attracts you most to the organizational culture you represent?

Ezugi’s management is what makes the difference: the approach and constant care for people. Also, because this is a growing organization, there is room to create, adapt and improve ways of working and best practices.

I would also mention Ezugi’s involvement in social responsibility projects and annual donations. Last year, we also implemented a CSR platform, with the intention of facilitating our colleagues’ involvement as well, as much as possible, through small and timid steps.

3. How important is the value of diversity, and how is it reflected in the organization’s climate?

There is openness toward different opinions and integrative approaches, with the aim of achieving harmony through cooperation and by taking all perspectives in a situation into consideration. Openness to diversity is visible among our Dealer colleagues; we have much less restrictive criteria compared to the rest of the industry.

Across all teams, there are colleagues with different styles and approaches, and this helps create a more complete vision. You can see multiple sides of a situation through this lens, without being limited to a single approach or opinion. And it is precisely this awareness of all perspectives that helps us reach a more balanced option.

4. If, by magic, you could change anything in the organization, what would you choose to change and why?

Unfortunately, there are no career paths for absolutely every role, because the size of the company and the size of the departments also come into play. This can make it very difficult to grow within the same department. However, there is the possibility of choosing a lateral move, and then following the natural path in that career area.

Having the highest salary packages on the market for the Studio area would be another thing I would change as if by magic, if I could.

Even without a magic wand, the salary package for entry-level Studio positions remains very competitive in relation to the minimum requirements, making it an excellent opportunity for young people at the beginning of their careers.

I would also change the level of collaboration between teams; there is always room for improvement, toward an even greater common good.

5. In your opinion, how does an HR specialist contribute to an employee experience that retains talent within the company?

As always and as everywhere, the role of HR is sensitive, challenging and meant to bring both performance and wellbeing to the organization and to employees. It is a balance that is sometimes difficult to keep under control. For this, you need objective and healthy reference points regarding the pulse of the market, so that you can encourage your organization to keep up with everything that is happening.

HR must be a driver of evolution. Policies must be constantly questioned, and challenges must be met with solutions that aim at employee satisfaction and at an organizational culture that is as healthy as possible, based on ethics, but also on performance.

There are many aspects that contribute to talent retention, and the entire organization plays a role, not just HR: salary, direct managers in departments, the benefits offered, professional development opportunities, trainings, recognition of merit, work time versus free time, the way difficult situations and periods are managed, how achievements are celebrated and whether that happens at all, investment in people and the annual performance evaluation process.

Listening to employees and involving them in how things move forward are essential. Ezugi organizes roundtables with employees precisely in order to listen to them, define directions for improvement and understand exactly where the company stands from their perspective.

Another tool we use is the annual Engagement Survey, followed by discussions in each department.

Our colleagues also have a dedicated HR contact for Employee Relations, where they can share their challenges and ask for guidance.

6. More and more candidates are choosing benefits related to wellbeing. What initiatives has the company had for employees’ personal development?

If there is something that is truly ours and that sets us apart on the market, it is our interest in employee wellbeing and here, there is inventiveness and openness.

There have been periods when the company invested in therapy sessions offered to colleagues who wanted them, as well as coaching sessions.

Ezugi has also supported employee development through budgets specifically dedicated to external trainings.

The private healthcare subscription is an essential element of the care the company shows toward employees, and this package has been improved over the years, with more and more services included.

We also thought about the fitness side and covered access to many gyms in Bucharest through our partners.

We like to say that we spoil our colleagues quite a lot, constantly offering massage sessions, one week per month. Every day, we have various food options, from yogurts, cereals, coffee and tea to more “guilty” snacks, we also have such a day once a week and fruit.

We also find many opportunities to celebrate: June 1st, Halloween, moments in February and March. We enjoy summer and winter parties, and sometimes our days are sweetened with pancakes, waffles and smoothies days, burger day, pizza day or an extra vacation day.

