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Episode 48 - Dimitrina Vasileva, Europe Central Talent Leader at EY
20 Plays24 days ago
In this episode, Sade is joined by Dimitrina, Europe Central Talent Leader at EY for an inspiring conversation about the evolving world of HR, talent and DEI.
They explore:
- Dimitrina’s journey into HR and what sparked her passion for people and culture
- How EY is driving inclusion and belonging across the organisation
- The metrics and methods used to measure the real impact of DEI initiatives
- What the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion looks like at EY and beyond
- Dimitrina’s advice for anyone aspiring to build a career in HR or talent leadership
If you’re curious about creating inclusive workplaces or carving out a meaningful career in HR, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss!
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Transcript
Introduction to Dimitrina and Her Role at EY
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Women Talk Tech. Today I'm joined by Dimitrina, EY's Europe Central Talent Leader. We'll talk all about how she built a career in talent leadership, what her role really involves and how it has evolved over time.
00:00:29
Speaker
We'll also dig into what it takes to create an inclusive culture at a global firm like EY, how success of this is measured, and the real impact of DEI initiatives. Plus, Dimitrina shares the challenges ahead, the big ideas she'd launched with unlimited resources, and the best advice for anyone looking for similar role.
00:00:45
Speaker
Let's get started. Awesome. So really excited to be here speaking with you. Before we kind of kick things off, Dimitrina, tell me a bit more about yourself. Typical starting question, I know.
00:00:55
Speaker
Sure, sure. And I'm very excited as well to be with you today, Shadeh. I'm very pleased to have this opportunity as well. So my name is Dimitrina Vasilova. I am based in Sofia in Bulgaria, born and raised in Bulgaria, even though I come from a smaller town in the countryside.
00:01:14
Speaker
i was So maybe because our ah listeners are not able to see me, i would just describe myself as you know somebody who is Rather, you know, having dark hair, darker skin compared to most Bulgarians. If you have ever met Bulgarians, maybe you would be surprised that, you know, my skin is darker, 162 centimeters tall and um and probably regular size, you know, of a woman.
00:01:42
Speaker
um As I said, I have been raised in the countryside. My father was a ah first the the first person in his family who graduated to university, quite focused education. For him, that was a him that was a a very high ah value to have in the family and to to first to to have to pursue as as we were young with my brother.
00:02:09
Speaker
um Yeah, he was also at the end ah pursuing further academic academic um achievements, became the doctor of science, et cetera. So I'm really trying to say that that was somehow installed in me since a very young age.
00:02:28
Speaker
My mom, on the other hand, she is a midwife. She comes from a family of women who have been so much yeah devoted to humanitarian issues.
00:02:43
Speaker
efforts. Her mom was a nurse, her sister is a nurse. So I have been also raised in a family with lots of values related to ah supporting the society and, you know, being there for others as well, sharing that across the entire family.
Dimitrina's Career Journey at EY
00:03:03
Speaker
um I am, for the last 21 twenty one years i am with the same employer, maybe be surprising to many people who would listen to us.
00:03:15
Speaker
I started my career in what was back then called Earth and Young in Bulgaria, now EY, widely known, and one of the big four organizations, present in 150 or more countries in the world with more than 400,000 employees across globe. am...
00:03:35
Speaker
employee across the the globe i am a talent leader of a very diverse region of 33 countries called Europe Central.
00:03:47
Speaker
ah These 33 countries range from the North, you know, countries like Sweden, ah Denmark, ah Finland, Norway, going through the Central Europe like Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, down to Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Greece,
00:04:11
Speaker
ah the Balkans where I'm based, but also countries of Central Asia and Caucasus like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, e etc.
00:04:21
Speaker
So a very, very interesting role is is the one that I have where I am supporting the what was previously called human resources activities, but I would probably call it talent strategy in our, how the way we refer to it in our organization across this very diverse region, making sure that our we our business is supporting supported in its growth and development ah from talent perspective.
00:04:50
Speaker
So probably I'll stop here and throughout you. Yeah, no, I'd love to kind of dig a bit deep into that, right? Because I think, I'm sure very similar to recruitment, right? I don't think, well, i I don't know, but I'm sure many people don't grow up thinking, oh yeah, I want to get into HR. Sometimes it's something, well, I don't see it being compared like, I want to become a doctor, right? It's not that sort of career. So yeah, looking back at the beginning of your career, of course, you've been at EY for for a very long time. So I guess, you know, starting at a company at EY could have encouraged you to get into the world of HR. But yeah, how did you,
00:05:26
Speaker
get into the world of kind of talent and HR all those years ago.
