Customer stories

‍Travel Retail Norway (TRN) holds a special place in the hearts of Norwegians, especially when it comes to tax-free shopping. What many may not know is just how large the organization truly is. With 1,000 employees, increasing to as many as 1,300 during the summer season, it’s a major operation. At Gardermoen alone, 750 people work, and TRN operates six stores at the airport.

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One of Norway's Largest

These stores collectively generate more revenue than Sandvika Storsenter. In fact, the arrivals store at Gardermoen is the largest in the country in terms of revenue, with IKEA Furuset as its only real competitor. The store features 36 cash registers and operates with a three-shift schedule, including night shifts.

At times, as many as 50 employees can be working in a single store, making it challenging to get to know everyone. This large scale also leads to some internal fragmentation, with the different stores divided into smaller units, each facing unique challenges in fostering a strong sense of teamwork.

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The Pandemic's Brutal Impact

The pandemic hit TRN hard. Almost overnight, commercial operations came to a halt, and on March 16, 2020, the company issued layoff notices to 1,080 employees. Haakon Dagestad, Deputy CEO of Travel Retail Norway, explains:

"We began discussions shortly after the country shut down, and within days, we sent layoff notices to 1,080 employees. The following weekend, 118 more notices were issued. By May 2020, only 46 of our 1,420 employees were still working. Revenue had dropped by 98.8%."

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Transition to More Frequent Feedback

To gain better insight into employee well-being, Travel Retail Norway decided to move from annual to weekly pulse surveys. Previously, they conducted extensive culture surveys three times a year: one large survey with 120 questions and two smaller ones with 50 questions each. However, this wasn’t sufficient. The company experienced frequent changes that required more immediate feedback.

Between these large surveys, decisions were often based on anecdotes or the most dominant opinions. TRN wanted to adopt a more data-driven approach to gain a more accurate picture of the organization's situation.

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A More Data-Driven Approach to Employee Development

Travel Retail Norway has observed a clear connection between how well leaders support their teams and the results in areas like personal development.

At Gardermoen, where TRN has 700 employees, leaders who actively follow up with their teams achieve better results than those who don’t, even though the formal development opportunities are the same for everyone. When leaders clarify expectations and facilitate a positive outlook for the future, employee satisfaction increases.

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All Employees Are Heard

Addressing issues related to bullying and harassment can be challenging. TRN uses data from Winningtemp to map out situations and then employs classic leadership methods—being present, talking to people, and observing.

To ensure all employees feel heard, TRN has implemented a rule that every comment from employees must be responded to within one week. This has resulted in thousands of comments and over 100,000 answered questions in a single year. While factors like vacation schedules and temporary staffing must be accounted for, TRN finds that providing quick responses boosts employee engagement.

When management works in the stores, they emphasize listening to employees to understand how things are going. As they put it: one should never ask, “How’s it going?” without having time to listen to the answer. This approach uncovers valuable information, but it’s crucial to act on it; otherwise, there’s a risk of creating unrealistic expectations.

Haakon Dagestad concludes:
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"With just three clicks, you get a report from Winningtemp showing how things have been over the past month. By making this a monthly routine, you gain ongoing insight into how things are actually going."

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AddSecure is a leading European provider of secure IoT connectivity and end-to-end solutions. Operating in 16 countries across Europe with 1,200 employees, the company is continuously growing. Over the past decade, AddSecure has focused on building an employee culture they can take pride in, and Winningtemp has been a key tool in achieving this.

Prioritizing Employee Well-Being

Liljana Vall, Chief People & Culture Officer at AddSecure, shared that her interest in Winningtemp began even before she joined the company six years ago.

I had just met someone from Winningtemp and liked what I heard, so I planned to suggest it to my new manager at AddSecure. But it turned out the platform was already implemented. It quickly became clear to me that AddSecure has prioritized employee well-being since its founding in 2015. Although the company has had a short time to build its employee culture, the results speak for themselves.

Adopting tools like Winningtemp across an organization can be challenging, but with effective communication, much can be achieved.

We talk about Winningtemp internally to the point where it might seem repetitive. AddSecure uses workshops extensively, traveling globally to engage teams and address negative trends. Winningtemp representatives have also visited to provide inspiring sessions on maximizing the platform's value.

An example of this transformation comes from AddSecure's Poland office.

Initially, employees were hesitant, fearing negative feedback would be poorly received. Through workshops and continuous conversations emphasizing the importance of well-being, perceptions shifted. Today, our Polish office is actually the best at using Winningtemp across all our locations.

Managing a dispersed workforce in 16 countries while maintaining a unified culture is no easy task, especially during rapid growth.

