How Elvaco Quadrupled Employee Satisfaction

In one and a half years, Elvaco successfully increased our employee satisfaction score from 6 to 49, and since then, it has remained at a high level. Curious about how we did it? Read on to discover the strategic initiative that made it possible.

The Elvaco team is our most valuable asset, and hence it is essential to provide an environment where people can grow, enjoy themselves and feel pride in their work. Having a healthy and inclusive work environment is also of strategic importance to recruit, develop, and retain our people. 

– Elvaco began as a small, entrepreneurially-driven company where the culture was clear to all of us. As we expanded rapidly, introducing many new team members, it became essential to not only articulate our future ambitions but also to define how we would achieve them, says Lisa Åström, HR Manager, Elvaco.

As an effect, the cultural initiative #WeAreElvaco was established in 2021. To monitor well-being and employee satisfaction among employees, we use an online survey tool to get an indication of how likely our employees are to recommend Elvaco as a good place to work. 

–  To safeguard our core values and evolve as an organization, we agreed upon five distinct areas to focus on; goals and strategy, integration, information, feedback, and communication. 

The focus in 2022 was on feedback and communication, resulting in company-wide training sessions and the launch of a new set of guidelines for how colleagues should interact with each other in the workspace. 

– The essence of our approach is that we should be honest, clear, and straightforward with each other, ensuring that feedback is delivered in a way that is perceived as fair and just. Moreover, we often emphasize the importance of 'through communication' as a means to ensure that our messages are fully understood as intended.

This approach led to a significant improvement in our employee satisfaction score (eNPS), which soared from 6 to 49 in one and a half years and has since then remained stable between 48 and 52. 

– We have now initiated the second phase, which encompasses two key components: first, to define roles, authorities, and responsibilities within our organization more precisely, and second, to provide leadership training for all leaders. Once we have done this, it will also become easier to identify if we need to add expertise in any area, explains Lisa.

She continues: 

– A vital foundation for our collective success is the commitment demonstrated by our CEO and management team regarding these issues. Their dedication is an essential element in nurturing a corporate culture where each individual contributes to a safe and inclusive workplace.

3 ways to boost employee satisfaction

• Empathetic and Engaging Leadership: Demonstrate care for your staff and involve them in your work.
• Clear Goals: To establish a strong culture, everyone must work towards the same objectives, and this is only possible if everyone is aware of these goals.
• A Developmental Organization: Provide fair and just feedback to each other, to grow both as individuals and as a company.