In-Business: Leptos Group one of the top 15 largest employers in Cyprus.

Leptos Group garnered recognition in the October 2023 edition of IN Business Magazine, solidifying its status as one of Cyprus’s Top 15 largest employers.

In her interview with IN Business magazine, Stella Delitsikou, Leptos Group HR Manager, outlined key challenges in human resources, including the difficulty of attracting skilled talent in new technologies and retaining employees amid growing market competition. She explained that the company addresses these challenges through innovative HR strategies, offering competitive compensation, lifelong learning, and flexible work arrangements.

Leptos Group actively promotes diversity, inclusion, and equality, incorporating these values into organizational processes. Technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, are monitored and applied to enhance productivity. The post-pandemic working model emphasizes flexibility and telecommuting. The company structure includes a Board of Directors overseeing specialised departments.

As one of the largest employers in Cyprus, Leptos Group faces future challenges in the limited labor market of Paphos and the need for a multicultural staff due to its extroverted nature.

Read the full interview below:

1. What are the main challenges you face today regarding human resources and the labor market (e.g. lack of human resources, technology and income inequalities, etc.) and how do you address them (e.g. by hiring people from abroad)?

The challenges facing the human resources sector and the labor market are numerous and multidimensional, with the top one being finding and attracting skilled personnel in new technologies. In addition, retaining talented people is becoming more and more difficult due to the increasing competition in the labor market. Thus, the HR department is required to develop innovative strategies to attract and retain employees, such as offering competitive compensation packages, lifelong learning, flexible work arrangements, and opportunities for development and advancement.

2. How is the learning and development of new skills in human resources applied in practice?

Learning and developing new skills as well as improving them are a cornerstone of the effective operation of our Group companies. For the better management of educational programs, we have created an Education and Training Academy with the aim of continuous training of our staff through continuous training seminars, carried out by us and by external partners, as well as other actions aimed at strengthening the knowledge of colleagues.

3. Terms such as diversity, inclusion and equality as well as ESG are increasingly becoming a necessary part of processes and strategies for modern organizations rather than an optional concern. Do you take initiatives to strengthen these values and in what way?

The concepts of diversity, inclusion and equality are essential components of our organizational processes. The Leptos Group is a diverse and inclusive workplace that promotes innovation and creativity. We ensure that all our colleagues feel valued, respected and supported, and that they have an equal opportunity to contribute to the success of the organization, being treated fairly regardless of race, gender, age, background or characteristics.
In addition, our Group had incorporated elements of environmental and social governance long before these concepts were introduced into the everyday life of modern society. In this regard, I would like to mention that for 15 consecutive years we have been organizing corporate blood donations and we have received the first award for rational waste management since the establishment of the award institution by OAK (Cyprus Recycling Organization).

4. How do you think the changes brought about by technology and especially artificial intelligence will affect your company?

Our Group monitors technological developments, including those referred to in Technical Intelligence, and takes care to apply them for its better functioning, the enhancement of productivity and the improvement of its services and products and for the benefit of both its customers and its employees.

5. Cyprus businesses have returned to normal after the pandemic. However, the pandemic shaped the field of work with work from home, more dependence on technology, structured working hours, but also concepts such as employee burnout, etc. What do you think? Describe to us the current working model of your company.

Our company handled the problems arising from the pandemic with the main aim of protecting the physical and mental health of colleagues and the support and service of our customers. We adapted our operating model not only to cope with the pandemic period but also to be able to respond to the new market data and the demands of our staff and customers. The traditionally fixed working hours have been enriched with the possibility of flexibility and telecommuting.

6. How is your company currently structured in the various departments?

Our company is managed by the Board of Directors which, in addition to the owners/shareholders, includes renowned managers. It is made up of specialized companies with their own management and departments such as Accounting, Finance, Architecture, Sales, Construction, Legal, Marketing, IT, Human Resources and others.

7. As one of the largest employers in Cyprus, what is the biggest challenge for the future in the sector where you operate?

Paphos is unfortunately a limited labor market, with the result that this fact in itself is one of the biggest challenges in terms of finding suitably qualified staff. In addition, the extroversion of our Group requires multicultural staff which makes the effort even more difficult

View interview (pages 46 & 47) in the IN Business Magazine October 2023 issue HERE