Accidental Entry into HR and Discovering Passion
00:05:30
Speaker
yeah And that's a very interesting story. And i I love going back to that and in in when I explain to the people the opportunities that they have in our organization as well to, you know, start somewhere and without even calculating it or ah pursuing it to, you know, to continue into a different direction because they they can find excitement and inspiration of doing so much.
00:05:56
Speaker
So as I as i mentioned, 21 years ago, that was 2004, I was ah expecting my final exams in in the university. I was um just yeah you know having a couple of months available in my life back then.
00:06:11
Speaker
A friend called me and they told me that there is an open position in administration in a company, which is for only three months in my interest. And I said yes to that.
00:06:22
Speaker
At that time, ui was hiring for other companies. So we were doing like recruitment services for other organizations. So they hired me for an organization that was called back then Kraft Foods.
00:06:36
Speaker
um So probably, you know, Kraft now called Mondelith. And they they hired me as a receptionist for three months. And I was able to observe, you know, what's going on.
00:06:47
Speaker
When you sit in reception, you you see a lot of things happening in the organization, right? So I was able to observe what is happening across the organization for these three months. And I really liked you know what what I observed happening with the human resources department back then. And it sort of clicked with me that this is something that um I would be interested in.
00:07:09
Speaker
I also, again, sitting at reception, I also found out that I'm actually good at communication. And yeah an interaction and stuff like that, where you need to be quite flexible and communicative and collaborative at times, you know, because it may present different challenges to you.
00:07:27
Speaker
So, yeah, that that three months was sort of putting some thought in my head where potentially I could go next.
00:07:38
Speaker
um And then at the end of my internship, the employer back then called me and said, that they cannot really offer me a job for the future, but they have praised me and you know highlighted my potential and performance with EY.
00:07:55
Speaker
and And then EY called me and they offered me a job as an intern again, again in and administration. But I was probably one month in EY already, ah working part-time.
00:08:09
Speaker
And as I mentioned, we were doing... um recruitment services for other organizations. And i just overheard manager talking to another manager saying that we have just contracted ah a very large client who is opening a site, a plant in Bulgaria, where we are tasked to hire 300 blue colors and 100 white colors for this organization, for this new establishment.
00:08:39
Speaker
I happened to come from that region in Bulgaria where this plant is being opened and I said, may I help? Would you like me to help? Because I know that at that time that was the the region with the highest unemployment rate in the country.
00:08:53
Speaker
And remember that was the time when there was there was internet, but people were not using as much internet. So my role in the beginning was to, you know,
00:09:05
Speaker
make sure that we have published advertisements in the newspapers or the radio. I was sending letters, but using the post, not using you know email. I'm in touch with all the candidates. So again, that was 400 people to be hired in just few months was a very, very large number for us.
00:09:25
Speaker
So I was organizing the the interviews, doing the assessment centers. I knew each and every person from these files. um Some of them were coming from really, really harsh and unprivileged backgrounds.
00:09:40
Speaker
And that ah sort of cemented for me, you know, my desire to continue in that field of work. um And things really happened very quickly after that project. For me, I got invited to join permanently the country team in Bulgaria as an HR assistant.
00:10:01
Speaker
a year after my manager left and I was offered to take the role of a manager in the Bulgarian practice. But in all honesty, in EY, we have a longstanding history of operating in integrated way.
00:10:18
Speaker
We are probably the most integrated organization amongst the big four. And um I have always had the um opportunity to work ah across countries. So even though I was for maybe the for first five or six years responsible for a single country, ah part of my role was also having some responsibility across different processes for multiple countries, first for 10 countries, then for 22 countries, then moving to 31 countries.
00:10:47
Speaker
And I have, I don't know, I have not really counted them how many different roles have I changed for this 21 years. But this has quite an exciting process. this has been quite an exciting developmental journey for myself because it always offered me that opportunity to to to grow into a different role something new that I could pick and do and and contribute in a different way wow wow it's honestly I I actually could ask people that question every day right because I just s think it's so interesting how everyone is in HR because
00:11:20
Speaker
they are in it, but no one ever wakes up and says, Hey, you know, i want to work in HR. It's kind something which kind of comes about and then everyone's in it and doing a really good job, I guess, compared to where you started to where you are now, um, what does your kind of role now involve?
Integrating DEI into Business Strategy
00:11:35
Speaker
Like what's your day to day, but also I'd love to kind of understand like how the kind of DEI landscape it also has also incorporated into a role. but also how it's changed over time as well, because I'm sure as your roles change, the idea of kind of DEI has also changed.
