How do you keep your team motivated when budgets are shrinking and the pressure for results intensifies? And how do you stay competitive in a market where employees have ever-higher expectations? These are likely the questions on your mind right now. And suppose you look at the data from recent studies. In that case, it confirms the concerns of today’s leaders — showing that companies need to become more open to HR outsourcing, particularly through workforce leasing.
According to the HR Insights Report by the Human Resources Services Providers Association, the labor market in 2025 looks nothing like that of 2024. This is the year when employers are more focused on adapting to the new economic conditions (selected by 58% of respondents, up from 51% in 2024), digitalizing processes and implementing AI (53% in 2025 vs. 14% in 2024), and increasing the speed at which they adapt to client needs (50% in 2025 vs. 37% in 2024).
In 2025, interest in human capital has also risen — from 22% in 2024 to 41%. Employers, however, face challenges in motivating employees, retaining talent, and recruiting new candidates. On the other hand, candidates have become increasingly demanding when it comes to choosing their next role. Salary, work model (remote or hybrid), and flexible hours are now the top expectations and criteria candidates use to decide which job to accept, according to employers.
What solutions do companies have to cover temporary staffing needs? 39% rely on internal resources, 31% on internal recommendations, and only 24% partner with temporary employment agencies in 2025, according to the HR Insights report.
The data shows that employers have a dual responsibility — to balance cost optimization with maintaining employee motivation. But what practical solutions exist? At the HR Insights Forum organized by AFSRU, leading HR professionals — including Mariana Vaida (CEO, Smartemp), Răzvan Bratu (Corporate Vice President, Head of Quote to Cash, Honeywell), Anca Decu (People & Culture Director, UP Romania), and Adrian Dinu (CEO, Creasoft) — shared concrete ideas for improving efficiency and digitalizing business processes while enhancing employee motivation.
Strong Candidates Are Becoming Increasingly Selective
Mariana Vaida points out that regardless of experience level, candidates have become much more selective:
“Lately, we’ve started seeing strong, interesting candidates, but they’re also more demanding. What’s striking is that it’s not only the skilled candidates who are picky — even those without a qualification have become more selective.”
This trend also shows in the demand for remote work. For many candidates, jobs without flexibility are simply no longer appealing.
“One of the first questions our recruitment team gets is: ‘Is remote work allowed?’ If the answer is none, the job instantly loses its appeal. Sure, we know the trend now is to bring people back to the office — but I don’t believe it will ever go back to how it was before 2020, with everyone working full-time from the office. We also have to consider the costs related to physical spaces.
It’s important that both employers and employees see remote work as a benefit — and as a partnership,” says Mariana Vaida.
But remote work comes with a flip side. The boundaries of the workday are fading, and 11 p.m. emails are becoming a habit:
“Managers are starting to point out that this behavior contradicts company policy. Still, there’s a real risk that such abnormal behavior could become the norm,” adds Vaida.
Temporary Work Demand Remains Stable. Employers Are Cautious with White-Collar Roles
The demand for temporary work remained stable in 2025, though white-collar positions have been hit harder by economic and political uncertainty. The fourth quarter of 2025 brings cautious optimism — company requests are returning, but only in certain industries.
“As a personnel leasing provider, Smartemp had a strong start to the year, with many requests. But by late May, we began to see a slowdown in white-collar jobs — specialists, top and middle management positions. We attributed that to the political and economic climate. Then came the summer, when we all know both candidates and employers lose interest in hiring or recruiting. This year, that quiet period lasted much longer, almost until the end of September, when demand finally returned — but only in specific industries,” says Vaida.
“For temporary work, demand has remained steady — especially for blue-collar employees,” she adds.
However, the seriousness of applicants for temporary jobs remains a constant challenge.
“We recently ran a recruitment project for temporary work. Out of 130 applicants, my colleagues spoke with every one of them — all seemed interested. How many actually showed up for interviews? Twenty. And only three were hired.”
Mariana Vaida emphasizes the importance of candidate education and a well-structured recruitment process.
Externalizing HR Activities Can Reduce Costs by Up to 25%
For small and medium-sized companies, outsourcing HR activities can significantly cut costs and save time.
