Daniela Antova is the "People and Organizational Culture" manager of "Japan Tobacco International Bulgaria" (JTI Bulgaria). The company is part of the world's leading manufacturer of tobacco and vaping products JTI, with operations in over 130 countries and over 40,000 employees. With an education in the field of economics and human resources, Ms. Antova joined JTI Bulgaria 13 years ago as a "Logistics and Distribution" manager, and since 2020 she holds her current position in the company. Before that, she worked for other international companies in Bulgaria, such as IBM and Renault Nissan Bulgaria.

Ms. Antova, what are the main challenges the modern HR specialist faces?
The function of human resource management - in our company we call it "People and Organizational Culture" - is to take care of people and support management in extracting the maximum input from the employees to business objectives, as well as to give people the necessary tools and conditions to work effectively, feel motivated, and part of the whole. In my opinion, the global pandemic has brought many problems and opened up many opportunities in this area. We all had to become more flexible and more responsible to ourselves, to others, to our tasks and work. Micro-connections in teams have become even more important. Combining home, school, and work in the same spaces is a challenge for both the employee and the employer. Restrictions have been imposed that people accept differently and this leads to new sources of stress and anxiety. Live contact between people has decreased, which, in my opinion, cannot be positive.

Share about the successful HR practices at "Japan Tobacco International Bulgaria" EOOD.
We are privileged to be part of a leading global company - Japan Tobacco International or JTI for short - which views people as its main asset and main investor. We are a global company with a very diverse workforce and tobacco product brands that are available worldwide. We have many policies and approaches to human resource management that we implement so that our employees feel good, are motivated to do their best, and have a constructive work environment. We apply a flexible approach to benefits; we have a strong focus on diversity and on improving the quality of life of employees through various activities related to a healthy lifestyle. We have introduced worldwide, as well as in Bulgaria, a policy for using parental leave, where regardless of the parent's gender, he can use 20 weeks of paid leave in the full amount of his remuneration, to raise a child. We have also introduced a platform to provide various consulting services to employees, which aim to help them solve a wide range of problems in their personal lives, and outside of work.

What does the modern employee require from the employer - in your sector and not only?
It has become commonplace for all job seekers to say this, but finding people for any position has become increasingly difficult in recent years. Job applicants and employees have increasingly high demands, and this is normal given the overall development of the market.

What are the advantages of "Japan Tobacco International Bulgaria" EOOD in the field of employer branding?
For the past 8 years, we have consistently participated in the certification of the global institute that measures working conditions in several companies – the Top Employer Institute, and we are always certified as one of the top employers in the country, with excellent working conditions for employees. Not only are we among only a few companies in Bulgaria with such a certificate for the last year, but we are also ranked first among them. Globally, JTI has also been awarded the Global Top Employer certificate for eight consecutive years. In Bulgaria, we have been honored several times with the "Best Employer" award, in the category for companies with up to 250 employees. This leads to our good reputation as an employer, although the turnover in the company is relatively low and job advertisements from us are not often found on the market.

What are the company's HR goals for the current year?

In 2022, we are going to deepen the flexible ways of working in sync with what has become necessary as a practice during the pandemic - to emphasize more the activity and its results, rather than where the employee is while doing his work. We want to further develop activities that aim to help the good quality of life of our people and to further stimulate them to give their ideas for the development of the business.