We are on a continuous journey of change and expansion. It’s crucial that our culture is ingrained across all countries and that new employees are introduced to Winningtemp right away. We provide all managers with leadership training, where Winningtemp is a central focus.

Linking Well-Being to Business Results

AddSecure has always utilized KPIs that directly impact the company’s success.

We aim to stay 5% above the industry standard, which we can easily track through Winningtemp’s dashboard. The company selects focus areas—currently personal development and leadership—and adjusts action plans if metrics deviate.

By emphasizing employee well-being from the outset, AddSecure employees have embraced its value.

We send out surveys every two weeks and are increasingly adept at acting on feedback to maintain and strengthen a positive culture. For us, it’s a given that employees who feel good perform better.

Positive Outcomes for AddSecure

After over seven years of using Winningtemp, AddSecure has seen tangible improvements in its employee culture.

‍Today, we have an excellent way to monitor what’s happening across the organization, which is invaluable given our geographic spread. It helps us establish our culture in every country and address issues as they arise. This enables us to build a company where employees thrive and want to stay.

Winningtemp is deeply embedded in AddSecure’s culture, offering employees an effective platform to voice their opinions.

We receive a lot of feedback through the platform and strive to provide the best possible responses. We are proud of the culture we’ve built and that our employees feel secure and valued.

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Are you also interested in improving employee feedback and well-being in your workplace? Book a demo to see how Winningtemp can help your organization!

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“Our leadership and people operations teams decided we needed to build a culture where employees could genuinely feel psychologically safe to perform the best work of their lives. But we also needed to quantify this information, to measure progress and take the guesswork out, so we decided collecting employee survey data was a good starting point. Done under the cover of anonymity, we discovered this data could be used to create dialogue, through feedback loops and focus groups. This allowed us to really show employees they were not only seen and heard, but that they belong.”

With 2,200 employees located in various locations, Alfa Laval's approach to understanding employees' perspectives and needs is crucial. By listening to employees, the company aims to improve overall performance, increase productivity, and create a more engaged and satisfying work environment. Leaders respond quickly to input from their teams and proactively adapt their approach.

Frederik Nielsen, a global HR Business Partner in Alfa Laval's Marine division within the Business Unit Heat & Gas Systems, brings extensive HR experience to the task of managing the unit with 2,200 employees spread across multiple locations.

Alfa Laval is a global company with 37 production facilities and 100 service centers spanning the globe. Their extensive operations cover various sectors such as marine, food and beverage, and other industries. With sales divisions in 55 countries and an additional 45 sales representatives, they employ over 20,300 employees worldwide. Besides their core activities, they also seek to acquire smaller companies with unique technologies or competencies that complement their existing business areas. Sustainability is a central priority for Alfa Laval, especially in sectors such as marine, where they actively implement initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions and improve energy efficiency.

Alfa Laval's strategy emphasizes delegating responsibility and creating an environment where employees thrive through trust and opportunities for growth. Their culture is characterized by openness, support, and an informal approach. Safety and respect are of the highest priority, especially if it contributes to employees' psychological well-being, which is also supported by the Winningtemp system.

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Improving Survey Response Rates

The response rate for their surveys has significantly increased from 68% to 81%, which the company now strives to maintain. Although employees suggested more frequent surveys, Alfa Laval chose to start with surveys every 14 days to avoid overloading employees and give leaders time to adapt to the system. However, they are considering switching to weekly surveys at a later stage as it may be more appropriate for their strategy.

"There are actually only four questions and the opportunity to write a comment under each question. And that's what we get positive feedback on. Because it takes no time at all. It comes in your email, and you click, and you're off. Some put effort into writing detailed comments, while others just click through and say 'I'm happy today' or 'it's going well at the moment.' So that's what we have to work with."

The response rate increased significantly from 68% to 81%, which did not happen by chance but was the result of conscious efforts to properly prepare leaders. HR played a central role in the project, handling day-to-day operations and offering support and training internally at Alfa Laval. There was a strategic collaboration with Winningtemp, including an introductory phase for all leaders before the system's launch.

They recognized the importance of allowing at least two months of data accumulation before the system could begin generating useful insights and recommendations for departments. After this period, they participated in an in-depth training session with a representative from Winningtemp. This session aimed to equip leaders to extract meaningful insights, analyze data, handle feedback effectively, and identify trends important for the departments' focus.

They emphasized understanding and addressing overall trends rather than focusing too much on daily scores. This was due to the recognition that daily fluctuations could stem from insignificant events such as the quality of cafeteria food or personal incidents that do not necessarily reflect the department's overall condition. This strategic approach aimed to leverage the potential of the collected data for meaningful improvements within the organization.

