[FEATURED MEMBER] Florence Caperaa

Florence Caperaa

Director, Talent, Inclusion & Engagement, EMEA
OTIS

What is your role?

I am in charge of talent development, diversity and change management at Otis for the EMEA region, which covers around 26,000 employees in 43 countries. These 3 subjects, although different, meet the same need: creating a better working environment, notably in terms of culture and leadership, to allow our staff to feel valued, integrated, supported, able to be fully themselves and therefore give the best of themselves, in an increasingly uncertain, complex, anxiety-inducing, and even incomprehensible world. More concretely, on a daily basis my team and I manage HR process and programs from onboarding to performance management, taking in engagement, training, and career and succession management along the way. We thus act to improve diversity in our company, encourage equal opportunities and allow our staff to flourish through more inclusive management. Lastly, we support the company’s major transformations by defining and implementing communication, engagement and training actions as necessary. We have just organized our whole talent and inclusion teams for our region into a center of excellence, and I am therefore lucky enough to manage an international team of 20 human development enthusiasts: such a valuable resource! We work closely with the talent, inclusion & change teams in the US, HR teams, and of course management in all our countries. 

What is your hidden talent?

I love to dance (salsa, bachata, samba) but I am not all that good at it! I still keep practicing though because I enjoy it and I want to improve. I very much believe in taking this approach to work: love what you do, enjoy yourself while setting goals, persevere and seek to improve a little each day. So being stubborn is really a quality! But you have to combine that perseverance with the capacity to be flexible and to listen to others, adjust your actions in line with events and feedback, without being blown off course. That is what I try to do every day and I think it’s a strength.

What do you like the most about your job?

The feeling that I am changing things, first, at my level, for the company’s staff, but also beyond the confines of our organization. Life-long competency development, wellbeing and even fulfillment at work, inclusion and equality for all are essential issues. Being able to contribute to them in some way, in concert with all company stakeholders, and demonstrating their value to the business, is what made me choose this occupation and remain in it for close to 25 years.

Any advice for people new to the profession?

Have a learning mindset and maintain it throughout your career, connect with others to observe their reactions, collect their feedback and advice. We learn from our experience and from other people all our lives.

About Otis:

"We move 2 billion people a day and maintain more than 2 million customer units worldwide, the industry’s largest portfolio. We can be found in many of the world’s most recognizable buildings as well as the busiest transportation hubs and retail centers. We are everywhere people are on the move.
Otis is 70,000 people strong, including 40,000 field professionals, all committed to meeting the diverse needs of our customers." http://www.otis.com