00:11:52
Speaker
And I'm sure it's probably a lot of your responsibility, right? Especially working in so many different countries. So how's that journey been if for you, you know, compared to where you started and where your role is now? Yes, yes. So ah if you ask me about my day-to-day activities, a lot of it is, I would describe it as conversations and decision-making, you know, conversations with different stakeholders, some of them,
00:12:14
Speaker
are our business leaders, some of them are my team members or other peers or other regions from the organization sharing good experiences, but also taking decisions for, know, be that our strategy or how do ah we align to our strategy?
00:12:33
Speaker
um How do we support in the best possible way, as I said before, our business so that, you know, our people related initiatives are not somehow working in isolation what's happening when when it comes to the to the business reality.
00:12:53
Speaker
And I think especially in the dynamically developing contexts now, and i I say context because there are contexts that are internal, external, you know, political, economic, etc.
00:13:08
Speaker
There is a lot to be considered and Speed is really important. So that's probably my the the daily stuff that I do is he' probably mostly related to making sure that we are very fastly responding to anything that needs to be answered or decided in the organization so that we have that aligned support to the business.
00:13:33
Speaker
Now, you were asking me about how the D&I involvement has developed. the I did not mention that, but I also have a separate role, which is an inclusion leader for our region. and um And I have had that role for the past maybe 10 years.
00:13:53
Speaker
And I remember before i even stepped into that role, how difficult the whole conversation about diversity inclusion was. And I have seen my colleagues struggling, you know, how to how to make sure that it is embedded in the business discussion.
00:14:11
Speaker
And what I'm very happy and proud to see that where we have developed and as an organization and how I also have, I believe, sort of established my role and in responsibility and impact as well is to make sure that we are not talking about diversity or inclusion or equity topics in isolation. We make it part of the business conversation.
00:14:37
Speaker
we make it We make sure that whatever it is that is concerning the inclusive culture that we would like to have and to sustain in the organization he's part of our processes. So we have a systematic impact on the decisions that we are taking across the organization so that each and every person in the organization can feel and can describe in the same way their experience being part of that organization.
00:15:07
Speaker
so that's probably how I would describe it, how it evolved. At the beginning, it was more pushing into some pain points. Today's a much more holistic conversation where we are trying to and and to um to have an impact on the entire environment and culture.
00:15:24
Speaker
And through that environment and culture, every person basically becomes the ambassador or change agent, whatever, yeah or D&I specialist or, you know, inclusiveness leader on his or her own when it comes to executing that that strategy or agenda.
00:15:42
Speaker
Yeah. And i'm I'm curious because in many startups and in many kind of conversations I have, especially for for people in the HR space, um it's sometimes very hard to measure the kind of DEI with success, right? But I can imagine in in a company like EY, that's so important because it's such a big organization and you can't just be talking about it with no tangible results. Whereas I feel like in many startups, I'm not saying that's the case, but because it's such a small business, it could be a conversation then you kind of move on to the next. But I can imagine that can't be the case at
00:16:19
Speaker
So how do you measure the success of your kind of DEI initiatives and the conversations you have? And And I'm curious because what key metrics do you look at or any indicators or yeah, how do you really kind of understand that you've actually done a good job?
Measuring DEI Success: Metrics and Analysis
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah. Well, as the topic is complex, the measurement is also complex and it doesn't come from one source. It comes from plenty. And as I said, we do not have, even though I i personally am dedicated to to inclusiveness, we do not have a separate function sitting in HR that is called inclusiveness, and we would only focus on that.
00:16:58
Speaker
The way we have a project, as I said, is to embed our principles, policies, guidelines into the processes that we have. And for on the basis of these processes that we are running, we are also running we' are also measuring sorry our progress.
00:17:17
Speaker
So examples I would give you are things like looking into our hiring
00:17:26
Speaker
into our hiring statistics. Yeah. We cannot... So the legislation in most, if not in all of our countries, is that we cannot really ask for too many demographic information from our candidates, but wherever possible, especially around gender, for example, we make sure that we are having always balanced hiring, that we are bringing in...
00:17:54
Speaker
as many men as well as women in the organization, when it comes to, when it comes to the way we are promoting and rewarding people, we have, for example, uh, as a minimum twice per year, we run gender gap, gender pay gap analysis to make sure that no, nobody's deviated, uh, from pay perspective, um, on the basis of gender.
00:18:18
Speaker
And we, if we find some, you know, larger than 5% differences, we address those because sometimes they have a very logic explanation. you know somebody Somebody just started in their role and have not really had the ah tenure that somebody else has or it's about the role scope itself, but we make sure that these conversations are being held.