"So, it's the trends that are more interesting, to see where we are going. Is there a good development in the department, overall in the business, where it is measured, and what does it indicate, and what can we look at in the data that is there."

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Next Steps and Leadership Integration

Alfa Laval's next focus is to maintain the current progress. Although the details are not yet in place, there are plans for follow-up, either through additional training or another form of activity. They are considering choosing a specific area and conducting a short session with a deeper analysis.

Another initiative involves tailoring a survey specifically aimed at leaders. The goal is to get feedback from leaders on their experience working with Winningtemp. These questions are more parallel and will allow Alfa Laval to adjust if needed and assess the system's effectiveness for leaders.

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Strategy Against Discrimination and Bullying

Alfa Laval has implemented a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination, harassment, and bullying in the company. Management encourages employees with comments or experiences in this area to come forward and contact their manager, the manager's superior, or the HR department. These channels have been highlighted as valuable for addressing such situations.

The feedback culture forms the framework for how the tool can be implemented effectively. HR initiatives also play a role in the company's function.

"From the start, our BU president, that is, the director of the business unit here, introduced Winningtemp at our monthly business update, so it was owned from the top."

The HR function focuses on equipping leaders well, being available for support, monitoring Winningtemp, and identifying any problem areas. There is a strong focus on leaders from HR to ensure that they are aware of relevant issues and situations in their departments.

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Orkla IT is a company that brings together various IT expertise and works to deliver IT services to Orkla's companies. With more than 170 employees, HR Director Liv S. Isaksen wanted a platform that provided broad insights into the work environment and employee satisfaction.

According to her, the company has always been focused on building a good work environment with a flat structure, helpful colleagues, and an open atmosphere. But it was difficult to know if this was really true, only based on large employee surveys every other year.

They needed updated, good, relevant, and reliable data. Here, we take a closer look at how Orkla IT obtained just that and how the data reveals improvement areas.

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Anonymous and More Frequent Surveys Were Necessary

Many companies conduct employee surveys once a year or less often. This provides insight into how employees are doing at that moment. The problem is that a lot can happen in a year. This allows problems to escalate before they are addressed.

It is also important to consider employees' anonymity. Employees who answer questions about management and satisfaction under their full name will, in many cases, "polish" their responses. This can be due to fear of consequences or a bad atmosphere.

Orkla IT had no doubt that both frequency and anonymity played an important role for them:

We needed more frequent surveys that took the pulse "here and now." At the same time, we wanted to give employees the opportunity to provide feedback anonymously and more often.

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The Solution That Helped Orkla IT – Even During the Pandemic

Fortunately for Orkla IT, the solution was not far off. Just before the pandemic broke out in 2020, they implemented the Winningtemp platform. This allows companies to take the pulse of employees' satisfaction levels in an intuitive way, and most importantly – anonymously.

Winningtemp gave us a tool that was easy to use, both for HR and managers. Suddenly, we got valuable insights through real-time data.

Pulse surveys gave Orkla IT's management valuable insights during the pandemic. And not least, the ability to get closer to employees in a time that was challenging for many.

The results mirrored society, and the trends moved in line with how strict the restrictions were. Little social interaction and only home office meant lower motivation, job satisfaction, and meaning for many. It was important to talk together then. Winningtemp helped us here.

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From Skepticism to Embrace

‍Implementing new systems or platforms can be met with resistance in the company. This was experienced to some extent by Orkla IT as well.

Several of our managers were skeptical at first, especially about being measured, but are now positive and use it actively in their management. Today, we have a high response rate, and employees provide feedback that responding is quick and easy.

Orkla IT also chose to customize the questions that were sent out, as not all categories were equally relevant. With a strong IT environment, also within Data Analytics and Cyber Security, it was natural to ask questions about Winningtemp's validity, quality, and anonymity (privacy).

It was good to know that the questions are based on research and that they are AI-generated to employees and can identify patterns and predict certain areas. It is valuable and necessary to have good quality surveys and to be able to compare data and results with other companies and industries.

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Measuring Everything from Psychological Safety to Diversity

Workplace satisfaction depends on many different factors, and Winningtemp provides broad insights into these. According to Orkla IT's HR Director, managers are good at fully utilizing the system, and they also have the data on their team meeting agendas.

A year ago, the company upgraded to Winningtemp PRO (Empower package), as they wanted insights into diversity, inclusion, equality, sustainability, and innovation. These are also important factors that affect employee satisfaction.

We recently conducted a workshop with all the managers on the theme of psychological safety. We score very high in this area today. However, it is an important topic for us due to our goal of creating a workplace where everyone belongs – regardless of background and who they are.

