Alberto Gallas: Working to Avail Support, Pay, and Training for Caregivers through Innovative and Dynamic Structure

While there are still staffing issues in the home care industry, demand is increasing. With an aging baby boomer generation, historically low earnings in the home care profession, and the burnout that frequently comes with providing care, finding quality and long-term employees is becoming increasingly difficult. Several home care professionals discuss the future of the industry, the trends they’ve noticed, and how agencies should prepare to stay competitive. Alberto Gallas, CEO and Founder of Gallas Group, is one such executive.

Gallas Group is a government-approved employment service that specializes in the recruitment and selection of domestic workers. It also handles all of the documentation associated with the family’s employment of the worker through agreements with specialists. In 2011, the two founding partners, Alberto Gallas and Lorenzo Gallas, decided to create a serious, organized, and at the same time innovative and dynamic structure that could assist families looking for a domestic worker (caregiver) in a professional and specialized manner, thus filling a void in the sector.

The Visionary

Alberto Gallas was constantly aware of internal pressure. He went to university to study economics but felt worthless because it was unproductive for the planet. He began working as a bank clerk for two years after graduation. Then he became a banking agent, and around that time, he began receiving several requests from overseas customers seeking contacts to assist them in finding work as a caretaker. After extensive investigation into where he should send them, he uncovered a realm of domestic work that was completely devoid of regulations and a powerful player. There came a point when it all started.

Gallas Group

In the last nine years, the Gallas Group has grown to 30 locations and 150 employees. It is responsible for roughly 10,000 domestic servants. Families come to the organization looking for carers, administrative support, and caregiver replacement.

In November 2013, the company received from ASSOMICROIMPRESE, in the Province of Udine, the award as “BEST NEW ACTIVITY OF 2013”. This recognition goes to reward the originality, seriousness, quality, and organization of our agency.

According to Alberto, Gallas has revolutionized the world of domestic work in Italy: before it, there was no national player, and caregivers were almost always exploited and not up to date. He says, “We first of all gave dignity to the caregiver’s work. And they rewarded us by all coming to us looking for work.” Alberto further adds that innovation is the main purpose of every company. Through innovation, companies can improve people’s lives and bring benefits to the world.

As a CEO

According to Alberto, maintaining a balance between personal and professional life is difficult. He explains that when you enjoy your profession, it ceases to be a job and becomes your own life. Finding a moment to completely disconnect from your thoughts is difficult; even on vacation, you are constantly curious about how the firm is doing, what you could do, and how to handle certain situations.The CEO’s primary task is to give the organization a sense of identity. He must decide how the firm should operate, what values it should have, and how to implement these decisions.

Furthermore, Alberto sees the image as that of an orchestra conductor, who organizes all of the numerous duties, maintains a harmonious rhythm, and attempts to maximize the company’s resources. He claims that the highest honor he receives is every year during the company’s corporate convention, when all of Gallas Group’s employees are brought together. He shares, “Seeing their smiles, seeing that they are happy and that they are growing as people and as professionals is the greatest Recognition for him.”

He asserts, “To motivate myself and other people, the most important thing is to always have ambitious goals, a clear vision and work every day showing that you want to achieve it.”

Pushing Limits

“Challenges are fundamental for every limit to push yourself beyond your limits and allow you to improve yourself every day,” says Alberto. He sees challenges are what make life beautiful. When starting a new business, marketing and advertising are challenges to survival, to make your company known to people without having money. While shearing his journey’s challenging experiences, Alberto recalls, “For 6 years (SIX YEARS) I worked 365 days a year (including Christmas and Easter), together with my brother Lorenzo, without ever taking a day off. This taught me that if you really want something you have to learn to make sacrifices.”

He further mentions that then the challenge becomes managing the people who work with you and making them feel good and resisting all the envious people who would like to see you fall.

Continuing with Innovation

Alberto’s long-term goals for Gallas Group are to finish covering the Italian region and begin expanding into other countries. The team also hopes to use training and technology to continue to reinvent the domestic labor market. As a leader, his major purpose is to make all stakeholders happy and improve their lives (workers, families, and caregivers). This is his life mission.

Lead by Example

Alberto sees working life increasingly connected with private life, in the sense that people do not have to wear a mask to work, but be themselves and be able to live both work and private life well and in harmony. He says, “Work must no longer be just a salary and a way to get by, but must give something, make those who work grow and feel good.”

Alberto’s career began in an atmosphere (banking) that he quickly learned was not conducive to success. Very hierarchical, with no one able to truly cooperate to enhance and develop the system. He recognized at that point that he wanted to create an organization with other ideals, one that was open, free, and where everyone could express themselves without hierarchy. His advice to budding business leaders is to develop true relationships with their workers, to grasp what kind of identity they want to offer their company and to pass it on to everyone, and to constantly lead by example.

Quote: Success is being able to make your contribution every day to improve people’s lives. It has never arrived, it is a journey not a goal.