00:18:44
Speaker
um Also, when it comes to promotions, we are and making sure that promote
00:18:53
Speaker
proportionally so what does it mean is that if we have for example 50 percent of your population being female in the organization your expectation is that 50 percent of the promotions to the next level would be also uh you know women uh so that's around gender but also part of twice per year as a minimum and that's happening at a global level we are running uh experience and and satisfaction engagement survey where we are always having questions related to how people feel and experience our inclusive culture.
00:19:32
Speaker
We are also asking them about their comfort in speaking up as well if they see something no wrong happening or some discrimination um you or mistreatment in the organization.
00:19:46
Speaker
We have also... I was just having a call about the latest information and statistics on that new hires survey so that we also understand the perspective of our the people who have been through our hiring process. Those who have successfully completed the process, meaning that we have made offers to, and those who have not been approved, we still want to ask them whether the process through which they went was inclusive and uh was fair to them so these are just the examples i can continue because in almost every process that is part of you know the employee life cycle we do have embedded questions or ways to measure that people are experiencing what we would like them to experience in this environment yeah totally and i'm sure there's been a fair few amount of challenges right in doing that right because not only are you approaching
00:20:46
Speaker
quite I don't want to say sensitive right but all these topics which we talk about when it comes to the EI they are quite sensitive we do have to make sure we approach in the in the best way possible so what's been maybe some of the challenges that you've gone through in some of those examples you mentioned but also I'd love to know like looking ahead what challenges do you also then foresee because if we look back 10 years I don't think we would have been able to predict some of the challenges that we've been through now right um So, yeah what are some of the challenges you've had? And then looking ahead, what what other challenges do you kind of think are going to come up again? Yeah.
Challenges and Strategies in Fostering Inclusion
00:21:18
Speaker
Is your question related to the inclusion particularly or in general about talent? Yeah, yeah, just the inclusion because I think it's changed a lot. Yeah, well, the challenges that I think probably what every organisation has had is make to find the right balance of how to have those conversations and, you know, not become very...
00:21:40
Speaker
defensive or offensive when talking about it um because my perspective is that the the value is really into the conversation, into having those discussions and making sure that um on one hand and one hand we as an organization are clearly stating where our values stand and be clear on on you know what are the behaviors expected when people are part of our ah family.
00:22:13
Speaker
On the other hand, for everybody who has a disagreement or experiences on clarity or has a voice that they would like to share with the others to give that opportunity to people to to do that.
00:22:27
Speaker
ah i I mentioned it as a challenge because that requires, on one hand, patience. Yeah. you would not see you know immediate improvement of results over one year. That's a really investment of time.
00:22:44
Speaker
And in the business the business of you know everybody, very often people just do not spend proper time having those discussions. yeah So for me, that's,
00:22:55
Speaker
That's probably the the biggest thing, you know, to have that for everybody to have the time to sit together and have an open conversation about what's important, why it's important and how we can align our actions, our understanding to support those values that we share as an organization.
00:23:19
Speaker
so So that's probably what I'll i'll mention. On the other hand, there are specific challenges that coming from the external environment, I would say, that we are all aware of.
00:23:33
Speaker
But for that one, would say the the way we have, or I have also found them a way forward, is that we are trying to find where the ener energy is with other organizations, partners, NGOs, people, and families.
00:23:52
Speaker
organizations, firms that are like-minded so that we somehow provide courage to each other to you know yeah keep doing the the the important work that we do and to also make sure that we inspire each other with our approaches best practices if you want to call them um but to have that community i think has been extremely extremely helpful especially in the in the last months um yeah yeah no i think it's it's really interesting right because yeah i think even when i think about looking back for example when the whole black life matter uh movement happened it would have been hard to put it that would have been a case which
00:24:41
Speaker
companies would have had to have gone through, right? And now it's like you said, like other external factors, what could come up, which we're just not prepared for, where that's going to happen. and the wars that are going on in the world, right? Again, you know, companies are having to deal with worldly issues, which they may not have been prepared for, right? So it's really hard to look ahead, right? But I think the challenge is, I don't want say exciting,
00:25:05
Speaker
um at all but I think it's refreshing that we are we have the space to also make change for these issues which are going to come up because I think then looking ahead when other people are joining the company they're joining a completely different company with now rules and policies in place based on stuff which we've had to look at from external factors yes absolutely and you know when I was probably three or four years ago when I was um still in my inclusiveness role, i so we all experienced that hype in the space of diversity, equity, inclusion. And I was thinking back then, you know, where will it land? would Would it mean that all of these organizations who are, you know, having their declarations for D&I, having their specialists related to D&I, focus on D&I, et cetera, will they all...