In Orkla IT's strategy going forward, they will work to achieve good collaboration across teams. In this regard, Isaksen believes that the PRO category "cross-functional collaboration" will be useful.

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Have Discovered Improvement Areas

For Orkla IT, Winningtemp has also helped identify improvement areas. This makes it possible to address problems at an early stage.

Our consistent improvement area has been the category "personal development." Therefore, we have worked a lot over the past year to build job architecture, roles, and career paths, as well as developing our "learning & development" policy. We hope this helps strengthen the category.

Isaksen also points out that sustainability and innovation need to come higher on the agenda and that this was a topic at a conference they had recently. Going forward, it will be important for them to establish good working methods in these areas.

Last year, we also started measuring ENPS, as we experienced higher turnover and saw that ENPS could be an indication that employees were on their way out of the company.

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Overall, the Results Are Good!

Orkla IT's goal of a good work culture fortunately turned out to be more than just a good gut feeling. The assumptions they had based on verbal feedback proved to be correct.

We are proud that over the past three years, despite the pandemic, organizational changes, and many new colleagues, we have consistently had good results and been above INDEX on most parameters.

According to the HR Director, the company's strongest areas have been leadership, autonomy, and team spirit. She points out that the leader-employee relationship is known to be crucial for a good work environment, and they have engaged leaders who give trust to employees. This creates good dynamics and autonomy in the workplace.

We started measuring the total score as a KPI in 2020. The goal has been to stay above INDEX, which we have managed to do for three years.

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Good Feedback Culture and Closer Employee Contact

‍After Winningtemp was implemented, Orkla IT has experienced getting closer to employees, facilitating a good feedback culture.

According to Liv S. Isaksen, managers are also developing to become good at both giving and receiving feedback. The comments they receive are very valuable, as they provide even more information and an indication of where they should focus. They aim for all those who give comments to receive a response within a short time. She explains that Winningtemp makes it easier to identify improvement areas and monitor development.

Through pulse surveys, we find our strengths and improvement areas for the entire organization, but also within each team.

Do you want to take the pulse of your company and discover potential problem areas? Order a free demo of Winningtemp today!

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‍Geographic Distance Was a Challenge

Lindis Solhaug is the HR manager at Senab Eikeland. She explains that it was previously difficult for the head office to gain sufficient insight into the challenges faced by the different companies. The fact that the seven companies are spread out made it challenging to quickly and efficiently identify any issues.

Geographic distance between departments and companies can make it difficult for HR managers to stay updated.

Lindis Solhaug had previous experience with annual employee surveys. It was hard to catch any problems, and it was difficult to act quickly enough. She found that such surveys alone were insufficient. It was simply challenging to get an overview of well-being and any issues in the different companies quickly enough.

Senab Eikeland is today Norway's leading furniture supplier to offices, schools, kindergartens, healthcare, offshore, and public environments. The group consists of eight limited companies. They have a total of 14 offices located throughout the country, with the head office in Stavanger. With multiple companies and departments, it is not a given that the flow of information in a group is always smooth.

The group is responsible for all seven companies, which daily work with sustainable delivery, service, design, and assembly of furniture. So, how can insight into employee engagement and well-being be achieved when there is a long distance between departments?

With the help of Winningtemp, Senab Eikeland was able to ensure that all employees are seen and heard.

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A Simple System Ensured Better Insight

One day, Senab Eikeland decided to use Winningtemp, a platform for measuring employee engagement. With the help of the platform, organizations can easily create a culture where all employees feel seen and heard.

According to Solhaug, Winningtemp significantly simplified the workday:

"Winningtemp provided better insight into how things were at the different offices. It offered closeness to the daily manager in the different companies, and it made it easier to work on employee well-being. I feel that we get much better presence with the employees. There is also a lower threshold for speaking up. You can report every week. It doesn't have to be a big issue to be reported. Standardized responses that the daily manager can input create more engagement."

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Anonymous Responses Provide Insight into Actual Well-being

If you want to get an overview of employee well-being, regular pulse surveys with Winningtemp are a good solution. The advantage of the platform is that you can collect anonymous responses, ensuring an unvarnished view of well-being levels.

The HR manager at Senab Eikeland also sees the benefit of anonymity ensuring the protection of personal data: "Anonymous responses ensure we comply with GDPR. You are also not exposed when giving feedback. It gives us a good overview of how we are doing as an organization and whether different places need more help than others."

By regularly measuring the temperature within the group, it is easy to see whether the measures implemented are having an effect or not.

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Showing Where the Shoe Pinches

‍ Like most companies and groups, Senab Eikeland experiences that results fluctuate from time to time.

"The goal has been to stay at 8, and that's where we are now. It's nice that the platform shows the results in the different companies. The results will always vary depending on the situation. Winningtemp should show where the shoe pinches."

