Earlier last week, we had the chance to ask a few questions to Camilla Coppola, Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding Specialist for the iconic automaker Maserati. She shared with us her vision about the future of work & what Maserati is doing for making the Automotive industry more inclusive.
What’s the biggest challenge HR Leaders must address now and in the next future?
I believe one of the main challenges we face, it’s about identifying, understanding, and pulling out the best of our candidates. Working in an ever-changing environment, where technology evolves fast, creates the need to identify human potential and then shape it to perform at its best in a specific role. It’s not about someone who “can do the job” anymore. Now it’s about getting the best out of human potential to set the base to do multiple, evolving roles in a few years' spans.
What’s the blind spot in the “Inclusion, Diversity and Equality” discussion that is happening lately? And how do we tackle that?
The blind spot I see more often is the lack of awareness about unconscious bias. When we think we’re not biased, when we think we are over it because “we get it” by now, there happens to be a huge mistake.
D&I is a topic that has always been close to my heart. Here at Maserati, we strive to build a culture of trust, safety, and openness to others — valuing our diversity. Implementing D&I policies is a positive trend I see happening in other Italian companies as well — and I hope this is just the beginning.
What’s the people initiative you developed that makes you feel the proudest about?
We implemented a women empowerment initiative, aiming at the professional and personal growth of women in the workplace. I can’t underline enough the importance of gender balance and creating actual pathways for women to management and leadership roles.
If you could change anything in the way companies do HR, what would you change? And how?
I would definitely push the management to be more human. As we know, the HR function is the only one with a ‘Human’ in it — so, what’s more, important than valuing and cultivating our humanity first? Whether you are a candidate, an employee, a manager, or an executive, we all happen to be human, sharing similar vulnerabilities, dreams, and needs. Let’s value that and build our management strategy around it to be more human.
Tell us about an untold story, (something good, bad, or funny) you have seen in your HR career.
You see, I have always felt a maternal, protective instinct with the people I hire, especially at the beginning of my career! When I did my first hires, I used to obsessively check in with them, protecting them, feeling a deep sense of caring which was going a little too far! Sometimes I even thought to myself “should I call them to make sure they ate today?”.