Some of these things are more important, others may seem small at first glance, but in essence they are equally important because they are constant. We do not wait to celebrate and enjoy ourselves only twice a year; we invest in this day by day.

Extremely important: still on the wellbeing side, I would once again refer to the management style and to the atmosphere of the entire team. All of these weigh heavily in engagement with the company. We receive this feedback with joy from our colleagues or from candidates in the industry who have experienced other ways of doing things.

7. What future plans does the company have? How do you intend to attract talent from the market in the coming years?

This is a long-term question, and things in this field, and in the world in general, are constantly changing. The best approach for us is flexibility, adapting plans along the way depending on what is happening in the labor market, on the country’s economic situation, on candidates’ level of preparation and on the company’s results.

As a constant direction, we focus on innovation, adaptation and improvement across all organizational levels. For this, we need to know very clearly where we stand.

When it comes to attracting talent, we are present on the most important job platforms in Romania.

We are recommended by our salaries and extra-salary benefits, our work environment, the atmosphere, the people already in the company and the care we show for our colleagues’ wellbeing. More than once, a candidate has chosen us because they knew about us from friends. There are people who place great value on a healthy work environment.

8. How do you celebrate moments of success in your team?

There are important moments that bring us all joy. We celebrate either through big parties, as we did when Ezugi turned 10, or through general meetings that end with pizza and drinks and recognition for those involved, through outings with the entire team or through company bonuses in good years.

There are also colleagues who, once or twice a year, organize mountain trips on their own, a kind of team-building that is even more valuable because it comes from their own initiative, without being driven by the fact that the cost is covered by the company.

Moments of success are also celebrated by giving very good feedback.

9. What do you do when a colleague faces a dilemma or a challenge during a workday?

I believe each team has its own approach. Our colleagues enjoy the support of other colleagues. There are few individual roles; almost everything involves teamwork, whether in a smaller or larger setting. A company is, after all, one big team, and it is important to collaborate well not only within a team, but also across teams.

If someone faces a dilemma, they ask for help and receive support and information. If we have already encountered that situation before, there is already a way of working. If something is completely new, several people who can outline a direction or help with additional information are involved. It is all about engaging the right people, asking the right questions and being open to solving any unforeseen situation.

In many interviews for internal roles, I was happy to hear colleagues say they were motivated by the quality of the team, this being one of the main reasons they had stayed with us for several years.

We have received the same feedback from colleagues who left us, drawn by the mirage of a higher salary, and then understood how much people and culture make a difference. And they wanted to come back.

10. Name three ingredients that make you proud to be part of the team. Choose one and tell us about it.

Direct management, the difficulties that came up and the lessons learned from them, and the role itself.

Direct management has a major impact on people, and in our team we have been blessed to have a manager who inspires us from many points of view.

She offers support because she has all the necessary knowledge behind her to understand diverse and delicate situations. She holds people emotionally, gives them space, listens, guides, encourages, trusts them and does not doubt them until proven otherwise and this can work wonders and open up new perspectives.

Something essential that I learned from my manager is that when you know you have support and that sense of safety, your approach to difficult situations automatically becomes more flexible, better, more performant and more empathetic, even if it remains focused on the desired results at the same time.

There are those magical people, not that often encountered. Perhaps sometimes they are not even aware that they have this gift: in difficult periods, through their emotional and mental grounding, they ground you as well. These are subtle things that are not talked about very much.

And, of course, as a manager yourself, you have an example to follow. You know that even if you are not in your best version today, you have an idea of what you want that version to look like, and you can see more clearly what you want to move toward.

11. Do you think salary has remained the main factor in choosing a job? What is Ezugi’s strategy?

It depends.

Our strengths are a welcoming work environment and a motivating salary package, adapted both to young people at the beginning of their journey and to experts looking for new challenges. For juniors taking their first steps in their careers, we offer an extremely competitive net income and an activity carried out in a pleasant setting, focused on comfort and balance.

If you have a well-paid job, you look for an even better-paid one. In the first phase, salary matters.

