Implementation of private management in state companies

The deadline until the Ministry of Economy will receive offers from the consultants to organise the recruitment of new directors for the first companies: Hidroelectrica, Oltchim, Societatea Naţională a Lignitului Oltenia, Electrica Furnizare and Romarm is Tuesday.

The solution found by the Government to improve the efficiency of state companies is highly being discussed these days.

The supposed salaries of being huge amount of money, but also the challenges they have to face are also being debated.

The consultant winning the bid is to be involved in the selection of recruitment firms that will effectively replace the managers from the large state companies.

In order to find the best candidate for such leadership positions it is preferred the direct approach of the potential candidates, identifying in the market profile experienced individuals, who had outstanding achievements over the years.

Another option is to publicly announce the approach of recruiting and the possibility of the candidates to apply for the specified position.

As for the state companies that get private management, the recruitment firms would focus more on those experienced in the private sector, Daniela Necefor, manager of such a company, considers.

"If we recruit from the public sector, we replace the public sector with the public sector, there is no point in it, because the vast majority of public sector managers or department directors are generally political appointees and for this reason this replacement is not aimed to be a political involvement", Daniela Necefor said .

Private managers must have 10-15 years experience in a leading position

The selection contests of state companies manager will be held within 60 days from the date of the decision made by the general meetings of shareholders regarding the amendment of the provisions related to the company management.

According to a draft law of the Senate standing committees for the selection of private management, the shareholders' meeting is a selection committee consisting of up to five people.

The Executive Director of one of the largest recruiting firms of the market, Mihaela Perianu, questioned the proper functioning of the whole approach and said that so far it has not been held transparently.

"I think it is rather strange for us to find about such an auction from the press and we only found after some recruitment companies have already submitted their documents for the auction", Mihaela Perianu said.

As for the potential candidates, Mihaela Perianu said that first they must have a 10 to 15 years experience on a managerial position.

"I do not know if it there would be so many candidates, especially that Romanians do not have a strong confidence in the Romanian state and the way they are governed and there would be a few interested candidates", Mrs. Perianu added.

The gross monthly allowance paid to the private manager is negotiated, starting from the average gross basic salary of state society.

The salary scale takes into account the achievement of a certain level of the annual turnover, on the one hand, and the average number of employees of the company, on the other. In case the company records losses or debts, the ranking coefficient will decrease in proportion to their value.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business is to report the progress of the selection process for new managers of state companies in a press release scheduled on Tuesday.

Translated by: Iulia Florescu

MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University