EUROPEAN BUSINESS SERVICES ASSOCIATION
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Country & City Directors
    • Pre-Decision Advisory
    • Contacts
  • Events
  • Members
    • Join Us
    • Peer Interviews
    • Benefits to Members
    • Career Tools
  • Directory
    • Buy Directory (PDF)
    • Update Directory Listing (2020)
    • Poland >
      • Gdansk/Gdynia
      • Katowice
      • Krakow
      • Lodz
      • Lublin
      • Poznan
      • Rzeszow
      • Szczecin
      • Warsaw
      • Wrocław
      • Other Cities
    • Hungary
    • Czech Republic
    • Slovakia
    • Estonia
    • Latvia
    • Lithuania
    • Romania
    • Serbia
  • Solutions
    • Meet the Managers-Video
    • Meet the Managers-Text
    • Recruitment & Brand
    • Pre-Decision Advisory
    • HR & Salary Surveys
    • Publications & City Reports
    • News & Video
    • Cee BSC Tickets
    • Pay Fee Roundtable
    • VIP WineTastings - Krakow & Gdansk

Summary points from 1st ZOOM Roundtable for BSC Leaders in CEE

16/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Summary points from 31 March ZOOM Roundtable for BSC Leaders in CEE

Summary Bullet Points:
  • Need for frequent but brief communication (from Site Directors to their teams); one BSC – to keep social relationships within the team alive – is doing Friday afternoon “drinks” at the end of the day!
  • One BSC said that they are emphasizing the company's financial strength and health – as that issue has come up repeatedly from nervous staff.
  • Cybersecurity issues are taking centre-stage.
  • Working-capital positions have become hugely important. This point was echoed by several BSC Directors, as HQ puts additional pressure on cash-generation. They have been asked to manage cash-flow tighter; and also have been asked to be “on-guard” for weaknesses among their vendors (if key vendors fail to deliver, they need alternatives).
  • While one BSC is resisting requests from vendors to pay faster, another BSC is taking the opposite tack: reducing payment time from 30 days to 15 days, showing their vendors that they are keen to help them through difficult cashflow times. This BSC said this tactic is having a very positive impact on the perception of them during these difficult times.
  • One BSC is applying for state-aid/subsidies related to employment costs, etc. Another has decided deliberately to not apply for state-aid, believing that they are leaving space for those SMEs that are in more urgent need.
  • Staffing/Employment Levels: several BSC have imposed hiring freezes or salary freezes til May 1st; none of the BSCs on the Roundtable are cutting staff numbers right now. One BSC is offering psychological training to staff to deal with the transition to “home-office”. Another BSC is continuing to hire, using on-line on-boarding; courier delivery of computer/equipment to the new employee's home.
  • HQ calling for Cost Savings: several BSCs said that HQ is asking how they can find cost savings in the range of 20-40%. HQ's likely to demand delivery of more services at lower costs.
  • Real-estate/Offices costs: One Director said that surely Office occupancy costs will be under rigorous scrutiny in next stage. Flex work hours will become wide-spread; one BSC said that a permanent 4-day work-week is closely being considered.
  • More Services: Several BSC Directors mentioned the “opportunities” from taking on more services from higher-cost locations (“like Western Europe”)
  • Stage II BCP: While nearly all BSCs have navigated this 1st stage “Business Continuity Plan”, they are now considering Stage II risks: that Internet networks could go down, rendering home-offices ineffective. One BSC has looked at back-ups in India; another in Costa Rica. While this “full network down” looks unlikely, several BSCs are doing contingency-planning.
  • Stage III: When these “stay-at-home” restrictions are lifted, most BSCs will be making even faster transitions to full Agile working.

We had 8 SSC Directors registered for the call:
  • Allnex - Wim Vanderpoorten (Latvia/Belgium)
  • DFDS - Radek Mierzejewski (Poznan, Poland)
  • Schaeffler - Anna Berczynska (Wroclaw, Poland)
  • Zoetis - Łukasz Wielochowski (Warsaw, Poland)
  • Danske Bank - Milda Dzidolikiene (Lithuania)
  • Danske Bank – Vilius Lukauskas (Lithuania)
Plus:
  • Thom Barnhardt, CEE Business Media – Moderator (Warsaw)
  • Oscar Reitsma, Transparent – Co-moderator (Holland)


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Country & City Directors
    • Pre-Decision Advisory
    • Contacts
  • Events
  • Members
    • Join Us
    • Peer Interviews
    • Benefits to Members
    • Career Tools
  • Directory
    • Buy Directory (PDF)
    • Update Directory Listing (2020)
    • Poland >
      • Gdansk/Gdynia
      • Katowice
      • Krakow
      • Lodz
      • Lublin
      • Poznan
      • Rzeszow
      • Szczecin
      • Warsaw
      • Wrocław
      • Other Cities
    • Hungary
    • Czech Republic
    • Slovakia
    • Estonia
    • Latvia
    • Lithuania
    • Romania
    • Serbia
  • Solutions
    • Meet the Managers-Video
    • Meet the Managers-Text
    • Recruitment & Brand
    • Pre-Decision Advisory
    • HR & Salary Surveys
    • Publications & City Reports
    • News & Video
    • Cee BSC Tickets
    • Pay Fee Roundtable
    • VIP WineTastings - Krakow & Gdansk