Katarina Kalarash

Hi! My name is Katarina and I have experience in the banking, IT, and game development industries. 
I hold a Bachelor's degree in Social and Cultural Activities Management.

Throughout my career, I have successfully developed internal communication systems and revised onboarding processes, resulting in increased attendance at corporate events and the implementation of HR products. Additionally, I have led projects to enhance employee engagement and the HR brand.

With a background in project management and a passion for innovative solutions, I have a talent for building strong relationships with stakeholders and ensuring that communication efforts are aligned with organizational goals.

Aviasales

400+ employees worldwide

January 2022 - December 2022

Head of Internal Communications Department

General tasks:

1. To build a team of 5 people
2. To develop and implement an internal communications system.
   
   Result: Conducted research on communication channels, updated the digest format with personalization, statistics, and Easter eggs, and started working on our own online corporate media. Revised the Confluence database and created a readable Wiki. We updated the format of the All Hands and Demo and increased attendance from 30% to 60% of the entire company.
   
   In addition, started writing a concept for product and technology communications to ensure that as many employees as possible know about the product, changes, and have answers to user-friends' questions.
   
   Result: Presented and implemented a product framework for employees.
   
    
3. Develop an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) for different groups of potential candidates to reduce hiring mistakes and increase cultural matches.
   
   Result: Conducted internal research among employees and external research among potential candidates. Based on the research results, identified focus points, and started preparing an EVP promotion campaign.
   
    
4. Develop an Employee Journey Map (EJM) to determine where employees' career paths are declining or growing. Determine the average duration of career paths and how it can be increased to reduce staff turnover, especially in development teams.
   
    Result: Described and identified focus points for implementation.

Crisis communication and relocation support:

1. Informational support: Provided regular explanations of difficult laws in our TOV, and created step-by-step instructions and guides based on current requests.
   
   Result: Established a hotline for inquiries and used it to create a knowledge base with the most popular requests. As a result, the workload of the HR team was reduced by 2.5 times. Additionally, employee stress levels decreased from 9.5 to 7.
   
    
2. Supporting events: Nearly 60% of employees relocated to 5 hub countries and 25 other countries. To accommodate different time zones, we decided to conduct both offline and online events.
   We held short activities twice a month, as well as organized 4 major offline events with travel support, and more than 10 online parties.
   
   Result: Developed a system of events that covered more than 90% of employees. Thanks to all the HR team's work for employees, we ranked first in the IT brand survey by Habr and EkoPsi.
   
    
3. Adaptive processes: HR processes were adapted in a timely manner to the current situation. The organization began to flexibly pay salaries, developed a bot for updating an employee's location, a bot for booking a workplace, reformatted the office, and changed employee benefits to make them relevant.
   
   Result: Stress levels were reduced from 9.5 to 7. The average response time to employee requests decreased by 12 minutes.
   
    
4. Corporate merchandise: Despite everything, the company decided to continue with its tradition of releasing designer merchandise once a year. We developed an online showcase where employees could choose their merchandise, and photographed the merchandise on them.
   
   Result: In the new year, 505 employees in 30+ countries received their merchandise. More than 400 social media posts mentioned the company.

Consulting

August 2020 - December 2021

Internal Communications Lead

IT startup in Kazakhstan

300+ employees worldwide

Tasks:

1. To develop an internal communication system from scratch, I worked with the business to identify areas of focus. I researched communication channels, employee engagement, and remote work.
   
   Results: The communication channels were streamlined, regular content was established, and new formats were added to the portal, such as blogs, challenges, TikToks, interviews, and podcasts. As a result, readability increased by 23%.
   
    
2. To improve the effectiveness of the onboarding process for newcomers, I conducted focus groups and collected data. Based on this, I rebuilt the onboarding process to make it useful, interesting, seamless, and transparent. I also automated the processes for adapting to the first three months of work.
   
