IFS Spain - Susana Aguilar

Meet Susana Aguilar, HR Manager at IFS Group

IFS is a company with more than 36 years of experience in the international market. The HR department is run by Susana Aguilar, who joined the company in November 2012. She is responsible for the management, integration and professional development of the Group's fives companies. With a current total of 340 employees, the challenge for the management is constant. Innovative projects are planned with the objective of cementing the stay of the staff members, and are managed in Spain, Portugal, France, Morocco and Algeria, always respecting the particularity of each country, a fundamental pillar of the Group's identity.

Paraphrasing Susana: "The key is to keep in mind that the most important is to value people, understanding that their opinion is indispensable to grow as a whole.".

She emphasizes that the essential principle, when it comes to hiring personnel, is human quality. Although skills such as professional capacity, creativity, great experience in the sector/s, are guidelines. Bringing people together with values such as respect and ethics, is the basis of the organization. These are keys that permit to achieve objectives together, being part of common projects.?

Training stands out as one of the pillar policies, always under continuous analysis and improvement, with clear objectives when thinking about tailor-made training programs. The program offered to employees is considered primordial and established by working with all the Area/Department managers, from the first induction/training proposals to the final evaluation. Once the program is finished, the learning impact is measured, which allows to design policies for adjustments and sustained induction.

She points out the importance of promoting the high level of employee experience and maximize it through the application of the organizational development policy: "We came from a history of a pyramidal structure, where the possibility of growth to higher positions, and of greater responsibility, was difficult. After years working in a new direction, we decided to create a system of internal promotion: both horizontally and vertically. We believe that this policy encourages and allows us to get to know other perspectives.", says Susana. With the new Employee Portal it is now possible to offer vacancies to all staff internally, rather than setting up external processes.?

Another interesting project is aimed at Health and Hygiene management. One variable being measured is absenteeism as an evaluation index to analyse the most affected categories and jobs and their reasons, in order to accompany and support workers. Ideas and resources are being considered, such as offering health solutions to employees whose jobs expose them to illnesses and affect their physical condition, or optimizing family conciliation with children and the elderly. The idea is to provide work environments that look after their employees from a health and psychosocial care perspective. Aguilar stresses the HR department must be able to adapt and adjust to the reality of workers and the social changes that impact on the company, to achieve a better work-life balance.?

IFS also began working on a program of personalized interviews with employees, with the aim of involving them in the company's improvements, from the moment they join and during their professional development. As Susana says: "Only employees can tell us how they feel within the company. So, we set up an interview’s guideline and we make adjustments according to what the employees say. This type of survey is very interesting, and has an indirect evaluation base so that we can be close to each area of the company."?

The IFS HR Department also highlights the great work currently being done by the Equality of Opportunities’ Committee, in the different workplaces. The goal is to establish its Equality of Opportunities’ Plan and extend it to its internal and external customers. Susana quotes: "Everyone's collaboration helped to cover areas in which the Plan has to be applied, taking each one into account and working on its development."