Marta Slováková: HR department didn't exist, I built it from scratch

For more than 30 years, the non-profit organisation Junior Achievement Slovakia has been helping teachers to develop entrepreneurship, economic thinking, financial literacy and the skills needed to enter the labour market, including digital skills, in primary and secondary school students. The organisation has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the second year in a row for its development activities for young people around the world. Since August this year, it has been headed by Marta Slováková, who in five years has managed to build a functioning HR department, lead many HR projects, digitalize HR processes and actively participate in volunteer activities.

How did she get into HR in the first place? What changes has she managed to achieve in 5 years? And what are her plans with Junior Achievement Slovakia? That's what we talked about in this interview.

You have less than 5 years of experience as an HR manager, and this was your first ever HR experience. How did you manage to get the role as a manager?

I found myself in the position of HR manager by accident. At the time, I applied for a position focused on the office agenda with an overlap into HR - but it only involved preparing employment contracts, processing attendance and payroll documents. There was no HR to speak of then.

Through gradual work and my enthusiasm to start doing something more than just administration, thanks to the support of the CEO of the company, I have done a tremendous amount of work and built a functioning HR in a company with 50 employees. At TOI TOI & DIXI, I have managed to start a number of projects focused on employees and also on digitizing HR processes. We have developed a company app, started the recruitment process using social media and also implemented Pinya HR software.

Even though this is my first and only HR experience, I don't take it as a disadvantage. On the contrary, in a smaller company, I was able to experience first-hand how the whole HR department works. From basic administrative tasks, through recruitment, HR marketing, employer branding, systems implementation to strategic tasks.

In a smaller company, I was able to experience first-hand how the entire HR department works.

What was the biggest challenge for you as HR manager?

The biggest challenge has always been to ensure all positions are adequately staffed and filled. TOI TOI & DIXI's main business is renting mobile toilets and it was not always easy to find staff responsible for their cleanliness and service. It is a job for which it is necessary to have a type C driving licence, ideally up to type E. Typically, these are men who work as truck or lorry drivers and it is clear that we have not had many such applicants standing at our door.

Of course, if you manage to find and fill these positions with quality people, you have to provide them with the necessary HR care. We worked together with the CEO on the vision to bring effective HR solutions and processes to the company. The advantage of a smaller company is that you have your own little sandbox where you can gradually test what works and what doesn't. If something goes wrong, it's easier to fix or change it than in a large corporation. 

Let's go back to the changes you have achieved in these 5 years. What are the most significant ones that you think are worth mentioning? 

The most significant change is that TOI TOI & DIXI has a functioning HR department, which did not exist before. Another major change was the aforementioned development of the company's application and implementation of HR software. 

The development and preparation of the company's application was a year-long process and the goal was to create an environment for employees that allows them to have closer contact and easier sharing of information, whether work or private. However, as the development progressed, we found that the app didn't just need to serve as an internal social network, but could be used as a means of digitising individual processes - from ordering materials to reporting events to the booking system.

The second project, very important for me, was the implementation of the HR system. For a long time I was looking for a system that would meet our requirements. Researching and learning about the different options on the market, I knew after each presentation what I wanted and what I didn't. After the presentation of the Pinya HR software, it clicked and after implementing it into the company, it was only confirmed.

PinyaHR fulfills everything that I, employees, managers, and also the management of the company expected from HR software.

What has been the most difficult part of transforming HR processes to digital? And how has digitizing HR made your job easier?

The most difficult task was collecting all the data and importing it into the system. Since we didn't have all the data in one place, it was time consuming to process and enter it into the system. Since HR as such records a really large amount of data and information, we had to set up right from the beginning what data would be recorded where, how it would be displayed to different groups of users, and which parts of the HR system key users would have access to. 

We used to work only in excel spreadsheets and on the old attendance system. By implementing Pinya HR, we first of all reduced the unnecessary flooding of email inboxes or phone calls to the HR department with questions about data, which everyone can now easily find in the system. Pinya HR has made it much easier and faster for us to process attendance records, and it has made it easier to keep track of medical examinations, valid driver's licenses, OHS and training, which we used to keep only on paper.

Clarity, accessibility, efficiency and time savings were the most important factors we wanted to achieve by digitizing HR processes. And we succeeded.

In your spare time, you also volunteer as a mentor, consultant and project manager. What organisations are you currently involved in? 

My volunteer scope is quite broad. I started to actively engage in these activities during the pandemic, when the volunteer association of HRists Open HR Forum started to organize online educational events. That's when I contacted them with an offer to get involved. I gradually worked my way through all the roles and brought together with other members a number of interesting events not only for the HR community. 

About two years ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn from Junior Achievement Slovakia, which was looking for consultants for its programmes. I started looking into what they do and found out that they are involved in educating teachers, children and youth in Slovakia. I was surprised that they had been operating for more than 30 years. 

One of my values is social responsibility, so I quickly identified with their approach. I started supporting them first as a consultant for the Applied Economics programme. Later, mentoring, preparing workshops, tutoring teachers, actively participating in events, preparing conferences, fundraising and so on were added. 

This year I was also approached by Future Generation Europe with their Lady Up programme. As part of this programme, I became a mentor to one of its participants.

You are currently going through a big change in your work in relation to volunteering. Since August, you have been the CEO of Junior Achievement Slovakia. What motivated you to make such a major change?

I decided to make this change for several reasons. At TOI TOI & DIXI I have implemented several projects that are established, working and more or less only need to be corrected or upgraded after some time. During these 5 years we have accomplished a lot, I have learned a lot and lately I felt that I was slightly stagnating. I've been contemplating a change for a year now, but there hasn't been anything that has grabbed my heart like TOIka. 

And then I got the information that they are looking for a new CEO for Junior Achievement Slovakia. I applied for the selection process, went through several rounds, a lot of grilling, even discouragement from this position. However, I was convinced that this was exactly what I wanted. I am glad that I will be the one to lead Junior Achievement Slovakia.

As I have already mentioned, social responsibility is an important value for me, so my motivation is clear. My goal is to contribute to improving financial literacy and entrepreneurship education. Unfortunately, the Slovak education system has not covered these areas for a long time, so if we want children and youth to receive a good and quality education, we need to get involved. Junior Achievement Slovakia is involved and has been providing education in these areas to children, youth and teachers for more than 30 years. 

I know that my task will not be easy, but I have accepted this challenge with the conviction that together we can improve the school system. Not only through our activities, but also by connecting people from business and education. 

What are your plans with Junior Achievement Slovakia in the future? 

All plans depend on the finances we have available and will have in the future. My first and fundamental plan is to keep the income of the organisation at least at the same level as it is now. Of course, my goal is to increase revenue based on the various projects and partnerships that the organization is building. The organization can also benefit from the fact that I come from the HR field where I have built many connections to colleagues and co-workers. 

Together with my representative, we are planning to innovate some of JA Slovakia's programs to better meet today's needs and gain popularity among teachers and students. I would also like to focus on training colleagues within the organization.

Last but not least, I definitely plan to digitalize and streamline processes. Along with me, the HR software Pinya HR is also coming to the organization, which I have already become very accustomed to in my work. Simplifying work and streamlining processes is particularly useful in the non-profit sector. And I think this is just the beginning. 

‍