She finds it useful that they gain insight into exactly which areas may need improvement and that the platform uses artificial intelligence. If you respond negatively to something one week, the category will be triggered in the coming weeks – so the trend can be easily followed.

"The categories are very interesting. Do we need more challenges at work? Are there problems in management? A lot comes out in the categories."

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Overview Across the Group's Departments

‍The platform makes it easy for groups and large companies to take the temperature in each department. The results from the measurements can also be reported to other parts of the group.

Senab Eikeland's HR manager usually reports the measurement results to the management group in the companies and to those in the group. This includes response rate, overall well-being, autonomy, aspects of management, work situation, etc. In this way, they get the necessary overview across the group.

"It's very convenient to be able to divide the companies into groups in Winningtemp. Then you can see how they are doing in Bodø, Oslo, etc. If you see a shift, you can address it."

Should there be a shift in the results, it is often desirable to collect comments from the daily manager in the relevant company. This way, it is possible to address any issues before they develop further.

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Easy for Employees to Participate in Surveys

‍The management in the furniture group finds that employees think it is easy to participate in Winningtemp pulse surveys. And this is a prerequisite if you want to collect a sufficient number of responses.

"The employees think Winningtemp is easy to use. You can download an app where you quickly go in and respond with four smiley faces. It's quick and manageable."

At the same time, she points out that the system is very useful and user-friendly for the group's management. Solhaug explains further:

"The managers find it nice to get insight. They can go in and look at a specific time. If they know there has been a change, they can see if it shows in the feedback."

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Useful with Smileys and Comments from Employees

‍Senab Eikeland has found in the last six months that the response rate is 100 in some companies, while it is 80 or 70 in others. This has provided a useful insight into how employees are doing in the different departments, thanks to both comments and smileys.

In the last six months, Senab Eikeland has received 102 comments from employees through their pulse surveys. The HR manager finds this very valuable:

"We are very focused on getting many comments, because it gives us a more nuanced view. You get more out of the comments than the smileys."

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Measure the Temperature in Your Company!

Do you, like Senab Eikeland, want to take employee well-being seriously? By using Winningtemp, you get access to a user-friendly and smart platform for measuring employee engagement.

Our goal is to help your HR team gain increased insight into employees' workdays. This way, it becomes easier to take necessary measures in time – even if you have many departments to keep track of.

Order a free demo today and get the insights you need!

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Previously, ProffCom conducted up to four employee interviews annually with its 190 employees, but still faced challenges in capturing feedback. They also struggled to get a comprehensive overview of how their employees were doing. According to HR Manager Ulrika Jørgensen, they lacked the resources and technical solutions to achieve this. The company needed a clear, simple, and user-friendly platform to gain insights that would enhance engagement and workplace satisfaction.

Want to experience the same as ProffCom? Contact us here!

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The Comprehensive Solution and Usability Made ProffCom Choose Winningtemp

ProffCom explored various solutions, and after a few meetings with a Customer Success Manager at Winningtemp, they made their choice. The comprehensive solution, user-friendliness, and simplicity of the platform made Winningtemp stand out. For ProffCom, it was crucial that such a platform didn't become a time thief, but a tool to analyze and keep track of everyone in the company.

Jørgensen admits that initially, there was an adjustment with feedback, especially the constructive and negative ones. This was new for everyone, and many employees were also unsure if they were truly anonymous in employee surveys and feedback. Today, employees understand and know that they are anonymous, leading to high and consistent participation. Moreover, the results have improved, and participation is higher. Once everyone understood the platform's purpose, everyone saw its value. In the last summary of Q1 2021, they had a workplace environment score of 7.6, an eNPS of 12, and a response rate of 90%!

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The Implementation Phase of Winningtemp in ProffCom

In the initial phase with Winningtemp, ProffCom spent time on frequent meetings with team leaders and department heads to implement the platform as effectively as possible. It was important that the platform didn't become a negative space for employees to elaborate on bad days.

Today, team leaders have a dedicated point on their weekly agenda to talk to their employees about Winningtemp. They noticed that some team leaders are on the platform 10 times a week, while others perhaps twice. Everyone has found their way of using the platform, and it works best for them.

ProffCom started with Winningtemp at the same time Corona began affecting our lives. They quickly set up a dedicated area called “Home Office.” "Here we have documented that employees enjoy working from home, which is incredibly important for us," says Jørgensen. With this function, along with individual employee interviews, they have considered a permanent rotating home office schedule for those who want it. "We probably wouldn't have concluded this without Winningtemp."

