Efrat Konforty is the Chief People Officer at albelli-Photobox Group. She was previously the Head of HR at Marktplaats (part of eBay) in Amsterdam, before moving to uniQure, Optiver, OYO Vacation Homes, and Bauer Media Group.

What excites you about albelli-Photobox Group and what was it about it that attracted you to join?

When I think about it, there are two main things that attracted me. One is the consumer part; I really like when a business has a consumer element to it. We are all consumers, we all know what it means to be a consumer, and we all know what it means to receive bad service or a bad product, I like to be a part of giving good products and good service.

The second reason I joined is because the organisation is the result of a merger between two commercially complimentary groups. They are not competing with one another; they are actually enabling one another to grow even better. They are both great brands and they have a product that makes us smile. It’s consumers, it’s joy, it’s something that is sustainable for a long period of time; if it’s merged together, and it’s actually really an achievement to build a new brand and continue bringing in joy.

In terms of the next 12 months, what would you perceive to be the biggest challenges in the business and your role within the organisation?

I think that the biggest challenge for any organisation these days is basically what’s happening in the world. As much as we bring joy to people, we bring joy by bringing together materials, and materials cost money. From the price of raw materials to the shipment, the cost of everything has increased, and it takes a toll on all, employees and customers, who just want to enjoy their photos.

Other challenges surrounding us are how we become a more sustainable organisation and how we keep our products affordable. The need to be smart, while being socially responsible, is a challenge for any organisation, us included. Internally, how are we continuing to support people who are working with ambiguity? There are many challenges around that. However, that’s one of the reasons why I joined this organisation, because it has social responsibility.

The product needs to be accessible to everyone and we need to be an organisation where both the product and the organisation is accessible to everyone. As an organisation, we aren’t there yet, but I will put it on the agenda for the next 12 months.

In terms of your role, have you identified some ways in which your function can contribute to that sustainable vision and accessibility to everybody?

We have a sustainable strategy that we’re putting into different pillars - people being one of the leading 3 pillars. These pillars range from the basic requirements - such as creating a safe and healthy environment - all the way to ensuring inclusivity.

As a company, we’re setting clear targets and strategies that are not limited to one thing. We look at the planet, we look at the people, we look at the environment - we have different pillars and clear strategies to make sure that all ambitions mature.

As an organisation, what sort of things have you or your organisation done to really support wellbeing in the workplace and positive mental health within business?

At this stage, we need to develop a programme for that. If I look at my past and the organisations that I have worked with, it was always one of the first topics of discussion. I think that one of the ways to be able to support wellbeing is by giving personal responsibilities to people and volunteering days, so they can actually decide what they would like to do with themselves.

When I worked at eBay, one of their strengths was their work surrounding charities. This was done either by offering voluntary days, or through donating their presence, such as real estate and website placements, to charities allowing them to achieve a broader exposure. It isn’t exactly wellbeing of the people, but by being involved in different social activities, it contributes to a positive wellbeing.

The pandemic created a big situation around wellbeing - we all know about it, we talked about it, and there is a lot of material out there to address it. One of the things that I clearly see with wellbeing, like development, is that it’s in the hands of the person.

The company can be blamed for a lot of things. But, eventually, if the company allows a person to work remotely, and allows for flexible working hours, and the person is not taking advantage of it, and letting the time pass without structure and personal commitment, it becomes a chicken and egg situation of who is responsible for the growing workload and tasks.

A company can provide a lot of platforms, but eventually, it’s in the hands of the employee to own their wellbeing and their personal and professional development. It’s the responsibility of the company to ensure that there is enough time and paths allocated for these topics.

We are all finding new ways of working; it is not one organisation versus the other. You can open LinkedIn and see the positive effects of hybrid working, etc.

However, for you to receive your photo album or calendar from us, people need to actually print it and other people need to ship and deliver it. So, when talking about social awareness, if everyone is shouting you must offer hybrid working, we forget about the population that is actually serving the product and delivering it to our homes, making sure that we can actually enjoy the greatness that we are ourselves creating.

When we demand hybrid working everywhere, we are actually paralysing ourselves. The product would not be able to go without the printer and the delivery will not arrive without the delivery person - there is a huge population that cannot work hybrid and we need to respect, and acknowledge them.

If you think about HR as a profession and people’s perception is of it, what do you think is the biggest myth that you’d like to debunk?

It’s a question I’m asking when I hire an HR business partner. What does BP mean? I ask them to describe what the P is and, depending on the description, I end the conversation and say, “Do you understand the difference between Partnership or are you a Police officer?”

The biggest myth about HR is: Are we HR or are we police officers? Are we a stick or are we actually an enabler, a partner? I hope we are more and more true partners, less HR and more People.

Looking back over your career so far, what would you highlight as being a personal highlight for you?

I am most proud of being in positions and in companies where the value of people leads. Where I, with a dedicated team, can drive culture by diversity of backgrounds and create a safe place to work in, no matter what the nationality, religion, orientation or other background is; the individual skills and personality leads.

Is there another direction that you might have taken if it wasn’t HR, or maybe even something that you might want to do in the future as a second career?

That’s a question I ask myself often, because the reason I moved to the Netherlands 19 years ago was because I fell in love with a Dutch guy. I actually dropped everything and had the opportunity to rebuild myself, and decide which path I would like to take.

I think that it broadened the responsibilities of HR at that time. So, it didn’t eliminate HR and business operations, but what I did drop when I moved and actually really liked (and surprisingly I look at it now from a different angle) is photography.

I like photography and I really like to write, as well. I dropped both writing and photography when I moved, and reinvented myself in the Netherlands. But now, being in albelli-Photobox Group, I have built up my attachment back to photography. So, I would probably take photography up again, and maybe some writing. But, honestly, now with blogs all over the place and everyone writing about everything, it’s taken the charm of writing away, so I will focus on reading.

Finally, thinking back to when you were a child, who was the person or the people that you most admired and why?

It’s a cliché, but my dad. I come from a very unique family that is very small. It’s unique, because two people fell in love and then their siblings fell in love with each other, as well. It’s not a marriage within the family, but it’s a very small family.

Actually, one of the achievements belonging to my family is that all family members - both male and female - have succeeded immensely. But there are two pieces of advice that I learnt from my dad that have really stuck with me.

First of all, look into the eyes of every person - look straight into their eyes, don’t block, don’t fool, don’t patronise, just be straight. It doesn’t matter who you are; the person in front of you is the person. Be big enough to level up to the smallest and to the biggest. A person is a person and that is what I heavily learnt in my family.

The second thing is, don’t allow anyone to actively walk over you just because you are in a lower position. Never be the aggressor, never be aggressive. It is fine to defend your values and your morals.

Thank you to Efrat for speaking to Katie Insley, Associate Director in our HR recruitment team in the Netherlands.

Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment.