The Slovak connection

The past year or so has seen several leading Czech managers taking high-profile assignments in Slovakia. What’s behind this trend of exporting managerial know-how?

Eva Laiferová

THERE ARE HISTORICAL precedents for labor migrations between the two countries. Throughout the existence of the former Czechoslovakia there were movements of Czechs to Slovakia at various times and for various reasons, whether within the framework of the prewar wave of state officials, military specialists, and physicians, and some years later of construction experts, university professors, and career soldiers who moved east to find work and so-called assigned jobs. As of 1 January 1993, the day when the Czechoslovak Federal Republic was partitioned, approximately 55,000 Czechs had lived and worked in Slovakia for a long time. Conversely, at the beginning of the nineties many Slovaks came to the Czech Republic seeking not only jobs, but also greater political freedom and freedom of expression. While 300,000 Slovaks are now living in the Czech Republic, the number of Czechs living in Slovakia is estimated at under 7,000. While only a small fraction of them are highly-placed managers, these corporate commuters represent a growing trend in cross-border labor relations.
” Since the partitioning of our countries the entire field of human resources has gone through a vast change,” says Slavomír Chovanec, a consultant for Synergie Slovakia, a personnel agency. “This is marked by a change in corporate culture, with a clear shift towards high-quality managers, who are currently in demand regardless of nationality or culture.” One of the reasons is omnipresent globalization, which, according to Eva Laiferová, head of the sociology department of the Comenius University School of Philosophy in Bratislava, is connected with the opening of the labor market and the hiring of narrowly specialized experts in neighboring countries.
Financial remuneration has also gone through changes. This remains an important motivating factor for Slovaks, who earn less at home, and travel to Prague to work for firms that have no offices in their country. They see the Czech Republic as a stepping stone to Hungary or Germany. “Conversely, Czechs move to Bratislava if they get really interesting offers involving greater authority,” Chovanec continues. “Money often plays only a secondary role in their decisions, as they are attracted by the possibility of being in on the ground floor of something completely new and being able to take some time out off the beaten track.”
Although there is substantially higher unemployment in Slovakia (with the exception of Bratislava) hiring Czechs is a logical step at a time when companies cannot find local experts with the required know-how. As opposed to other foreigners, Czechs do not need to overcome a language barrier, and there is no danger of so-called culture shock. “In Slovakia they have a similar culture and work ethic, and similarly constructed corporate culture and social networks. All this helps in the more effective inclusion of employees in the work process of the country,” explains Laiferová. This “comfort zone” in regard to the national transition means that it’s easier for Czechs working in top management positions in Slovakia to make important decisions in banks, IT companies, and even the media.

Throwing down the gauntlet
Business is a two-way street. Companies in Slovakia get managers who have already proved their abilities in their given fields and are able to put their knowledge to work. And the managers find in Slovakia what the Czech Republic could no longer provide them with – further career advancement, greater self-realization, creative freedom, and challenges. Incidentally, the word challenge was the common denominator among the people The Prague Tribune spoke with. “I don’t like the word challenge, but I have to admit that in this case it is the most appropriate, and that it was the main reason I accepted the job in Slovakia,” says Zdeněk Šámal, news director for Czech Television, who worked for two and a half years as the news director for the Slovak television station TA3.
Milan Vašina, marketing director for EuroTel Bratislava, formerly marketing director for T-Mobile in the Czech Republic, claims that while in this country everything ran relatively smoothly and was “stagnant”, in Slovakia he still has room for professional growth. He went there to put together a team of people and choose a new marketing strategy, complex tasks that he saw as a challenge. His colleague Barbora Stejskalová is of a similar opinion. In September she went to Slovakia from GE Capital in Prague, where she had worked as senior human resources manager for compensation and benefits, and she is now a human resources director. “Working for EuroTel means a change in sector, firm, country, and position. I have an opportunity to build a new personnel department, which is the most attractive part of the job,” she explains.
Their boss, Robert Chvátal, EuroTel Bratislava’s general director, also went to Slovakia to advance to a higher position. He reached the highest level of the career ladder from the position of executive vice president of T-Mobile Czech Republic in charge of marketing. He is overflowing with praise for the opportunity he received. “For me this means advancement in my career but as well as personal maturing,” he says. Alexander Winkler, who used to work for Eurotel Praha as chief operating officer, is now senior vice-president for corporate clients, but for Slovenské telekomunikácie. He too confirms that working in Slovakia presented him with a challenge. “I came from an environment that I knew intimately and where I had earned a certain reputation into an environment where no one knew me. So I had to start out from scratch,” he recalls.