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Employee Satisfaction and Higher Quality Results

One year with Winningtemp has given us a better overview of the company. We have much better control over how employees are doing and have also obtained measurable and concrete figures on leadership quality. You never know what score you will achieve in the various categories, so it was very nice for ProffCom to get a higher result in leadership quality.

The platform is incredibly user-friendly and an exciting tool that we absolutely recommend. Today, everyone in the company sees the value of Winningtemp and gets a lot out of the tool. It’s not complicated to navigate, team leaders get a good overview in a short time, and it’s easy to access statistics, figures, and trends. Additionally, Customer Success Managers are very available. They respond and assist as quickly as they can. We definitely recommend Winningtemp," concludes Jørgensen.

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Quotes from Various Team Leaders at ProffCom

I use WT a lot in my employee interviews and team meetings. It helps me work on myself as a leader and, not least, collaborate with employees to create a good workplace. We discuss the low areas, set up improvement suggestions with solutions, and work on them. Especially concerning engagement and socialization. It turns out that meaningfulness is the most important factor for engaged and motivated employees. Through the solution, employees have the opportunity to be involved and influence the organization's development.

To be a good leader, you need effective and continuous feedback so that you can encourage and lead everyone towards the same goal. With continuous feedback via employee surveys, our leaders easily gain insight into what works and any challenges.

Unsure of what Winningtemp can do for you? Fill in your information, and we will contact you.

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The birches have just bloomed, and waves are washing ashore. Here in the west coast town of Varberg, tranquility can be found even in the otherwise stressful everyday life. Surf enthusiasts test the waves of the Kattegat, children play football, and families go for spring walks.

Varbergs Sparbank was founded in 1836 and has been working and contributing to preserving the unique tranquility and the familial atmosphere among the town's residents ever since. They have chosen to focus significantly on their staff and place great importance on their work culture. By working from the inside out, they influence their surroundings with values such as togetherness, closeness, and commitment.

"Our wonderful culture is truly embedded in our walls," says private advisor Athena Wadseth. "It is a very open operation, and we have a caring culture. It's great fun to work with such people, where we support each other and bring up both the good and the bad to improve."

Despite the already good culture, they decided in the spring of 2020 to invest in Winningtemp. They wanted to make the work climate even better and continue to develop.

"Previously, we had a tool where we measured our temperature once a year. But we noticed that it didn't give the right answers," says HR manager Christina Jannesson. "It only tells you how you feel on the day you answer it. So we started looking at platforms that could help, and we found Winningtemp. At first, I was skeptical about answering questions every week considering the time it requires, but we tried it anyway. We quickly realized it didn't take much time at all, and it had a very positive effect."

Someone who has really embraced the power of Winningtemp is Anita Novaković, Head of Private Banking.

"It is a very convenient system. It's easy to overview and find what you need," says Anita. "Now we can take the pulse often, so if a trend goes down, we can do something about it immediately, while we can also boost and strengthen a trend that has gone up. Winningtemp also makes it easier to act based on facts instead of guessing. Plus, I love that we can praise each other; it contributes to both joy and spreads great energy. I really like the whole concept!"

With Winningtemp, managers can quickly get information about the well-being of their employees. HR can then see how each team is doing and offer support where needed. Christina adds, "It's easy to bring up Winningtemp in conversations with the managers and gives them a good basis for discussions in their groups. It's so tangible, so palpable. For me, Winningtemp has been an eye-opener. A fantastic tool to quickly help managers address both problems and successes, to actually celebrate."

It didn't take long before the effects of Winningtemp were seen.

"We have a very high response rate; we are at around 93-94%," reveals Christina. "The biggest result we have seen is that we can address issues faster now. As soon as something is bothering someone, we can quickly tackle the problem. We have seen clear positive changes in several units where they have actively worked with the questions. We have also started using milestones in connection with our employee conversations, and we have only heard positive comments so far. It makes it easy to have discussions and talk about relevant points, so this year's salary discussions have been much easier in that respect."

In the fall of 2020, Sweden's Sparbanker won the award for "Sweden's Most Satisfied Bank Customers," and the question is how much a positive work culture spreads to the customers.

"We are not salespeople; we try to build trust by, among other things, having happy, satisfied, and secure employees," Christina continues. "I think it reflects on the customers, making them feel safe and trust our advisors. Everything is interconnected. Several job applicants have said that our positive culture is felt as soon as they step through the doors, which says something."

"If you are a happy employee who enjoys your work, you also make good business, which in turn creates better relationships and more satisfied customers," concludes Athena. Perhaps it is precisely this inner culture that makes Varberg such a special town. People take care of each other, see each other, and help those in need. Just like in a well-functioning workplace, the work starts with the people—in this case, the staff at Varbergs Sparbank.

