#57: Alexandra Szarmach, CHRO & Managing Director of flaconi, on rebuilding work culture скачать в хорошем качестве

#57: Alexandra Szarmach, CHRO & Managing Director of flaconi, on rebuilding work culture

Welcome to Behind the Click, powered by the E-commerce Berlin Expo: https://buff.ly/3srq0Lr How do you rebuild a company from the inside out, without cutting people, killing culture, or losing momentum? In this episode, host Janine Vanessa Heinrich sits down with Alexandra Szarmach, CHRO & Managing Director of flaconi, to unpack how she helped lead one of Germany’s biggest beauty retailers through a full cultural and operational turnaround.   / janine-vanessa-heinrich     / alexandra-szarmach-b9360a137   When Alexandra joined in 2023, flaconi was facing tough times: low morale, high turnover, unclear identity, and no profitability in sight. Today, the company is thriving, growing, united, and celebrated for a people-first culture built on transparency, trust, and real leadership alignment. Alexandra shares how flaconi rebuilt leadership foundations, redefined its values, brought teams back together after years of remote fragmentation, and launched a gamified culture program inspired by Harry Potter that employees genuinely love. From honest communication to data-driven HR, from regaining profitability to embracing AI to kill repetitive work, this is a masterclass in modern leadership. You’ll learn how to: Turn around culture without relying on big budgets. Build trust through radical transparency and “walk the talk” leadership. Reconnect teams after remote-work fragmentation. Reduce turnover and rebuild morale in times of uncertainty. Use HR data (ENPS, turnover, early churn, office vibe) to drive real business results. Bring values to life through gamification, community, and shared rituals. Balance people-first culture with high performance. Use AI to eliminate repetitive work and unlock team capacity. Lead through crisis without losing your authenticity. 🟠 Interested in being a guest on our podcast? Reach out to us at pr@ecommerceberlin.com. 00:00 - Introduction 02:10 - Rapid-fire questions 04:53 - Why flaconi needed a culture relaunch 09:00 - Fixing fundamentals: culture + leadership alignment 13:19 - HR as a business partner 19:29 - Profitability, tough times & protecting culture 24:30 - Leadership transparency and trust rebuilding 27:58 - Turning employees into believers 32:09 - Alexandra’s leadership inspirations 34:46 - Handling doubt & pressure as a leader 38:49 - The moment everything changed 40:59 - Diversity, hiring philosophy & people-first values 46:22 - The Harry Potter-inspired value system 51:14 - How values show up day-to-day 59:52 - Maintaining culture while scaling 1:01:07 - The role of AI in HR & efficiency 1:04:10 - Final thoughts Follow for more: ■ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2k1pcrH... ■ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast... ■ LinkedIn:   / e-commerce-berlin-expo   ■ Instagram:   / ecommerce_berlin_expo   ■ Facebook:   / ecommerceberlin   ■ Twitter: ⁠  / ecommerceberlin