Work Style - Great Place to Work Institute

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8 twsm — GPTW Special Issue 2010 Great Place to Work Spain Madrid www.greatplacetowork.es T 0034 911410899 Human Resources for Care NV Belgium: “We brought our back-office people and our operational management of all levels together and asked them to do a brainstorming on how to boost sales. We got no less than 40 different ideas of which we implemented the most interesting ones.” On the point of giving employees more responsibility, Petra Thees, Managing Director of Domino-World Germany remarks: “Our process of participation and contribution aims at giving more freedom to our people for self-fulfilment and empowerment. We have processes such as participation of people in team meetings; Improvement ideas from a survey and Innovation Workshops.” Forming a team across the entire company in order to fight problems is the focus for Ulrich Spie, Human Resources Manager for E.ON AG Germany: “The ‘Accounts Receivable’ project has the aim of reducing the level of outstanding debt. The team is comprised of employees from the UK, Central Europe, Pan-European Gas, Nordic,US-Midwest and the Corporate Center.” Companies are stronger when people come and work together as a team, as Anne-Marie Berndt, General Manager Employee & Labor Relations for 3M Deutschland GmbH Germany says: “Our employees are deeply involved in all of these processes. The ideas of employees will be discussed with management in team-meetings. We have a special seven steps new product introduction plan.” Agreeing with the positive impact of employee teams, Anders Schroll, Human Resources Director for Lundbeck A/S Denmark states: “In our research and development organisation we have action-learning teams for our key talents. Each year they get a specific assignment and they come back after a weeks work with proposals to the management team.” In order to streamline the management of all these new ideas, Christine Brandis, Personnel, Marketing and Recruiting for Techniker Krankenkasse Germany, provides a unique method: “On average 3000 suggestions are received annually by the idea management team. They establish what benefit the idea has and any potential bonus for the person submitting the idea.” Anika Weth, Head of Human Resources for Volkswagen Financial Services AG, Germany, shows how technology can also be used: “In 2009 we started a methodology for the improvement of processes. We implemented an internet-based platform where each employee can bring in his or her ideas concerning processes, quality, new products, etc.” A final thought on company culture comes from Michael Haag, Public Relations Manager for W.L. Gore & Associates GmbH in Germany, Italy, France: “Because of the strong personal relationships and immediate lines of communication engrained in the corporate culture, associates are able to introduce their ideas and suggestions directly into their work environment and so are closely involved in the decision making process.” Talk with 50 Small and Medium-sized Workplaces in Europe 2010 By Pia Colombo In all companies interviewed, the employees from all levels of experience are directly involved in providing suggestions and ideas. Some companies use particular instruments to make the amount of ideas collected visible. For example, OMICRON has installed an “idea barometer” in the main hall of the OMICRON Austria Development Center. “As soon as the barometer is full, a raffle is made in which everybody who provided an idea has the chance to win a holiday weekend for two people or other prizes”, states Harald Dörler, Human Resources Manager. People are involved in very different ways: “Regular practice meetings enable our consultants to reflect on progress in the last financial year, discuss our strat-
Great Place to Work Germany Cologne www.greatplacetowork.de T 0049 221933350 Great Place to Work Denmark Copenhagen www.greatplacetowork.dk T 0045 3369 369 egy/business plan and generally look forward to the next year”, says Nichola Plower, HR Manager at Baringa Partners UK. Usually companies focus their attention on organizing meetings, seminars etc. “We have one yearly full-day event, which is devoted to open discussions and for putting forward both small and large proposals.”, affirms Majbritt Gert Poulsen, Chief Administrative Officer at Mjølner Informatics A/S Denmark. Other companies, such as Centiro Solutions AB Sweden, focus their attention on becoming a flat organization. “On a day to day basis our cross functional teams have decisive power within their capability area – it is only in rare cases they need to seek approval from the management team. This translates to a very flat organization.”, states Niklas Hedin, CEO. To involve employees in the development of new strategies, products, and services, some companies have special elaborate programs, as in the case of Abbott Denmark, Ireland and Norway with the program Life Navigation “which empowers our employees to take the initiative in prioritizing their life and work goals and identifying and focusing on high-value, innovative projects that will help them to deliver new strategies, products and services”, affirms Matthew Bedella, External Communications Abbot Public Affairs Behind each initiative, there is a lot of attention given to the planning and communication. For example in Fondia, the strategy consists of five main points and they have five groups that work on their own strategy topics. Paula Stelander, HR Manager, tells us, “Everybody is invited to join these groups. (…) Anyone can present their ideas either by our Innovation Board, our electronic innovation forum or by walking up to our Head of Development who sits in the middle of our open-plan office.” The attention and effort that all the companies interviewed bring to the collection of employee suggestions is incessant. Kimmo Kedonpaa, Managing Director at Pipelife Finland OY affirms, “it is a continuous process. (…) We have given the responsibility to the people who make the actual work as much as possible. This means that for example production workers participate in the planning of production strategies.” Taking care of the employee suggestions is very important for all companies. “Once the suggestions are collected, we work with a team of Ambassadors (employees in the company who are passionate about a particular topic) who help implement ideas”, says Melanie Lejette, Human Resources Manager, at Danone UK. There are no specific rules to define the best way to collect and analyze the employees’ ideas. For example at Creativ Company Denmark, attention is focused on employee diversity. “We see everyone as a unique contributor to our business, our company and our workplace”, affirms Pia Ørskov, HR Manager. Technology surely has an important role. For some companies it is not only a communication instrument, but also a collector of ideas. “The “e-Idea” is a suggestion box in the existing Intranet. Through this, we provide to all employees the opportunity to express their opinions” says Cristina Cabral, Director of Human Resources at Liberty Seguros Portugal. Sometimes special terms are used in the implementation of suggestions. For example at Roche Denmark, they have a term called “Golden Idea (…) where people can send ideas to the management team. The ones we implement will be recognized in our local company magazine”, says Anja Gjelstrup Kjær, HR Coordinator. In some industries, the desire to collect employee suggestions is integrated with the complexity of the corporate structure. Webstep Norway for example handles three major company processes: recruitment, sales and delivery. “All three processes represent arenas for collaboration between the management staff and the consultants. (for example) In sales, the communication between the consultants and the sales managers represent a vital arena for new ideas and ➘ Page 13 9 twsm — GPTW Special Issue 2010
Page 1 and 2: Work Style A worldwide observatory
Page 3 and 4: In the next pages, you may find all
Page 5 and 6: Great Place to Work Netherlands Ams
Page 7: Great Place to WorkGreece Athens ww
Page 11 and 12: 50 Best Small and Medium-sized Work
Page 13 and 14: The Great Place To Work ® Institut
Page 15 and 16: lish 103 issues that are crammed wi
Page 17 and 18: The Special Awards Great Place to W
Page 19 and 20: Great Place to Work UK London www.g
Page 21 and 22: Great Place to Work Belgium Leuven
Page 23 and 24: The potential of corporate social r
Page 25 and 26: selves at every company on our list
Page 27 and 28: Great Place to Work France Paris ww
Page 29 and 30: Great Place to Work Polonia Warsaw
Page 31 and 32: Twsm is a unique international maga

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