“It’s proven that outsourcing HR functions reduces operational costs by 20–25%, according to the PwC Workforce Expectations and Challenges Romania 2024 report. In recent years, we’ve seen growing awareness in this area. We now get requests from Romanian companies, not just multinationals. This openness comes from management changes and a stronger focus on measurable business results. The financial savings from HR outsourcing are public and well-documented. Even HR departments themselves can be outsourced — not every company can afford an internal HR team or manager,” says Vaida.
She adds that outsourcing allows entrepreneurs to access HR expertise without the cost of a full internal department:
“By outsourcing your HR processes, you gain a reliable business partner.”
Electronic Signatures and Digitalization Save Time in HR
Digitalizing HR processes can boost productivity without reducing staff. Adrian Dinu, CEO of Creasoft, provides concrete examples:
“Most time is wasted on paperwork — contracts, addendums. I strongly encourage everyone to use electronic signatures. Documents signed electronically are automatically added to the employee’s digital file. The software sends automatic notifications to employees and managers, letting you see in real time who has and hasn’t signed their documents,” says Dinu.
The CEO of Creasoft shared that he timed how long it actually takes to update a salary change in the paperwork:
“Let’s say the minimum wage changes in January 2026. One of our clients has over 2,000 employees — more than 1,000 at minimum wage. Updating their addendums and sending them for signature now takes less than two minutes. As documents are signed, they automatically go into the digital HR file.”
Technology and automation thus help companies reduce costs without sacrificing people:
“AI has helped us tremendously — we’re a software company. We haven’t laid anyone off, but our productivity has grown,” he explains.
Are employees hesitant to embrace change and new digital tools? The outlook is encouraging — most are actually supportive of digital transformation:
“I recently visited a client in Brăila, in the production sector, with 1,000 employees (*paid wiith with the national minimum wage). We delivered an HR kiosk — a self-service terminal where employees can log in to get certificates, pay slips, and vacation requests. To my surprise, every blue-collar worker downloaded our app on their phone. I didn’t expect that kind of adaptability. Management told me it’s great because employees print their payslips from the kiosk, but get all other documents straight from the app,” Dinu adds.
Flexible Benefits Boost Motivation and Reduce Wasteful Spending
Employee motivation today depends not only on salary but also on flexibility and personalized benefits. Anca Decu, People & Culture Director at Up Romania, explains:
“Once you offer a benefit, even if it’s only on paper, it becomes psychologically hard to remove it later. The solution we use internally at Up — and also recommend to clients — is a flexible benefits budget. This allows employers to plan long-term costs.”
She notes that meal vouchers are no longer seen as a true perk: “People can hardly imagine working somewhere that doesn’t offer meal vouchers. They are part of the salary.”
“The top three benefits vary by age, gender, and region. The most popular are cultural vouchers — they have the best tax advantage — followed by contributions to Pillar 3 private pensions and vacation vouchers. The Up platform also shows employees the tax impact of each option, so they can see which benefits are the most efficient,” adds Decu.
This flexibility lets employees choose what suits them best, while HR can better manage budgets and business impact. Still, this balance depends on HR’s strategic role within the company.
HR Becomes a Strategic Partner Focused on Revenue and People
To truly motivate people, it matters how the company positions its HR function — and how open leadership is to understanding what employees want.
“Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work as a strategic partner. At Up, our company size allows us to have an HR department — and, more importantly, leadership sees HR as a strategic ally. HR managers must understand the business and desired outcomes — not just the HR processes (you can always take a course for that). Otherwise, you end up creating beautiful projects just for the sake of it, with no real results or support from operations,” says Decu.
HR now contributes directly to revenue generation while maintaining balance between personnel costs and employee expectations:
“You need to understand what the company wants to achieve in terms of profitability, and how you can influence that through reskilling, upskilling, organizational redesign, or new roles. Also, keep a close eye on personnel costs — they must remain a manageable portion of total revenue,” she adds.
How can companies understand what their people actually want?
“Up is certified as a Great Place to Work, which means we listen to our employees through structured surveys managed by an independent third party every year. But I’ve also worked in companies where we handled surveys internally, using software — it didn’t cost much. There are always ways to listen to employees’ voices. The key is to maintain a continuous open-door culture, where people feel safe to speak up,” says Decu.
Engaged Leaders Make the Difference in Employee Retention
In the corporate world, people are now feeling more pressure to perform, especially as budgets shrink. How can leaders ease this stress? It all depends on leadership style.