   Result: These changes led to a reduction in workload for HRBPs, an increase in employee feedback on the results of the probationary period from 3.9 to 4.3 points, and a 17% decrease in the number of resignations in the first three months.
   
    
3. To increase attendance at corporate events, I audited previous events and organized events of varying scales and formats, including hackathons, corporate parties, team-building events, strategic events, meetups, and more. In total, I conducted 18 events.
   
   Result: I developed a system of events that covered more than 90% of employees.
   
    
4. Together with the HR team, we implemented several HR products, including SAP HR, a health check chatbot, and a system for assessing demotivation factors.
   
   Additionally, we prepared a package of benefits, partner discounts, and offers for employees in various countries worldwide. This was done to accommodate employees working across all CIS and European countries.

Security company

1000+ employees in Russia

This project was particularly challenging because the organization had been around for 25 years. The task was to transform the conservative company into a more modern and attractive place to work for young professionals.

To achieve this goal, we focused on three main directions:

HR tech:

1. Together with the IT team, we developed a portal serving as a unified window for employees. It allows them to obtain certificates, learn about bonuses, obtain visa certificates in the required language for a specific country, use a messenger, make video calls, and view stories.
   
   Result: This reduced the workload on the HR department and HRBP, improved the readability of communications, and over 43% of employees started using the messenger.
   
    
2. Together with the development and analytics teams, we created our own data lake. With this data, it is now possible to obtain analytics on talent acquisition and management, create a database for the corporate competency model, analyze employee workload, track offices throughout Russia, gather salary data, identify the need for promotions, and much more.
   
   Result: The employee's profile can now be viewed with just a few clicks, and salary and efficiency analytics are automatically collected three times faster. The employee's journey map has become more transparent and understandable, allowing for the identification of strengths and weaknesses.
   
    
3. A product team was assembled for the HR department, which develops internal products such as bots, applications, HR process automation, and onboarding.
   
   Result: The cost of HR products was reduced by 28%.

Engagement:

1. Conducted an employee engagement study with the help of OfficeVibe. Based on the results, it was decided to increase engagement from 64% to 75% and maintain this level.
   
   Result: Added psychotherapy to the benefits package and conducted workshops with various specialists. Organized fitness activities, offline and online events of various formats including internal meetups, team building, corporate events, family days, strategic and business events. Increased attendance by 35%. Started regular communication with employees by introducing 1-1 meetings, quarterly reviews, all hands meetings, and news on the portal. Within six months of starting this work, engagement increased to 77%.
   
    
2. Led the work on Employee Value Proposition (EVP): conducted studies of the current value proposition through focus groups, surveys, and analysis of the current situation.
   
   Result: hypotheses were formulated for testing, a working group was assembled, and a promotion strategy was jointly developed with the marketing and PR teams.
   
    
3. Develop EJM and determine the payback period for their retention in the company.
   
   Result: We conducted research, visualized the current path, and developed a strategy to increase the employee retention period from 1.1 years to 2 years in the company.

New office format:

1. To make the office more attractive to young employees while taking into account COVID restrictions, they reformatted the space into coworking areas with the flexibility to book workspaces for periods ranging from 30 minutes to 3 months. The booking map is multifunctional, allowing users to see who is currently in the office, who will be there in a week, and where each employee is seated, as well as when their booking will end.
   
   We renovated the offices, installed new internet, set up remote workstations, and purchased new equipment for employees.
   
   Result: Over 1000 people across Russia can now work remotely, and 100% of employees use the booking system. The office satisfaction rating is 8.3.

Alfa-Bank

3000+ employees in Russia

September 2017 - May 2020

Intercom Partner IT Department

1. Launched corporate television in 10 cities with its own content production studio.
   
   Result: News coverage increased by 18% in the first six months. Top managers' recognition level improved. Intranet attendance increased by 7%, and internal event attendance increased by 10%.
   
    
2. In-house production: Analytics showed that video content is more popular than classic news. To take advantage of this, we developed a plan to build an internal content production studio. This involved purchasing the necessary equipment, undergoing training, developing an identity, and creating a content plan. We also built a mechanism for training internal correspondents to deliver content in their regions.
   
