[INTERVIEW] Ramirent’s HR management has gained a new perspective

Are you considering implementing an HR system? We encourage you to read an interview with Joanna Szymecka – HR Manager Europe Central at Ramirent, in which she speaks about how the HRM system built on the Productive24 platform has changed the daily work of the HR department at Ramirent and why she decided to go for a tailor-made solution.

HR automation at Ramirent – faster, more efficient, more modern

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: Ms. Joanna, Ramirent is one of the largest construction equipment rental companies in Poland. As part of the optimization of your HR processes, some time ago you decided to implement a solution that would holistically streamline the work of your HR department – from the first contact with a candidate to the end of cooperation. What prompted you to make this decision and what key challenges did you want to solve thanks to it?

Joanna Szymecka: At Ramirent, we are committed to creating an environment where employees feel valued, can develop their skills and are fully engaged in achieving the company’s goals. The rental industry requires a great deal of flexibility – working conditions in the sector and the demand for human resources can change dynamically depending on projects, seasonality or specific investments. Companies must be ready to adapt quickly to changing circumstances, which also applies to HR processes, such as recruitment, onboarding, training or efficient handling of HR processes. The decision to implement a dedicated HR system stemmed from the need to combine operational efficiency with attention to the employee experience. We wanted to eliminate the manual, time-consuming tasks that were burdening our HR team and replace them with automated, intuitive processes. With the Productive24 platform, we were able to streamline the entire employee lifecycle in the organization – from recruitment and onboarding, to competency development, to offboarding. This solution allows us not only to increase the efficiency and transparency of processes, but also to focus on what is most important – building a culture of appreciation and development. Automating repetitive tasks gives our teams more room for strategic action, and our employees clearer access to key information, development support and simplified procedures, so a greater sense of support. This allows us to not only better respond to the needs of the business, but also to create a workplace where people want to grow and tie their future to our organization.

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: Choosing the right system is always a strategic decision, especially when it comes to a tool that is supposed to comprehensively support employees and the organization determined to choose the Productive24 platform? What key needs and expectations did the solution have to meet in order to best respond to Ramirent’s challenges?

Joanna Szymecka: A key criterion for us in selecting the system was that it should allow us to centralize data and systematize processes that were previously scattered and managed in different tools or manually. We wanted to achieve consistency, eliminating unnecessary complications and the risk of errors. The standard solutions available on the market proved insufficient for us – we needed a system that would support our processes in a way that was relevant to the real challenges, rather than forcing us to conform to rigid patterns. For me personally, it was also crucial, of course, that the technology should be a real support for our entire HR team and managers, rather than another tool requiring complicated operation. Above all, Productive24 convinced us with its flexibility and ability to adapt to the specific needs of our organization – both at the level of individual modules and the entire HRM ecosystem.

Managing HR processes from A to Z

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: We are almost a year and a half after the implementation. This is enough time to assess how the platform is performing in practice and what benefits it has brought to Ramirent. What HR areas do you currently handle with Productive24, and what changes has the implementation of these modules brought to the daily work of the HR department?

Joanna Szymecka: During these two years, HRM Productive24 has become the foundation of our HR processes. Thanks to the solution, we were able to centralize the management of employee data, automate key processes and ensure greater consistency in HR activities across the organization. For example, there is now an associate profile within the system, which acts as a central database on employees and integrates information from different areas. This gives us quick access to key personnel data, which has not only improved information management, but also increased the security of personal data processing. An important pillar of the system is also the recruitment module, which allows us to efficiently manage the entire hiring process – from the request for a new employee to the final signing of the contract. In fact, ensuring the easy and secure flow of candidate data was one of the challenges we wanted to address first. Prior to the implementation of the ATS, the management of this data was difficult due to, among other things, the diverse sources of applications (job portals, emails). This led to losses in the recruitment process, as some valuable information could escape.

Thanks to Productive24, the entire recruitment process has become more organized and transparent – we now have a centralized system to control access to information and organize it, making it easier to search and analyze, and our recruiters have gained a broader complete view of the status of ongoing projects. Access to analytics also makes it easier for us to make decisions, such as those regarding further investment in the best sources of candidates. With HRM Productive24, we have also streamlined the process of inducting new employees. Due to the complex nature of the responsibilities and the large amount of knowledge to be assimilated, effective implementation is key to achieving full productivity quickly. Productive24 organizes the entire process, ensuring consistency and transparency, making it significantly easier for managers and supporting new employees in a smooth transition into their roles. But onboarding at Ramirent isn’t just about paperwork – it’s about building relationships and communicating values that are the foundation of our organizational culture. We wanted every new employee to feel part of the team from day one and to better integrate into the organization. The system supports us in this mission and, by the way, ensures that new employees are ready to perform their duties faster. On the other hand, the offboarding module, analogous to onboarding, helps us close cooperation with departing employees in an orderly way, minimizing the burden on HR teams and improving the experience of those leaving the company. Automation makes the offboarding process more orderly and predictable, eliminating unnecessary stress associated with paperwork. The employee receives clear instructions on the next steps – he or she knows what actions are being taken and what stage they are at, which increases the sense of professionalism and facilitates a positive end to the cooperation.