00:25:57
Speaker
have such an impact on the environment and we'll have a very, very different, you know, employer market in a way. um And for me, what's happening now is really yeah an opportunity for all of us to differentiate ourselves, that we are consistent in what we say and what we do, that um um we are providing these,
00:26:24
Speaker
space for the people where they can come and they can feel appreciated for who they are. They can you know feel happy and and engaged for who they are, supported in their development, et cetera.
00:26:36
Speaker
So for me, that's a huge opportunity out there for us to not only persevere, but also to differentiate ourselves. um And I think that's that's the the the sort of mindset that we all should have.
00:26:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think the differentiation is key, right? Because, of course, I do think there are certain policies policies which should be in every company. But, for example, 40 may be different to mine. So the policies which you make or you kind of focus on will be different to what I do. But the the the mindset behind is that we should always be looking at our people and what do our people want? What do they need to really throw flourish at work?
00:27:15
Speaker
Exactly, exactly. yeah and And we always, at least you, it always has been super clear to us that the people the why behind why we do it is because it's very, very solidly linked to our business success, to how much we are able to innovate, to how much we are able to connect with our clients as well, because our clients are very often like-minded um individuals on the other side as well.
00:27:46
Speaker
People who are organizations who are also multicultural, ah international with, you know, this bolder, broader thinking organizations who want to somehow have a positive impact on the world.
00:27:59
Speaker
So I just want to highlight that you know to to everybody listening as well, that I would say most of the organizations who are demonstrating their commitment now, and if you are you know people who are looking for a new employee, that's somehow to an opportunity to differentiate as well. Most of these organizations are not doing and having their focus on D&I for the sake of and yeah think support only, but also for the sake of growing and sustaining their strong positions as business leaders wherever they are.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah.
Advice for Overcoming Talent Leadership Challenges
00:28:41
Speaker
And what advice would you give to to other people who are maybe in a similar role to yourself or, or, in a role that you've been in in the past, because of course things do change and things have progressed.
00:28:51
Speaker
So yeah, what advice would you give to to someone maybe in a similar situation to you? Yeah, probably a couple of things. And one is something that is, I find difficult to follow myself, but I always remind myself that it's important. And this is really not to get overwhelmed with too many initiatives or too many ideas, but rather focus on couple of things that are high impact ah and would you would really devote yourself to yeah that are also holistic and can have a an impact that could be felt across the organization, not in in ah in a smaller group or
00:29:35
Speaker
um
00:29:38
Speaker
yeah, smaller section of your organization. So that is one. And the second one um I think I saw already sort of mentioned is to to find where the energy is, you know, to not get distracted by challenges because I think we're in an era where if you want to find challenges, you would find them.
00:30:01
Speaker
and i mean They're there. But, ah you know, find people who are who are there to support you and encourage you, to motivate you.
00:30:14
Speaker
with whom you can talk and just share ideas and and can get you inspired to do things in a fresher, newer, exciting way. For me, now these are probably the two things that you are always helpful to me when I need a fresh perspective on to how I operate myself.
00:30:33
Speaker
Because, we said, the world is changing a lot. There is ah every opportunity for people to to be concerned maybe even for some things. But as you said previously, I think there is a lot of excitement also and an opportunity for doing great things as well. Yeah, yeah.
00:30:50
Speaker
I love what you said there because I think a lot of people, when I speak to them, they they have various initiatives which they want to do and they kind of go about all of them at once. And and it's overwhelming for a start.
00:31:01
Speaker
And two, you know you tend to not to have an impact on anyone because you're you've kind pulled yourself too thin. And I think the topics which we're talking about or can be talking about are quite in depth. they're quite um They're quite weighty, right? There's a lot of work to do behind one aspect. So you do have to really think about, okay, what's important to my team? What's important for for right now? And what where can I put my energy? So you don't kind of get burnt out trying to do too much.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah. And there's a certain way to be patient as well because great results come with patience. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Honestly, I really love the conversation, Dimitrina. So thank you so much for joining me. me And yeah, no, I'm excited for everyone to have a listen.
00:31:44
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you very much today for for the opportunity. And I hope that everybody listening is having a great time in their careers as as well as, you know, experiencing an inspiration in their lives because there is a lot of, you know,
00:32:00
Speaker
um opportunity to to do greater things, either if you are in the profession of HR, of human resources or elsewhere. i see many people who are actually having at least NUI and many people who are actually having different occupation than human resources, but they are somehow drawn into supporting our talent agenda as well. So for people who are interested, I hope this conversation also somehow encourage them to do more.