25 years of Mibcon: Interview with Jaroslav Páleník

HCM division of MIBCON a.s. led by Jarek Páleník since 2004. In the interview, he revealed, among other things, how he started with us.

Jarek, you lead a division of consultants who deal with HR and payroll. Do you still remember how it was founded? I assume you were there.

Yes, I was. The opportunity to join Mibcon crossed my path sometime in March 2004. Mibcon was then a family-type company and I remembered my beginnings, when in 1996 I joined the Ostrava company INIT as a graduate. At first it was also a family business. But over time it went through several transformations, merging with PLAUT and then with IDS sheer, so a lot has changed.

So I decided to give it a try at Mibcon. And I have to admit that it greatly enriched my life and professional career. It turned out that this business can be done in a different way than what I was used to. That it is possible to operate according to the Working together motto. Today, I am very happy about it and appreciate that I can be a part of such a “living organism” as Mibco

Well, since I held the position of divisional HCM in the previous companies, my colleague Pavla Čížková, who has the same professional history as me, came with me to Mibcon. Moreover, she is also from Ostrava, she even lives a short distance from me.

I know you are from Ostrava. How did you actually find yourself at Mibcon in Prague 20 years ago?

Since 1996, i.e. immediately after studying at the Ostrava University of Mining and Technology, I have worked as a HCM consultant, both in the Czech Republic and in Poland. Well, the companies I worked for, i.e. PLAUT and IDS Sheer, had branches in Prague. Not that it was that important – at that time, there was a lot of traveling to customers, work was done exclusively on-site at their place. We were rarely in our own offices. So it didn’t matter if the employer was based in Prague or Ostrava. In this, the work of a consultant was different from what it looks like today, in the era of virtual meetings and remote access.

With the team, you help large customers with HR processes, such as Sazka, ČSOB, OBI and others. What are the needs and requirements of today’s businesses? Is it any different from the pre-covid period?

To a large extent, yes. After the covid era, everything is converted to the maximum possible degree of automation. Many HR processes are being digitized. There is a growing interest in optimizing “personnel processes”, i.e. in solutions and applications that transfer part of personnel tasks to the level of employee self-service. This eases the agenda of payroll accountants and HR professionals. Such solutions include, for example, our tax form, leave requests, various digitized forms and the like.

What do you think the needs of business customers will be in the next 5 years? Will they ride the wave of ubiquitous digitization? Or do you perceive a different trend?

Certainly yes. Digitization is one of the directions where processes will go in the future. The other is the use of cloud solutions, such as SAP SuccessFactors, i.e. the transformation from in-house solutions to solutions operated as SaaS.

I noticed that you provide support to businesses in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Do you still use Polish at work? I know you speak Polish very well.

Yes and not only in Moravian-Silesian or the whole of CZ, e.g. Mokrá, Slaný, Praha, České Budějovice, Pardubice, Mladá Boleslav, Plzeň… Yes, I used Polish mainly during the rollouts of CZ customers to PL, or during meetings at SAP Forums, where people from SAP CE originally from PL and last but not least in communication with some former colleagues from PLAUT PL with whom I am still in contact.

Mibcon has grown considerably in recent years. Is your division also recruiting, or are you managing?

Yes, I also work to strengthen the team, which is a huge challenge, because it is a very specific profession that requires a combination of both Payroll / Personnel expertise on the one hand and technical knowledge – knowledge of system processes on the other. We are also strengthening the Successfactors team because here is the future and the right direction for all customers in the field of Talent Management, i.e. Onboarding, Recruit, Perf. And Goals, Compensation and LMS.

There is still plenty of HCM work, especially in the area of wages, given the frequency of legislative changes, and if we also add to that the development of customers with Mibcon products such as mib:Travel, mib:Tax, there is still plenty of work.

What would you wish your team for the next five years?

So that we can always enjoy our work in HCM. And to have customers who appreciate this work and can appreciate it both professionally and personally. That we all had a great time together and looked forward to the next challenges in the field of HCM. Either for technological ones, connected to digitization, or for those related to constant changes in legislation

And Mibcon?

To keep this “living organism” Mibcon as healthy as possible and be with us and we with it as long as possible. And when we, the existing ones, go on a well-deserved rest, so that our younger followers can pass on the baton and continue with the same vigor in our ongoing work, which is endless…

Thank you for the beautiful wishes and for the nice interview.