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Feedback from employees indicates that they appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback more frequently. For management, it’s beneficial to have results available at any time, with the system analyzing and alerting them to changes, as well as offering action suggestions.

Just over a year ago, SpareBank 1 Midt-Norge, SpareBank 1 Østlandet, and SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS started a pilot project with Winningtemp's surveys. Now, almost all of the approximately 8800 employees in the SpareBank 1 alliance use them. They wanted a simple tool that could help them understand engagement in the organization in real-time.

With annual surveys, there is often a mismatch between the survey timing and the implementation of measures. However, with Winningtemp, leaders can quickly catch signals and take timely actions. SpareBank 1 also wanted a solution with a clear dashboard accessible to management, HR, and employees, involving both in the improvement process. They also wanted the ability to tailor the solution to each company or bank within the alliance.

Winningtemp provided this, and additionally, we found that the system adheres to privacy principles and GDPR better than other systems we have tested.

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Responding with Smileys

Employees respond to questions with smileys, indicating two degrees of positive and two degrees of negative. Indifference is not an option. Feedback from employees is that they appreciate being able to give feedback more often. For management, it’s beneficial to have results available at any time, with the system analyzing and alerting them to changes, as well as offering action suggestions.

If an employee reports negative conditions, management and HR can send a message to gather more information, with responses coming back anonymously. We are certain that the pulse surveys have a positive effect in preventing absenteeism and turnover.

‍From Gut Feeling to Data-Driven Decisions

GetAccept is a fast-growing company, having expanded from 30 to 120 employees in just a few years.

“We are growing rapidly, and we have a great vibe in the company,” says Hanna. “The challenge is to grow as quickly as possible while ensuring our employees are happy and maintaining high engagement levels. Our goal is to be the Home for Stars.”

The objectives are ambitious, aiming to reach a score of 9.0 in all nine categories measured by Winningtemp over time. Currently, the company has improved from an overall score of 8.3 to 8.6, with leadership scoring 9.1 and several other areas meeting or approaching the target.

How have these impressive numbers been achieved? By using data, clear leadership, and employee feedback instead of guesswork. As a data-driven organization, GetAccept finds it invaluable to have access to data on how the organization is doing.

“Our managers say that Winningtemp helps them move from gut feeling to concrete data about what they experience in their teams but sometimes can’t pinpoint,” explains Hanna.

This is why GetAccept’s internal initiatives within the People & Culture team are based on data from Winningtemp. This way, real problems flagged by employees are addressed.

For instance, they have focused on leadership and work environment, which have been good topics for discussion in their monthly leadership forums.

“It’s easy to want to improve everything at once, but you end up losing focus. Therefore, we try to identify common focus areas based on data from Winningtemp. One current area for improvement is the ‘work environment.’ To address this, we have implemented a preventative online therapy initiative and organized ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions on resilience. These initiatives stem from Winningtemp data,” says Hanna.

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Continuous work with the results enables good outcomes

GetAccept invests heavily in developing its leaders, believing it to be a cornerstone for employee well-being.

Winningtemp as a leadership tool is introduced during onboarding for new managers. Many managers have thus received strong support in creating robust leadership in a relatively short time.

“For example, we had a new manager with no previous leadership experience who really absorbed all the information about leadership, worked extensively with Winningtemp, and closely engaged with their team. This manager has truly excelled in their Winningtemp results! It’s particularly exciting as this is a manager we recruited internally,” says Hanna.

Regularly working with the results, ideally once a month, is important, but the exact format is up to the managers to decide based on what’s best for their teams.

“Managers review the results once a month, and we also have an OKR check-in. But all teams and managers are different. Some address the results weekly, while for others, larger quarterly workshops work better,” says Hanna.

So, what do you do if the numbers start to decline? Hanna explains:

“If you see the results changing, it’s easy to panic as a manager. But the important thing is to first discuss the results with the team instead of trying to solve everything alone. If the team owns the engagement results, it doesn’t create an ‘us vs. them’ feeling. Instead, you work together as a team, where everyone is responsible and involved.”

Hanna also encourages leaders with success stories and celebrates managers when results improve. This way, it’s not as shocking if there’s a dip. To ensure organizational goals are met, they discuss them in leadership forums and management meetings.

“We review the results in management meetings. We aim to achieve a score of 9.0, so we evaluate everything on a quarterly and annual basis.”

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Listening to Employees Builds Trust

GetAccept places high value on listening to employees to strengthen trust and relationships between them and the leaders.

“Winningtemp is an anonymous tool, which means we get very honest responses. The comments provide a lot of information that complements the numbers,” says Hanna.

