Olga Klimentieva in conversation with The HR Leader on people and culture in the start-up space

The HR Leader was joined by head of people and culture at DiviPay, Olga Klimentieva, as she shared her experience working with the start-up this year.

Shandel McAuliffe, editor at HR Leader: “Why choose a company at the stage that DiviPay is at to join?”

Ms Klimentieva: “I've worked in start-ups before, but I have never worked in a start-up in my capacity, at my level, with so few people. At the time that I was hired, it was only less than 20 people at that time. So it was really exciting for me to have a chat to these co-founders that basically said to me, ‘Look, we need this role so early on because for us it's all about building the foundation and getting that right.’ So as we scale, we already have a lot of those things in place. And we're thinking about the right things, and we're making sure that it's an inclusive environment.”

“[It’s] very much a hands-on role, which when you're in a start-up that is even a little bit further along, or in a non-start-up environment, you usually have a team around you. So for me, it was actually kind of exciting to get a little bit back to the basics almost, if that makes sense. Being able to speak to every single person across the organisation because you still have an opportunity to do that and it's still small enough for you to be able to do that. Being able to get all the feedback that you need, and being able to really shape the initiatives based on what people are actually wanting.”

“For me it was really exciting. And from a development opportunity, look, as with any role, we all have so much to learn still. I really loved the fact that we had a very intelligent group of people that were very passionate about, and experts in, their own domain. So, to learn a little bit more about the industry and the product, that's all development for me. That's all an absolutely incredible opportunity for me to continue to grow.”

Editor: “Where do you hope to see the HR function and its influence within the business go in the next one to two years?”

Ms Klimentieva: “We're very fortunate that I already have a seat at the ‘table’ and had that from day dot. I think that absolutely every single, no matter how small, even if it's [a] one person P&C [people and culture] team, absolutely needs to have a seat at the table because they just have so much insight that they can provide to the leadership team.”

“I would love to see the team continue to grow. I think it's really important for us to have a dedicated person in the team to be able to really concentrate on onboarding in the first six months.”

“You want a dedicated person to actually get them [new starters] in the door so that we can take over and make sure that they're successfully positioned. So, we brought in a team quite early on, and they've been great.”

“The team will continue to grow. We already have... And there's so many roles within the P&C function, but I think the most critical ones in the next 12 months for us will be someone within the L&D [learning and development] function and someone to really concentrate on that employee experience journey in their first six months.”

Editor: “What do you see as the most important element of talent acquisition in a scale-up business like DiviPay?”

Ms Klimentieva: “Especially in the current climate and the current market, I think everything from employer branding to the diversity and inclusion stance and policy, to building out the pipeline, having those connections, building out the network. It's a very all-encompassing type of role in the team within the wider P&C group. So yeah, those people are very specialised, they have a lot of contacts within the industry.”

“So it's very much not just about cold-calling and trying to headhunt. It is very much thinking about the bigger picture. About how to position the company in the best light. What is important to the candidate? How to make sure that we hit those points, those really critical points for people. And they get a little bit of a feel not only about the culture and how it is, but also what's important to us and what we're backing.”

“They're kind of a fountain of knowledge for us to really make sure that we're doing everything that we can to be as supportive and as attractive as we can be to talent.”

Editor: “What advice do you have for any listeners that are a part of an organisation that doesn’t yet have anyone focused on people leadership and management?”

Ms Klimentieva: “My advice for them would be to really understand their mission and vision, so what they want, and be very deliberate about the type of environment they want to create for their workers.”

“It doesn't have to be someone extremely senior, but whenever there is an opportunity to bring someone [in] who is a specialist within the employee journey, to really be able to concentrate on those initiatives because the return on investment has been proven time and time again. The more you invest in your people, the more you have people that are dedicated to really thinking about that agenda, the less your attrition rates are, and the more productive the teams.”

“My advice is, if you don't have an opportunity yet to bring in someone in a P&C capacity, just be quite deliberate about the kind of environment you want. But the first opportunity you get, do get a generalist on board and someone to help you structure that and work on that.”

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full conversation with Olga Klimentieva is below.