Cost optimization isn’t just about processes and technology — it’s also about leaders who know how to balance performance with empathy.
Răzvan Bratu, Corporate Vice President, Head of Quote to Cash at Honeywell, explains:
“The leader is the key. When a leader is engaged, genuinely cares, and chooses the right partners — like HR — you can’t really go wrong, no matter how tough things get. People watch everything their leader does — how they talk, dress, interact.” Oamenii din organizatie se uita la tot ce face liderul, la cum vorbeste, cum se imbraca, cum interactioneaza.”
Even if you have engaged leaders, conflicts between departments can still appear.
“In my role, I have revenue targets. Then IT comes and says, ‘I understand — you need $7 million this year, but I can only give you $2.5 million.’ That’s when friction begins — between departments, priorities, and goals,” says Bratu.
What solution do we have?
“Alignment around a common purpose is crucial. If our shared goal is to grow by at least 10%, and everyone’s compensation is tied to that target, everything changes.”
Can you achieve alignment with remote or hybrid teams?
Răzvan Bratu says that the company’s culture is extremely important, regardless of the working style:
“Absolutely — culture is what matters most. A strong company culture beats everything. If your culture is built around unity and a shared purpose, things fall into place. Sure, there are many possible scenarios — I could technically do my job from a mountaintop, but hybrid presence still matters,” Bratu says.
“We’re a manufacturing company. Out of 100,000 employees, around 60,000 work in production. During COVID, we kept operations running. When workers got sick, we had to find solutions. Those of us in business lines decided to stand in solidarity with the production teams and not stay home,” he adds.
Now, Honeywell operates in a hybrid model:
“It’s important to consider costs, too. Having people work remotely has significantly lowered our expenses — bringing everyone back to the office would cost us several million dollars.”
An open culture, where leaders act as mentors and prioritize their teams’ needs — combined with shared company-wide targets — drives productivity and helps optimize costs.
Optimizing business costs doesn’t have to mean losing valuable people. By integrating digitalization, strategic outsourcing, flexible benefits, and proactive leadership, you can boost productivity while keeping your team motivated. Maintaining a balance between strong performance and genuine care for employees is essential for long-term success.
How SMARTEMP Helps You Reduce the Costs of Hiring and Managing Temporary Workers
SMARTEMP, a company with 13 years of experience in personnel leasing and over 10 years of collaboration with multinationals, offers a full package of services — recruitment, personnel administration (contracts, addendums, payroll, benefits, declarations) — all integrated into a transparent monthly fee per employee, which includes:
Gross salary
Tailored to your requirements and market standards, in line with legal minimums or agreed pay scales.
Legal contributions and taxes
All statutory contributions (pension, health, work insurance, income tax) are paid by SMARTEMP as the legal employer, ensuring:
Full compliance with labor law
No risk of penalties or lawsuits
Admin and operational costs
The SMARTEMP personnel leasing offer covers everything you would otherwise handle internally:
gestionarea dosarelor de personal, contracte, Reges Online
Tracking attendance and payroll
Legal assistance and continuous HR support
Recruitment and selection services
SMARTEMP takes care of:
Job ad promotion
CV screening and pre-interviews
Interview scheduling and onboarding
All these processes are expensive to run internally — from job post fees to recruiter time — and a bad hire can cost up to 30% of the employee’s annual salary, according to Forbes. Forbes.
Ongoing coordination and management
You also benefit from:
A dedicated project manager
Monthly reporting
Fast staff replacement (covering absences, leave, turnover)
Request a personalized personnel leasing offer at office@smartemp.ro or call 0738 662 370.
Sources:
- HR Insights Report by the Association of Human Resources Service Providers (AFSRU), prepared for the HR Insights Forum. The study was conducted on a sample of 155 respondents — private-sector companies using or potentially using temporary labor. Respondents’ roles: 45% Top Management, 27% Middle Management, 28% Specialists. 61.5% are from companies with over 100 employees. Data collection: August–October 2025.
- PwC Workforce Expectations and Challenges Romania 2024 Report
Read also about staff leasing:
How You Can Significantly Cut Staffing Costs with SMARTEMP’s Workforce Leasing Services
Looking to Outsource Temporary Staffing? Here’s What You Need to Know About SMARTEMP