So close, yet so far
Although it might seem that the Czech and Slovak nations couldn’t be closer, some differences do exist. Czech managers must at least partly adapt themselves to local conditions, or else they have to change the entire firm. Often they are chosen for their positions because they have no personal ties in the area, because Slovakia is a small country where everyone knows everyone else, which results in the commingling of the personal and the professional. This involves a so-called game among friends – or, more precisely, one hand washes the other. The result is the undesirable predominance of personal interests of individuals over the interests of firms and their shareholders. The advantage of Czech managers is that they are outsiders, so they don’t have to take personal ties into account. They can remain unprejudiced and nonpartisan, reject unsuitable requests for such things as sponsoring, and resist protectionism without remorse.
Most of the Czechs The Prague Tribune spoke with admitted that this is one reason they avoid excessive sociability. For example, the editor-in-chief of the Slovak tabloid daily Nový Čas (similar to Blesk in the Czech Republic) Vladimír Mužík, says, “I hardly go to any parties, and I hardly meet with anyone, so as not to build such ties. Ties only make dealing with potential favors and requests worse.” Jitka Obzinová, the former popular announcer for TV Nova and today the production director for the television station JOJ, agrees: “I see the absence of such ties as my greatest advantage and a certain type of freedom when I make decisions.” Jiří Kunert, the general director of Živnobanka, who managed Unibanka in Bratislava for a year and a half, also speaks candidly about this issue: “In Slovakia there is a deep-seated custom of doing business through friends and relatives, in rather closed communities. It took me a long time to get used to it, as I searched for a ‘modus vivendi’, and at last I found it.”

Assistance from the “West”
Although the penetration of Czech managers into Slovakia might look like a continuation of the “Big Brother” approach – i.e., the feeling that the Czechs are calling the shots and making decisions on important matters, sociologist Eva Laiferová of Komenský University believes that this theory does not apply in this case. “Today economic and commercial criteria of individual firms play the main role,” she claims. The older and middle-aged generation even feels some nostalgia for the single state. “Czechs are seen here as colleagues who have come from the west to help,” Obzinová says. None of the people we spoke with complained about any animosity on the part of their Slovak colleagues, and formerly difficult issues of nationalism have faded into the background.
Laiferová thinks that there are no negative reactions or nationalistic undertones if a top manager is chosen on the basis of a transparent personnel selection process based on equal opportunity. Barbora Stejskalová confirms this, saying that her present position as human resources director was open to anyone for a long time – Slovaks and Czechs. “The main criterion is knowing what you’re doing in your job and being able to help when needed. Then it doesn’t matter a bit what nationality you are,” she says.
Although far more people go to Slovakia from the Czech Republic than ten years ago, no close Czech community has been formed there. This could be because the two countries are so close to each other, and the language barrier is negligible, so it isn’t necessary to create isolated groups. “I’ve never been invited to a Czech soirée,” laughs Tomáš Spurný, president of Všeobecná úverová banka. I don’t even know if there is a Czech community in Slovakia.” He says that most Czechs don’t feel like foreigners in Slovakia, and that he’s looking forward to next May, when we will all become Europeans.


Photo by: Martin Marenčin

Robert Chvátal: A step forward

Since May of 2003 Robert Chvátal has been the general director of EuroTel Bratislava. Prior to his arrival in Bratislava, he was the marketing director and a member of the board of directors of T-Mobile Czech Republic. Since EuroTel in Slovakia and T-Mobile in the Czech Republic belong to a single international group, his transfer within the firm didn’t require the assistance of headhunters. He sees his specific experience with the Czech mobile phone market, which is about a year ahead of its Slovak counterpart, as the reason he in particular, and not one of his Slovak colleagues, was chosen for the job. Chvátal is expected to merge the interests of the two main shareholders (Slovenské telekomunikácie and Atlantic West B.V.) and lead EuroTel to growth. He’ll get help from 1,200 employees, including five colleagues who came over with him from the Czech Republic. But he points out that he didn’t favor his Czech colleagues in the selection process. “We always look for the person with the most suitable skills for a specific position, rather than a Slovak, a Czech, or an American,” says this manager, who has reached the very top level of management with EuroTel and is very grateful for the opportunity. “It is clearly a great step forward for my career, and for my maturing in my profession,” he confides.
During his six months in his new job he has noticed certain differences in the behavior of Slovak employees and customers from what he was used to in Prague. Slovaks strike him as more emotional than the more reserved Czechs. This has both positive and negative sides. “On the one hand is sincerity and openness, and on the other is rashness and taking things personally, especially in business,” he explains. He notes that Slovaks aren’t sensitive about where you’re from, they’re interested in what you can do. “If you show them that you understand the business, that you’re able to lead people, and you don’t put on airs before your subordinates, they respect you.” Chvátal has little time to feel homesick, but he’s glad for visits from numerous Praguers and friends from abroad, whom he shows around the town. “Bratislava makes up for my nostalgia about Prague by being on the borders of three countries. So everything’s close, and that’s great,” he says.

