Oras Group is a major European supplier of sanitary fittings, the market leader in the Nordic countries and a leading company in continental Europe. Oras Group manufactures high-quality and innovative faucet and shower solutions for private and public spaces. The organisation has led the way in the development of the industry and with over 100 years of experience they enable safe, comfortable and sustainable water use, for everyone. The group has two brands, Oras and Hansa.
Sari Alanko, HR Manager & HR Business Partner at Oras Group, tells about the cooperation between Oras Group and Avila. Alanko has a dual role in the company, being responsible for the organisation’s HR issues in Finland and acting as HR partner for the supply chain across Europe.
“Working with Avila is easy recruitment for us, as we know that their delivery reliability is always flawless in every situation,” says Alanko.
Direct search brings efficiency and accuracy to recruitment
Since autumn 2022, Avila’s recruitment services have supported Oras Group’s hiring objectives. Oras Group strongly believes that an experienced recruitment partner can find the right candidates more accurately, even if in-house tools, such as public advertisements, are used as part of the recruitment process. Alanko also explains how outsourcing direct search and suitability assessments to a professional partner frees up time for HR and recruiting managers to develop the core business of the organisation.
“The majority of our specialist and senior roles recruitments are done through direct search. We have found that finding certain professionals without a direct search does not yield the desired results, especially in recruitments that have specific criteria for roles, such as language skills or certain technical skills. In Avila’s recruitments, these criteria are always taken into account in the direct search strategy, which creates a better basis for success,” says Alanko.
Smooth cooperation in a multicultural environment
With close to a dozen joint recruitments behind, professionals have been found for roles such as Manufacturing Technology Manager, IT Infastructure & Databases Manager and Trade Marketing Specialist. Clear value-adding elements have emerged from Avila’s direct search and aptitude assessment process, which have laid the foundations for effective collaboration across the Oras Group’s various offices.
Alanko explains that the stakeholders involved in Oras Group recruitment can be from a variety of countries and nationalities. According to Alanko, the fact that Avila’s recruitment consultants provide support to the recruiting managers and take into account different operating methods and cultures has brought a clear uniqueness to the collaboration.
“We are extremely pleased, both here in Finland and in our Central European offices, with how well Avila handles recruitment and manages different expectations. The process is straightforward for each of us and we always know exactly where we are in the recruitment process”, says Alanko, and continues, “Recruiting managers, who may be unfamiliar with the direct search process, are supported and trained in the process. We are also very keen that Avila maintains open communication with candidates, and through this we also get to hear feedback on our performance.”
The Leadership Judgement Indicator - a method for assessing the suitability of managers
Oras Group’s work culture has a strong focus on supporting the development opportunities and potential of employees, so that they can progress towards new challenges and career paths within the company. This approach at Oras Group is supported by psychological aptitude assessments, which play a key role in identifying employees’ potential, in orientation work as well as making the right recruitment decisions.
At Oras Group, in management level recruitments, candidates’ leadership styles, competences and their fit with the organisation’s working culture and operating models are also assessed. Avila uses Leadership Judgement Indicator as a complementary tool in the assessment set, which provides a better understanding of how the manager performs in different leadership situations.
“With the LJI, we were able to identify elements in our manager candidates that support our shared company culture and its further development. The information from the assessment clearly supported our recruiting decision“, says Alanko.
When recruiting new employees, the summary reports of the assessments also support the orientation of new employees. According to Alanko, the post-assessment debriefing sessions with the psychologist in particular have brought clear added value to the cooperation.
“After each aptitude assessment, Avila’s psychologist discusses the contents of the assessment report with us. The conversation with the professional has helped us to better understand the elements of the report and to perceive the potential impact of our candidates’ behaviours and styles on the job and the organisation. The discussion has brought clarity to how the recruiting manager should take these issues into account at the start of the employment relationship.”
The two companies will continue to work together on new direct search assignments from early spring 2024. From Avila, we thank Oras Group for the joint assignments and client success story, and we wish all the best for the future!
Avainsanat
- direct search, psychological assessments, Reference
Julkaistu
Ota yhteyttä
Matias Saarni
040 359 0156
matias.saarni[at]avila.fi