Bányai & Partners Consulting
3 minutes to read
Tibor Bányai is the managing director of Bányai & Partners Consulting Ltd. The main activities of his company are organizational development, interim services and recruitment. He has worked for about 20 years in various leading positions at the Hungarian subsidiaries of Japanese, Dutch, American, Korean and Indian global companies. He specializes in greenfield investments and creating modern, efficient organizational structures. He served the first 22 years of his career in the Hungarian Army as a military leader, finishing his career as a brigadier. He studied for four years at the Polish National Defense University. He obtained his MBA degree at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Under his management, Bányai & Partner Consulting Ltd. occupies 13th place in the BBJ 2023 ranking of recruitment companies and is the market leader in Hungary in Indian workforce placement. He says his four children and six grandchildren are the greatest happiness in his life. In his free time, he indulges in his passion for hunting.
“A big problem for the Hungarian HR society is that there are many soft, servile HR managers who do not have an independent opinion. HR does not need such people, but rather those who can be equal and strong partners to business leaders. I hope their number will increase.”
WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TAKING UP HR AS A CAREER?
At the beginning of the 21st century, HR became one of the most essential functions of economic life. In the matrix organization of most global companies, the person performing the HR function is on the same level as the business and finance leaders. In my opinion, HR is one of the top three fields and offers enormous opportunities for those who want to make a career in this field. HR is also one of the highest-paying professions. I recommend it to those who want to be one of the key leaders of a company and have the charisma to enforce their will. Many challenges, new tasks and opportunities for continuous professional development await them, along with enormous responsibility.
WHAT ARE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES FACING HR IN THE HUNGARIAN MARKET?
Workforce retention and the labor shortage are the two biggest problems we face now and in the next 10 years. The only solution to the labor shortage is employing workers from third-party (non-EU) countries. Based on the experiences so far, it is safe to say that the best results in the Hungarian market can be achieved with workers from India and the Philippines. Aftercare (all round care), which lasts until the end of employment and represents a continuous activity, is of outstanding importance in HR activities for foreign employees. The main goal of aftercare is to facilitate the integration of workers from third countries into the immediate environment (factory, company, office, etc.) and into the town where they live and spend their daily lives. Without follow-up care, the employment of foreigners will fail or will not achieve the desired results.
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION, BOTH FOR THE HUNGARIAN WORKFORCE IN GENERAL AND FOR HR SPECIALISTS IN PARTICULAR?
It is still a considerable problem that vocational training does not or cannot respond in time to the needs of the labor market. New investors and industries are constantly appearing on the market, new professions are being created, and these needs can only be met with extremely flexible, immediately responsive training. The need to start new courses also appears at the university level. One positive example I would mention was the quick reaction of the University of Dunaújváros when the demand for engineers in tire production appeared. In an extremely short period, it started training rubber industry technology engineers. We need more such positive examples. I consider the level of HR training to be satisfactory. The biggest problem here is that a lot of students who are unsuitable due to their personality traits are admitted to the training. Selecting the applicants in advance would be advisable because they will never become good HR specialists.
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MADE IN YOUR SECTOR?
A big problem for the Hungarian HR society is that there are many soft, servile HR managers who do not have an independent opinion. HR does not need such people, but rather those who can be equal and strong partners to business leaders. I hope their number will increase. A quick and efficient solution to the problems in the labor market would be greatly facilitated if legal changes that would help the sector in this direction were introduced as soon as possible.