Monika Mudranincová


Photo by: Martin Marenčin

Tomáš Spurný: Right place, right time

The general director and chairman of the board of the Slovak Všeobecná úverová banka (VÚB), a majority stake in which is owned by the Italian Banka Itesa, is a Czech with Moravian-Slovakian roots. He was chosen for the position of head of VÚB, to which he came from the post of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and member of the board of directors of Komerční banka in Prague in May of last year.
His task is to restructure and transform VÚB, so the length of his engagement there will depend on his success in fulfilling the strategy. “I feel like a naval officer who for the first time is getting a chance to command a large ship, and I feel an enormous responsibility to steer her safely into port at the right time, with a healthy and motivated crew,” Spurný says with enthusiasm. He adds that he is pleased for the chance to take part in resolving the complex problems associated with public finance reform.
A combination of opportunities the likes of which he never encountered in his previous jobs has created a unique life situation for him. “I was in the right place at the right time,” he points out. Additionally, he says, he always had an aversion to Prague paternalism and unfulfilled promises. At VÚB, which has 4,100 employees, he is systematically building an international top management team made up of “repatriated” Slovaks as well as Czechs, a Hungarian, an Englishman, and an American.
In general, Spurný says that he finds Slovak society more open, emotive, and flexible than that of the Czech Republic. “It’s easy to recognize whether people will support you in a specific situation,” he notes. “Furthermore, there is a strong sense of ethnicity in Slovakia that has nearly died out in the Czech Republic. These attributes make a manager’s work more interesting,” he adds.
Spurný is philosophical about occasional rebukes that he is depriving Slovaks of an exclusive job. “It bothers people who have lost influence over the bank’s decision making and those who aren’t very good about paying their bills,” he says laconically. He is very satisfied with his professional and personal life, although he and his fiancée manage to travel to Bohemia no more than once a month. “Bratislava’s location presents huge possibilities for spending free time, and in addition we live in what is de facto a suburb of Vienna, one of Europe’s most beautiful metropolises,” he says with satisfaction. Incidentally, neither borders nor nationality play much of a role according to him. “I’m glad that people finally have an opportunity for mobility, and I hope that this phenomenon will continue to develop,” he says.

Monika Mudranincová


Photo by: Martin Marenčin

Vladimír Mužík: Big fish, small pond

“I don’t hold a high managerial position, and I don’t even look at it that way,” was how Vladimír Mužík, the editor-in-chief of the daily Nový Čas, began our interview. He has about eighty subordinates, and thanks to the wide circulation of this Slovak variant of Blesk, he has lots of influence. “To me, my stay here is a task that I’m just trying to carry out…even though that sounds a bit pejorative,” he adds immediately. He was originally sent to the editorial office for three months as an advisor to pass on his experience from heading Nedělní Blesk. Both dailies belong to the portfolio of the Swiss company Ringier AG. But it turned out that he was named editor-in-chief, and his stay has so far extended to a year and a half. “In the situation here no one else was found who had a concept for the direction the daily should take in order to conform to the owners’ plans,” he explains. “There aren’t many opportunities in which a person can become number one after being number two, and it would be a pity not to take advantage of it. Especially when I can freely implement my ideas and be certain that, as I say, it will happen.”
According to Mužík, the media market in Slovakia is much different from the market in the Czech Republic – not only in size, and the limited share of advertising – but also in the number of readers. From the total number of inhabitants it is necessary to subtract about half a million Roma and five to seven hundred thousand members of the Hungarian minority, who prefer their own press. Far fewer foreign publishers are represented in Slovakia, with just the German Vltava-Labe-Press and the aforementioned Ringier. The economical status of the market is also reflected in smaller investments for technical facilities and editorial offices, as well as the fact that newspaper staff don’t make as much money. That’s allegedly one more reason why Slovaks speak of their net, rather than their gross, earnings. Mužík himself isn’t complaining about how much he makes, he just says it’s in six figures. He is paid according to circulation, exactly, in Czech crowns. Are there any disadvantages to working there? “Of course,” he replies. “I’m far from my family, my buddies, my friends. My wife and daughter don’t want to be here, and going to Prague for weekends is tough. 350 kilometers there on Friday, and 350 kilometers back on Sunday. It’s unimaginable,” he says.