   Result: At least three video interviews on important topics are released each month, and views and engagement with articles have increased by 4.5 times. Over the course of the year, we released 572 videos.
   
    
3. Led a project to improve the IT leader's image. Developed and implemented a communication plan that included a range of activities: 3 strategic sessions, 5 team-building events, 2 hackathons, monthly Q&A sessions, and 10 town halls on core areas.
   
   Result: Staff turnover decreased by 12%, the IT leader's image index rose from 3 to 8.7 points on a 10-point scale, and loyalty to the brand as an employer increased from 6 to 8 points according to eNPS.
   
    
4. Supervised a project to rebrand and digitize the "Best of the Best" competition. We developed a page on the portal and application for quick submission of competition applications. I automated notifications about the stages and results of the competition, created a modern design and identity for the competition, started promoting the competition using targeted communication channels, and updated the motivation system.
   
   Result: In one year, the number of applications doubled from 857 to 1589. The percentage of regional participants also increased significantly, with 30% of applications now coming from regions instead of the previous 8%.
   
    
5. To support the strategy of non-material motivation and increase engagement within the company, several projects were implemented. These include updating the welcome meeting and onboarding process, establishing a corporate quiz league, organizing excursions for the best employees to visit the offices of industry leaders from various companies, creating an IT Leadership Academy, and holding five major team-building events in the largest offices.
   
   Results: As a result of these initiatives, turnover decreased by 8%, employer loyalty increased from 7 to 8 points, and engagement increased from 79% to 86%.

Sberbank

12000+ employees in Russia

March 2017 - September 2017

Chief Expert for Customer Experience Modernization

1. Developed and implemented a strategy to identify service deficiencies and violations, and improve service quality in bank branches. This included creating an anonymous feedback system, providing monthly training, organizing over 100 customer events in different cities, developing materials on customer service quality, and implementing projects to reduce complaints.
   
   Result: Increased CSI from 8.9 to 9.3 points.
   
    
2. Developed and produced the blog "More Interesting Than It Seems" to increase employee awareness.
   
   Result: Each issue averaged 5000 views, and story views increased the portal's traffic from 700 to 1500 people per day. The share of regional visitors also increased from 7% to 25%.
   
    
3. Participated in developing a customer-centric model and gamification project for the bank, which won multiple market awards. The model aims to build long-term relationships with clients. I was responsible for implementing this model in my department.
   
    Result: Increased Net Promoter Score (NPS) from 36% to 64%.

Rocket Jump

350 employees in Russia

November 2015 - March 2017

Senior Internal Communications Manager

1. As part of the employee adaptation strategy, I created EJM during the probationary period and developed projects to improve adaptation.
   
   Result: The number of employee-initiated resignations during the probationary period decreased from 80% to 20%. eNPS among newcomers increased from 6 to 8, and the number of candidates through the referral program increased by 50%.
   
    
2. Led the project to promote the company's mission and values. Research showed that employees were not aware of the company's goals and mission. Using focus groups, the formulations based on the company's tone of voice were simplified, and a promotion strategy and content plan were developed.
   
   Result: The knowledge index of the strategy, goals, and mission increased 2.5 times - from 30% to 75%. Staff turnover decreased by 6%.
   
    
3. Supervised the project to develop a intranet
   
   Result: Developed a workspace with the ability to access all necessary information in one window: ordering certificates, approving vacations, reading news, viewing gamification points, congratulating colleagues on their birthdays, and asking anonymous questions.
   
   As part of the non-monetary motivation strategy, we conducted more than 15 corporate events of various formats per year.
   
   Result: Staff turnover decreased by 23%. Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) increased from 8.0 to 8.5, and attendance at all events exceeded 80%. The average rating of the events by employees was 8.9 out of 10.

Bachelor of Social and Cultural Activities Management

2016 Moscow State University of Culture and Arts