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: You mentioned increasing the consistency of HR activities. Employee development, as well as assessment and competency management, are important in this context. How does Productive24 support these areas at Ramirent?

Joanna Szymecka: Employee development is one of our priorities, so – along with ATS – implementing tools to facilitate the management of appraisals, goals and training was a “must have” for us. In our approach, the competency and goal management module are integrated with each other.

The goals module allows us to monitor progress on an ongoing basis at both the individual and team levels. As a result, employees and their supervisors have greater control over the implementation of priorities, and individuals’ actions are more closely linked to Ramirent’s strategic goals. The transparency of the process facilitates effective performance management and supports the long-term development of the organization. The competency module has also allowed us to systematize the process of cyclical development interviews and give them more value – both for employees and the company as a whole. Managers have a full view of employees’ progress, and development talks are more “substantive.” What’s more, we can flexibly align evaluation criteria with the organization’s priorities, which realistically supports performance management and employee motivation.

HR system that keeps up with you!

Easy-to-use solution for even complicated processes – from recruitment to offboarding

In the second phase of implementation, we launched the L&D module, which supports the management of training schedules and allows us to structure the development of competencies. Automation of this area allowed us to optimize the organization of training, increase its availability and better match the offer to the real needs of the team. As a result, employee development has become more systematized, and the whole process simpler and more efficient. Of course, the necessary analytics were also implemented in the system. Reporting covers various areas, including numerous KPIs related to training and development, which are fed into the detailed CSR reports of Ramirent’s owner, the Loxam Group. The reliability of this data is critical, as it includes the number of training hours, the number of participants, and detailed breakdowns on individual employees, among other things. Previously, reporting required manually merging up to 70 separate Excel sheets each, which was time-consuming and fraught with the risk of errors. Today we can generate these statements with a single click, which has greatly streamlined the entire process.

What has the organization and its employees gained?

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: Great! You can see that the digitization of HR at Ramirent has been planned holistically, with long-term benefits in mind. I would also like to raise the issue of security – when digitizing HR processes, this is usually one of the key issues. In an organization as large as Ramirent, ensuring data protection had to play a particularly important role. How did you approach this challenge?

Joanna Szymecka: Data security is an absolute priority for us, so when implementing the system we paid special attention to the mechanisms that ensure it. Productive24 allows us to precisely manage access to information and documents and determine who can view, edit or share them. Such “granular” control over permissions minimizes the risk of unauthorized access. In addition, centralizing data in a single, secure system has significantly reduced the risk of mistakes and leaks, eliminating the need to store information in scattered files or different systems. Thus, it not only provides quick and intuitive access to up-to-date, organized information, but also significantly reduces the risk of errors and unauthorized access. Thanks to this, we have increased both the efficiency of HR and management teams and the level of protection of sensitive employee data.

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: Looking back, what do you consider to be the most significant benefits of implementing a dedicated HR system?

Joanna Szymecka: In retrospect, I can confidently say that the implementation of the system has significantly increased the efficiency of our HR processes and given us greater control over key aspects of HR management. If I were to point out the most important benefits, first and foremost would be transparency, automation and flexibility. Transparency, because the centralization of data allowed us to have a more complete picture of competencies in the organization and made it easier to manage employee information.

We now have all data available in one place, which has significantly improved operational management and strategic decision-making. Automation, because replacing manual, time-consuming tasks with automated processes has eased the burden on our teams and improved the employee experience at every stage of their career path. And finally, flexibility – HRM Productive24 is a system that grows with us. We can adapt it to new requirements on an ongoing basis, which is a huge value for us. We don’t have to change our processes to fit the tool – the tool adapts to our needs, which gives us a lot of freedom in shaping and executing our HR strategy.

Future prospects

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: Looking at the scale of the changes you have already implemented, it is clear that the digitization of HR at Ramirent is a thoughtful and dynamic process. What are your further plans in this area? Do you already have a vision for the next steps in HR’s digital transformation?

Joanna Szymecka: I can confidently say that Productive24 has not only streamlined our HR processes, but has also become a tool that employees really appreciate and are eager to use in their daily work. For us, however, digitization is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process of adapting the tool to changing needs. We are considering the introduction of talent modules that will allow us to even more precisely identify employee potential and personalize development programs. We believe that effective talent management is the key to building a strong, committed organization, so we want to use technology to support our employees’ careers even better. Our goal is for each successive stage of digitization to bring real value – that’s why each new implementation is carefully considered so that it realistically meets the needs of our company and supports its strategic goals. After all, success is not about having modern systems, but about using them wisely. We believe, that openness to new solutions, readiness to learn and flexibility are key elements of a successful transformation – and we are ready for the challenges ahead.

Małgorzata Rząd-Poźniak: Well said! Thank you for the interview and good luck in your future endeavors!

Joanna Szymecka: Thank you! I’m glad I could share our experiences.