Jiří Vašek


Photo by: Martin Marenčin

Alexander Winkler: A truly new home

“A person has to live in the country he works in. This is one of my convictions,” says Alexander Winkler, the senior vice president for corporate clients for Slovenské telekomunikácie. He has about 300 subordinates whom he stands behind even during weekends. He came to his position in Slovakia from the Eurotel Praha headquarters exactly a year ago. He was appointed on the condition that this professional change would last several years. “In my opinion the stay of a foreign worker lasts as long as he works and performs as expected of him, thus bringing added value to the firm,” he explains. “I came to Slovenské telekomunikácie with the assignment of establishing business ties with the leading corporate clients on the Slovak market.” Because he feels that the local workforce has rather high managerial potential, he didn’t bring anyone with him from the Czech Republic.
While in Prague he enjoyed a certain renown, no one in Slovakia knew him, and he had to start from the beginning. Unlike other Czech managers, his first activities included getting to know colleagues, clients, and customers personally. “I think that personal ties are very important, and even desirable in this field, if for no other reason than that for me they have meant greater responsibility towards the given customer. And they must never be at odds with the interests of the company or its shareholders,” he says of his managerial approach. Winkler has done very well in his new environment, possibly because, as he claims, in his case there was hardly any language barrier. A good half the books in his library are in Slovak. Additionally, his employer set good conditions for him, in terms of both his authority and his financial remuneration. In this vein he point out, “I think that each manager’s motivation is created by his job description and his remuneration. These two elements must be in balance. If that were not the case his professional interest and performance would be affected.”

Jiří Vašek


Photo by: Vojtěch Vlk

Views of returnees: Jiří Kunert: Fulfilling a clear task

From 2001 to 2003 the current head of Živnostenská banka in Prague served as chairman of the board and general director of Poľnobanka in Slovakia, which was later known as UniBanka, a part of the European financial group UniCredit Group. The besieged UniBanka needed restructuring, and since UniCredit Group’s management couldn’t find a suitable person in Slovakia, it requested that Kunert, who until then had been general director of Živnostenská banka, help transform the bank and initiate growth. Six months later he looks back on his work in Bratislava as nothing but positive. “It was a challenge. I acquired new perspectives, as well as a chance to verify my abilities,” he says. He fulfilled the wishes of the shareholders and created a good name for himself. Additionally, he appreciated the facts that his task was clear and he had corresponding authority. “That was something I didn’t have in my previous job in Prague,” he notes. He didn’t take anyone from the Czech Republic along with him, and when managing 950 employees he relied on the same procedures that he had applied in the Czech Republic. But he was surprised to discover that in fact Czechs and Slovaks are different. “Slovaks are more open, more candid than Czechs, but also more vain, even though they call it pride,” he says with a laugh. No one gave him the feeling that they were unwilling to have a Czech manage a Slovak bank, and his family, including his wife, a native of Bratislava, helped him feel at home. Today he says concisely, “It was fine.”

Monika Mudranincová


Photo by: Vojtěch Vlk

Views of returnees: Zdeněk Šámal: Free to work

Starting in May 2001 he worked as the editor-in-chief of a private television news channel, TA3, which was created literally from scratch. When he returned to Prague twenty months later he left behind about seventy subordinates and a television station that was functioning properly. “It all began with my being addressed directly by TA3’s general director, Martin Lengyel, and I gave his offer the nod. It was an opportunity to be present at the birth of something that was lacking in central Europe,” recalls this journalist who had already worked successfully for Czech Television for several years. He says he took something of a pay cut, and he also missed his family, but the unique challenge outweighed the negative aspects. Like other “imported” managers, Šámal also noticed certain differences between Czechs and Slovaks during his work there. “Relationships there are somewhat more emotional, and there is substantially greater courage to try new things, but on the other hand it’s sometimes surprising that people can’t handle things that should be a matter of course for professionals. The truth is that although many things function differently there, the similarities predominate.” And why was he chosen in particular? He thinks two factors were at work. “In the first place, I wasn’t associated with anyone in Slovakia, and that meant I could be an independent journalist, and the news channel wanted to build on that. Secondly, my professional past and results in the eyes of my employer guaranteed that I would bring the required know-how with me, and that I’d know how to use it.” Today he sees this stage of his life as an experience that he would recommend in principle to anyone. “It was unbelievably stimulating, a bit tiring, at times even exhausting, but it was worth it.”

Jiří Vašek


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