However, if there is no healthy culture, no good team made up of good people with healthy values, no people-oriented management and no development opportunities, at some point that salary will not keep you there. Some sooner, others later, choose emotional health and the joy of each day, and in the bigger equation of our lives, these are more important.

As I said above, we have had colleagues attracted by other packages, who left our team and enjoyed more money for a few months, until they began to feel and compare all the other aspects that become more important than a salary. And they decided to give that up and return to our package, because here they had peace of mind, respect and a pleasant environment.

The ideal workplace is, of course, the one that offers you a competitive salary plus all the other ingredients.

About Ezugi... right now, we are a mix. On the Studio side, we have constant challenges coming from the industry, while on the office side, we are aligned with the market and always attentive to keeping pace. Even in difficult years, when more could not be done, there was care for people so that they remained comfortable financially, and that says a lot.

You always need to know where you stand in relation to the market and make sure you have profit so you can support market increases for your employees. In order to have profit, you have to deliver your best in a field with strong competition and different business models.

12. More and more employees in the labor market are questioning the meaning of their work. How do you ensure that people in the organization have that sense of meaning?

Meaning, in its most basic form, lies in very clear responsibilities for each role. And yes, the organization is responsible for ensuring that each role is defined and that people clearly know what is expected of them.

It may be an atypical approach, but I do not believe organizations are that responsible for offering employees “meaning.” This meaning is profoundly intrinsic. You stay or do not stay in a company depending on many aspects that do or do not resonate with your values.

The company is responsible for following its own path and its own meaning, for offering support, appropriate tools and recognition to employees.

I believe people choose the fields they resonate with or the jobs they resonate with, the ones they are passionate about. And if someone does not have inner motivation, there are not too many external factors that can change the situation.

In a narrower sense, sometimes in certain departments, such as support departments, meaning is more distant from the company’s actual purpose. As a support department, you simply facilitate reaching that goal. Here, personal vision and personal motivation to do things well and give them meaning every day matter even more.

In short, meaning can truly come only from within. From the outside, you can only receive support, a work framework, a healthy work environment, recognition, growth based on results, guidance and respect.

13. How is transparency promoted in your team?

Through recruitment and promotion policies that ensure clear, measurable criteria, so that there is no room for interpretation or errors. Educating managers is essential in this respect and, many times, of course, you may encounter resistance to change. It is something natural, part of the process.

In small organizations, everything is built gradually. At a certain size, everything is done on the go, by instinct, and gradually everything becomes more complex and the need appears to establish frameworks and ways of working. But the purpose is precisely this: to do everything better, more efficiently, more transparently and as fairly as possible for all parties involved.

14. How important is mentorship for a young graduate who has just entered the labor market? Do you have an internship in this regard?

For the Dealer experience, such a program is not necessary; they benefit from paid on-the-job training in the Ezugi Academy.

Then, there are three important hybrid training programs for them, helping them move further toward Service Manager, Trainer or Team Leader roles, all of this after they have reached the final Dealer level, Senior.

These hybrid training programs involve combining the tasks of the current role with the tasks of the role they want to move into.

15. What matters most for your team when recruiting a candidate? What attributes do you appreciate most in a newcomer?

This is a general question and it is difficult to answer because these criteria vary greatly depending on the department and the role. If we refer strictly to the Dealer role, English language skills, seriousness and attitude are the most important aspects when it comes to new colleagues.

16. Finally, what would you recommend to candidates who are thinking of applying to Ezugi?

To pay attention to how they structure their CV, to know what they are applying for and what the role involves to read the job description and the details provided in the ad and to know that their path within the company depends on them, on their performance and on their involvement.

If you are looking for a place where a competitive salary is complemented by a healthy environment, real support and a culture where people matter every day, Ezugi may be an option worth following.

And if you want to discover more about what professional life at Ezugi looks like, we encourage you to visit their employer page on Undelucram.ro and explore the available opportunities.