Elena Mega began her career as a business consultant in 2010 with an international consultancy organization. Initially, she focused on process improvement projects and worked on designing operating models for clients in various industries.
In 2016, Elena’s company formed a new team dedicated to automation. As one of her first projects with the team, she collaborated with UiPath. At first, her projects were small, but as the need for automation tools grew, so did her workload. She joined UiPath as an employee, and since then, her experience has only grown.
READY FOR AUTOMATION
Currently the director of human resources transformation and automation at UiPath, Elena took responsibility for overseeing a large-scale transformation program within Human Resources. She facilitates the improvement of HR processes and their set-up for automation.
One of the main functions of Elena’s team is identifying functions ready for automation. Following identification, the function goes through a redesign phase. The process is broken into pieces, and each one is analyzed before transforming it into a completely automated procedure.
The results from this redesign allow HR members to focus on activities that add value rather than spending their time on repetitive actions.
“Making the work easier and allowing the bots to manage what the bots can do while allowing the people to do what is for the people is the essence of our job. At the same time, we must leave room for new activities and ideas within the HR space,” Elena notes.
CORE VALUES
The core values for UiPath are:
- Bold.
- Humble.
- Immersed.
- Fast.
Everything that UiPath touches on exemplifies the principles of the organization.
“These values are visible in the face of our culture. Everything is fast, including the speed of decision making, the boldness of decisions, and the creativity in all our teams. We have a certain freedom of action you may not find in other organizations,” Elena says.
From the first day Elena joined UiPath, she understood that the company wasn’t simply about creating automation or processes. Instead, the organization’s purpose is to create a new mindset within its people.
“We don’t simply consume automation and use it, but develop it and find ways to create it,” she says.
UiPath encourages its employees to think about the daily processes they handle and identify when there’s potential for automation. The company also encourages people to speak up when they have an idea.
Even if they can’t implement the automation themselves, they can talk with someone on the product development team and find out whether the process might be automatable.
CITIZEN DEVELOPER PROGRAM
One of the learning and development programs that UiPath created is known as the Citizen Developer Program.
“The Citizen Developer Program equips people with bot development competencies to develop and automate their own tasks,” Elena explains. “Employees work in StudioX, which is a platform dedicated to business users. You don’t have to be a developer to participate. However, the tools in the program allow people to learn how to automate their tasks.”
The Citizen Developer Program has proven successful among employees, even those who aren’t traditional developers or software engineers.
So far, almost 20% of the HR employee base at UiPath have completed the program and have become certified citizen developers. Its growth is only accelerating, with more workers expressing interest in learning about automation processes and adopting a new mindset.
DIVERSITY
UiPath is known for building diverse teams. Its employees come from all around the world and work remotely to build up the company.
Diversity isn’t new to UiPath. Elena considers it completely natural and an intrinsic characteristic that’s been present since the company’s founding.
“People have different ideas, different ways of working, and you realize that there are so many ways of doing such things,” she says. “There’s a lot of creativity. We have to deal with different time zones, but that’s simply a matter of logistics. Our automation tools positively impact everyone, no matter where they live.”
It only makes sense that the team at UiPath would reflect the global need for automation. By designing solutions and automating worldwide processes, employees have their own experiences to pull from, which makes the company better positioned for success.
Elena explains that employees have adopted a global mindset through shared values, including adaptability and speed.
“Our teams anticipate changes, and they quickly adjust to them,” she says. “Change is normal in our company. We have a strong mission of doing good for our clients and generating products that have a positive impact. Everyone in the organization believes in the product, creating a strong, cohesive factor among us.”
PROCESS CHAMPIONS
UiPath has launched another upskilling program for its HR people. Known as the Process Champions Program, it supports employees in building process analysis skills and provides them with the knowledge required to challenge and improve the activities they do as part of their work.
Together with the Citizen Developer program, the Process Champions program provides the members of the People team with knowledge and skills that allow them to make use of automation every time they need it in their work.
Elena emphasizes that both programs don’t concentrate on simple product delivery. Instead, there’s a knowledge transfer that occurs between individuals who work on separate teams.
“We fully believe that the faster everyone understands what it takes to automate, the better we will be as a team, and the more helpers we will have,” she says.
As a company, UiPath seeks to attract top people known for their competency and skills. “The people who join our company are content and happy,” Elena says. “They believe in what they’re doing. That belief is a strong magnet for attracting individuals ready to change the world and make a positive impact.”
Individuals who work for UiPath share a few key traits: they speak their minds and share their ideas. They don’t mind challenges, and they look for alternative solutions. Employees hold a willingness to collaborate; they don’t stick to their silos, and they’re willing to explore other areas.
HACK WEEK
UiPath encourages all of its employees to participate in a contest known as Hack Week. During Hack Week, everyone follows general guidelines to create a prototype for an automation idea. Participants don’t have to be developers; they simply come up with a basic idea. Once everyone presents their submissions, they’re ranked.
The ideas that come from Hack Week represent a broad range of processes. Some ideas are product-related, while others are appropriate for the market. The developers pick the most suitable for development and bring them to maturity.
Hack Week is an excellent opportunity for employees to experience the organization’s core values, including innovation and participation.
Elena feels strongly about the dedication UiPath has to new ideas. “If half of the companies out there were as open to new ideas as we are, I think we would all be in a different place,” she says. “I can see how our strategies lead to full growth and development. Not growth just in size but development in complexity and quality.”
