7 minute read
SBB EVERYONE IS IMPORTANT
Everyone Is Important
SBB is a company that employs equals numbers of women and men. Although men remain dominant in top management positions, viewed as a whole it could be said that the United Group, within the scope of which SBB operates, represents a place where people can develop in a working environment that fosters equality, parity, and that offers women and men the same opportunities
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For this special edition dedicated to gender equality, we spoke with SBB Sales Director Ksenija Bulatović, who has been with the company for 18 years. Ksenija spent a long time working in the field, which isn’t often a job that is receptive to a woman, but she fought to earn the respect of her colleagues. She is set to complete her MBA studies in May.
Our other contributor is Minja Jugović Janjić, SBB Marketing Director, who - together with Ksenija – is one of the four women holding top management positions at SBB. Minja studied in the UK and the U.S. and has amassed 17 years of experience in business. She has been shortlisted multiple times for the award for the most influential woman in communications aged under 40, and this year she was also nominated for the event of the year. She has two children and carries the great burden of leading SBB’s struggle with challenges on a market where this company fights with weapons of innovation and creativity.
Here are the stories of our interlocutors.
Including the long reign of the Queen of England, I don’t think there’s a position that hasn’t been conquered by women today. The same goes for marketing. I’m acquainted with plenty of successful women who work in communications, while I also know a lot of successful men in this business, and I wouldn’t make a big difference between them. Initially,
there was probably a period in this business when it was necessary for women to make a breakthrough, but I think they’re in the same position as men today. You can see women today at the helm of various large communications companies, PR agencies, production houses and companies. That’s why I think it’s better to divide between those who are good professionals and those who aren’t, and between people who are creative, because in communications and advertising, alongside good organisation and budget management, it is very important for us to be creative and to react swiftly and be able to respond at any given moment to the market, which is pretty demanding when it comes to telecommunications in Serbia. When it comes to listening to the needs of users, in 2019 we, as a company, introduced customer experience measurements and net promoter score (NPS) measurements. And we’ve since then measured the satisfaction of our users, on the one hand, and eNPS, i.e., the satisfaction of our employees, on the other. Both then and now, the headline resounding within
our company was ‘everyone is important’. That means that there can be no satisfied user without a satisfied employee, and vice versa. I think that’s all causally linked. I’m very proud that the first of our larger projects was the launching of that net promoter measurement, as a philosophy and the way a company does business. When we take into consideration that we
had an average score of 20 back then and we’ve now reached over 50, it becomes clear how much of a change we’ve made. I think that’s a high score when it comes to telecommunications. It’s also a high score generally when it comes to service providers or sales (FMCG). We try not to fall below 50, and during this year, our jubilee year, we set the target to exceeding 55. And we’re well on our way to achieving that.
At the same time, I’m happy that I work in a group that has recognised the great potential that exists for E-commerce on our market, which is why we created the company Shoppster, which deals with online sales. We are striving to both satisfy our users and popularise e-commerce. For example, we have enabled customers to make online purchases that can be paid in 12 and 24 monthly instalments.
And are men or women bigger e-shopaholics? There are no rules. I would say, first and foremost, that there is still a slight underdevelopment of the Serbian market when it comes to online shopping, and that we’re all only just shifting to this possibility and gaining trust in the option of paying bills online. We were one of the first companies to introduce the online payment of bills, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our marketing department reacted very quickly and prepared tutorials on this topic, precisely to assist our users.
E-commerce is still growing in Serbia and we are certainly galloping forward. I also believe that everything will find itself in a digital format in our country very soon, so we won’t be using cash at all to make purchases.
KSENIJA BULATOVIĆ, SBB Sales Director Combining Energies
Is A Good Thing
Holding a senior management position and working in the field isn’t a burden, but it’s certainly a challenge. I would provide just one example: when I started working for this company, one of the main tasks was to sign contracts with new buildings that were under construction. And that involves a structure for negotiating and reaching agreement where 90% of the people are men – investors, engineers, construction site bosses etc. The Belville complex was being built, during my first or second year at SBB. I arrived at work dressed as I always do, wearing heels, red patent leather shoes. I headed to the construction site and, at the door to a container office, a man gave me a hardhat and asked: where will you go in those shoes? I said I was going for a meeting. I know it’s a meeting, he said, but this is a building site... Never mind. Five of them followed behind me: a colleague who was the construction site boss, me from sales, him from technology, investors, bosses... And we somehow reached an agreement. That was definitely a challenge; it was a completely different kind of energy that helped me strengthen myself in such situations.
When it comes to me entry into a top management position, I would say that the credit definitely belongs both to my colleagues and myself. That’s because I wouldn’t be what I am today without the support of colleagues who are hierarchically above me, below me and on par with me, and I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today.
In terms of gender equality, I’m not sure if it is promoted at our company or if it is a natural occurrence. I head sales, for example, where the counters of our branches are mostly staffed by women, and we reached that situation naturally, without being compelled. On the other hand, you have the technical department and technicians, the majority of whom are men. We recently
received a polemical question: why have we never hired more female technicians? It seems to me that the men at our company would also like to see what it would look like if they were joined by a female colleague in a job that isn’t considered “feminine”. The same applies, albeit in the opposite
I wouldn’t be what I am today without the support of my colleagues at all hierarchical levels, and I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today
direction, to us in sales: I like to see some young man who would work at a counter apply for a job in sales. That’s a really nice thing, a nice challenge, because combining energies, both in management and in the field, is a good thing.
Although we face numerous challenges in the further expansion of the company, what instils strength in me is the synergy I have with my colleagues in the team, for any kinds of moves we make. I feel proud when I see and feel how we are all participating in our struggle on the ground; that we are aware that it is only together that we can make the right decisions that lead to stability and success. One very important thing is that you have to love both the company and the work you do.
