Being recognized as a Great Place to Work is a good sign. Being recognized for the 14th consecutive year and ranking third in your category is truly exceptional. And that’s exactly the case for our Members at AE, who made the certification a yearly commitment to their team. But rather than achieving this title, the process towards it and the reasoning why they would deserve this label is by far the most important part of their Great Place to Work story. We sat together with HR Manager Adina Bisschop to talk about AE’s continuous efforts to guarantee a workplace where each individual is seen, heard, and allowed to be their true selves.
Adina: We definitely are! AE will exist for 25 years this year and for the past 14 years in which we participated to the Great Place to Work initiative, we earned the certificate time and time again. This year we even reached third place, promoting us to Best Place to Work. Absolutely the cherry on top! But more than being happy with the fact that we get to call ourselves this, we are happy with the actual significance of what it means to be one.
As an organisation, we don’t believe that management holds all the answers but that AE is built for and by all AE employees. From consultant to manager, everyone has the chance to play their part in our community building process through all kinds of initiatives. And for us, that is the main goal. Of course, receiving the GPTW acknowledgement is amazing, but the actual goal is to come together with our AE employees to build an organisation where everyone gets the chance to be their authentic selves and where talents get to be optimally recognised and further developed.
Adina: We have an actual GPTW team made out of AE employees that is dedicated to the survey awareness. What is very important to us, is that no one gets forced to complete the questionnaire; our employees are simply informed when it is available and why it is valuable for them to engage in. This year we opted for the playful approach; you don’t fill in the survey for AE, you do it for yourself. And as completing the survey takes about fifteen minutes, you’re quite literally taking fifteen minutes for yourself when you do. And as we receive the survey results, we get to work with the feedback offered to grow as an organisation.
This way of working where we give our colleagues every opportunity to contribute to our shared work culture deserves our highest pride and fullest trust. Everyone gets a voice, and we actively listen. To then receive the GPTW recognition is wonderful, but for us that label really is the medium towards reaching an authentic workplace where everyone is free to be themselves.
Adina: The employee contribution we gather from our survey counts for 2/3 of GPTW’s scientifically based methodology. A file in which you present your organization’s concrete initiatives and procedures completes the final one-third of the accreditation. For instance: last year, we received an additional nomination for the Wellbeing Award because of our ambassadors initiative. These ambassadors are several AE employees who mastered a certain wellbeing topic and now voluntarily help their colleagues who encounter the same issues. Always from one person to the other, in an ultimately casual and accessible setting.
We also set up profound courses around mental wellbeing where we made the topic less fluffy and more tangible. How does the mind work and how can you make it work for you, what does wellbeing actually mean, which tips and tricks can help you in your everyday life, etc. Another example is our coaching system; meaning that every person who works at AE can rely on their very own experienced coach who is trained to attain optimal coaching skills. There is AE FIT where you can tune in for Pilates every Thursday, the WESHAER initiative where colleagues can put their favourite good cause in the spotlight for the whole company to see, our company barbecues and events…
There are so many more examples to share, and it all comes down to the fact that our company culture focuses on collaboration and growing together by knowledge sharing. Which is also our newest theme: together we rise.
Adina: First and foremost; have a look at your foundation. Stop wanting to be a GPTW, and look at which strong suits your organisation already has. Listen to your employees, understand what they need to feel good at the workplace, and earn their trust. Beautiful words only go so far, what really counts is trusting in each other, in the management and in the organisation as a whole. And I’m very proud to say that as a company, AE completely aligns with GPTW’s focus on trust.
We even made a podcast around the GPTW topic! Naturally, as consultants in digitalisation we don’t focus solely on technology alone. Because as businesses change, people do as well. And while we help our clients in shaping their digital future, it’s essential to consult them on how to include the people in their organisation. Because to actually involve your team, makes for a truly authentic workplace.
