Reinventing the company as society’s needs, dynamics, and relationship with work undergo radical change. The new role of HR in Plastik’s experience.
Attracting and retaining talent, responding to new demands for flexibility and employee benefits, and navigating change without losing identity: for Human Resources, the challenge is becoming increasingly complex. Paolo Borsi, Head of Human Resources at Plastik, and his colleague Alessia Pezzotta explain how the Bergamo-based converterwhich operates with 240 employees across its two production hubs in Italy and Tunisia-navigates this journey of inclusion, growth, and experimentation.
Human Resources management is combining traditional administrative tasks with new responsibilities of an increasingly “structural” nature: what are the challenges HR face today?
The main challenge is attracting and retaining talent in a profoundly changed labor market. While in the past demands were primarily financial, today issues such as flexibility, work-life balance, and support for personal needs are emerging strongly. That is why at Plastik we are investing across the board: we are enhancing our employee benefits, we are members of a European network of family-friendly companies, we have introduced a platform dedicated to services, and have set up an internal help desk that gathers employee needs to identify possible solutions in the local area.
And, in parallel, activities related to quality, safety, and certifications are growing-aspects that increasingly impact the organization of work. For the HR, this means navigating a nearly epoch making change: understanding people’s new needs, adapting the organization, and building a corporate culture capable of evolving without losing its identity.
Plastik operates in both Italy and Tunisia: what challenges have you faced working in such different contexts?
To launch the Tunisian plant in 2012, we had to build the entire organization from scratch, selecting operational staff, office workers, and coordinators. And, above all, we had to navigate a work culture very different from the Italian one, particularly regarding job continuity. But while staff changes were frequent in the early years-and often without notice-over time we managed to create stability by establishing clear rules and strengthening local management.
This has brought great satisfaction, as in the case of the current plant manager: he joined the company in 2012 as a shift supervisor and has grown so much that he is now the facility’s main representative, demonstrating that investing in people fosters continuity and long-term development.
One of Plastik’s core values is inclusion. How did the project dedicated to the integration of people with disabilities came about?
It began about three years ago with the arrival of Riccardo, a young man with autism who came through the Impronta Cooperative in Bergamo. Since we lacked specific knowledge and experience, we sought assistance: Riccardo was initially supported by an external mentor and gradually found his place within the company, while we offered his colleagues a training program supported by psychologists, which primarily served to build awareness and provide relationshipbuilding tools.
The results? Beyond expectations. Additional internships and new hires have created social value and generated positive effects on the company culture. More collaboration, greater cohesion, and new relationships that enrich daily work: these young people have brought different perspectives, and they, too, have taught their coworkers something.
At Plastik, inclusion also extends to other aspects of company life: can you give us some examples?
There are many, and they demonstrate the concrete benefits that arise from valuing everyone’s ideas and skills, overcoming rigid roles and deep-rooted preconceptions. In the extrusion department, for example, when a shortage of raw materials loomed due to the outbreak of war in Iran, it was a shift supervisor who proposed an interesting idea to recover discarded film and reintroduce it into production. One of our most significant recruiting experiences, however, involved bringing female staff into a department that had always been composed of men and organized on a continuous cycle.
Faced with the difficulty of finding staff, we completed the hiring process for three female operators in just a few weeks, revising the shift schedule to facilitate a better work-life balance. The women quickly achieved full autonomy, so much so that one of them is now training to become a machine supervisor, coordinating a predominantly male team. And to address cultural resistance, we organized sessions on inclusive language and a workshop on gender-based violence in the workplace with professionals from the Bergamo Anti-Violence Center, making the company more open and cohesive.
