I stepped down as the CEO of Vincit at the end of last summer. Still, far from leaving the company, I assumed the position of the Chair of the Board and have since then been closely involved in the development of our strategy and product business, for example.
I decided to take the time to write down my thoughts after receiving Vincit's results from the latest Great Place to Work survey and realizing that it was over a decade ago that we first participated in the study. I went back to find the results from Vincit’s first ever Great Place to Work survey, mainly out of personal curiosity.
For those not familiar with Great Place to Work, suffice it to say that it is a company that carries out employee experience surveys in companies in over 60 countries every year using an anonymous Trust Index employee survey. Great Place to Work certification is granted to companies and organizations with a Trust Index of at least 65%.
When Vincit was first evaluated in the Great Place to Work survey, the number of respondents was 36. I must say I was quite moved to find that our Trust Index today is as high as 90, and that the figure is exactly the same as it was a decade ago. The Trust Index is calculated by taking into account the responses of each employee to the survey’s questions. At the time, I considered the result to be an excellent starting point for improvement, and I feel the same way about the latest result.
It was nice to see that the issues being surveyed have barely changed along the way, making comparisons between different years and eras relatively reliable. The most dramatic change was in the responses to the claim ”I find the ways in which we influence society to be positive”. A decade ago, only half of the respondents evaluated us positively, whereas today we scored a satisfactory 84%. A truly meaningful and positive development has also been achieved in relation to the claim “Employees are encouraged to balance work other areas of life”, with the latest score at 96% compared to 75% ten years ago. I am particularly proud of this development.
We scored slightly lower in at least one important area: the claim “My work has special meaning: it is not “just a job” had dropped from 81% a decade ago to 72% today. I understand very well that work can be just a job, and that this does not in any way prevent good performance now or in the future. However, I hope that Vincit will be able to offer at least some modicum of meaning to each of our employees.
Of course, not everything has changed. The responses to the claims “I receive a fair compensated for my work” and “I want to continue working here for a long time” have remained practically unchanged. In a way, this is interesting as the comparable median monthly salary has increased by a thousand euros over this period, and not a single employee had yet left Vincit when the first survey was conducted.
All in all, I got the feeling that we've come a long way from those days and that we can take pride in the results. Over the years, the results of the Great Place to Work survey and the measures we’ve taken based on them have played a crucial role in Vincit's development. This time, too, we’ll be sure to use the results and lessons learned to tackle the right issues and continue on the journey to a better tomorrow. For this reason, I find it likely that in ten years' time, it will be possible to say that Vincit has taken a great leap forward.
I wish everyone a wonderful winter and strength to cope with the pandemic! Remember to stay in touch with each other. I guarantee it'll do you good.