For example, at one point, the factor “personal development” started trending downwards. Thanks to these insights, the company focused on this issue and looked for ways to improve. One measure was to invest more in internal recruitment, which has yielded results. 30% of employees, most of whom started in 2019, have changed roles within the organization.

GetAccept also has an unusually high response rate—93%. Hanna explains how they achieved this and what other organizations can do to reach similar results:

“It’s important to discuss the results within the organization, ensuring that management and the CEO understand the value and that follow-up happens not just once a year, but regularly, every week.

You need to have an ongoing dialogue with your employees, pick up on signals, create a team spirit, and act accordingly. The value lies in the direct feedback you get from employees.

With Winningtemp, you get concrete, measurable proof of how your organization is doing. It becomes very transparent and strengthens internal relationships, which in turn builds trust,” concludes Hanna.

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Previously, Formue conducted annual surveys, which required a lot of administration. The systems were inadequate and provided little value to the company. Consequently, they sought to use a research-based tool.

Formue is a leading Nordic company offering independent and comprehensive advice to individuals, families, and foundations. By the end of 2023, the company had 430 employees across Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Comprehensive wealth management and advisory services are about realizing the goals set by clients. Trust and dialogue are crucial elements. Learn more about Formue and their services at www.formue.no.

We spoke with Merete Borg Larsen, Head of People in Formue's HR department. Larsen emphasizes that to offer the best customer experiences, it's crucial that employees are happy at work. Job satisfaction is vital for team cohesion and development.

The company has experienced significant growth in recent years, making it essential to have a grasp of what’s happening throughout the organization. For this, Formue needed solid data, especially since they operate in many different locations in Norway and across three countries.

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Annual Employee Surveys Were Not Enough

Previously, Formue conducted annual surveys, which required a lot of administration. The systems were inadequate and provided little value to the company. Consequently, they sought to use a research-based tool. They turned to their Swedish organization for inspiration.

It was in Sweden that they first started with pulse measurements using Winningtemp. They had great success with it and decided to implement it in Norway as well.

According to Formue's Head of People, they wanted to avoid guesswork. They aimed to make informed decisions based on data and wanted fresh data to work with.

Winningtemp allows weekly temperature checks within the company, and anonymity ensures honest answers.

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Easy to Implement

For many companies, implementing a new tool can be met with skepticism. There might be fears that the system is difficult to learn or that it’s expensive or time-consuming to implement.

Fortunately, Winningtemp is user-friendly and easy to implement. Focus on usability and privacy are among the elements Larsen values most. She also emphasizes the need to allocate time for system implementation.

Implementing pulse measurements in a company can take time, which is important to understand. HR should allocate time for good dialogue with leaders and for sparring about emerging issues, she explains. HR should support leaders and ensure they are comfortable with the system. They must provide tools that facilitate good team conversations based on data from Winningtemp. HR can, for example, help by arranging workshops or preparing presentation materials that support the message.

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A Team Development Tool

By combining traditional employee conversations and pulse measurements with Winningtemp, Formue can gather input from employees both individually and as a team.

We value constructive feedback. We have various tools to support this work. We have four interaction rules that have been with us for many years, aimed at fostering good internal communication and dialogue, and building the culture we desire. “We give and take constructive feedback” is one of our interaction rules.

Larsen elaborates: With Winningtemp, employees can respond anonymously, and it’s not important to know who answered what. We get an overview of satisfaction within our teams. Pulse measurements are a valuable support and team development tool for us. They contribute to a good feedback culture in our organization. How do we want things to be here, and what measures should we take to get there? We want openness about this.

General employee follow-up at the individual level is achieved through good dialogue. Pulse measurements do not replace the meaningful conversations Formue wants with its employees, such as regular status or performance reviews.

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Departments Learn from Each Other

Merete Borg Larsen seeks insight into what truly contributes to a good work environment. She notes that the various departments have much to learn from each other. Therefore, measurements and feedback are highly valued. She explains:

Sometimes we see that certain departments score very high on various parameters. “Why do they do that? Why is the situation perceived as so good in this department during this period?” There can be a wide range of responses from employees, and the diversity itself is very interesting! “Why do we answer so differently?” It creates good discussions when we bring this into the departments. Being curious rather than skeptical means we respect each other more and create room for differences in our organization.

It’s important for Formue to get an overview of temperature and feedback at the department level and then prioritize actions. Where should we allocate our resources? It's well-known that HR and leaders have many balls in the air. Implementing the right measures at the right time makes us more effective.

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Focus on Three Key KPIs

Formue's Head of People is clear that job satisfaction and a good work environment are not solely the responsibility of the leaders. It’s something everyone must work towards together. In this context, they use Winningtemp for ongoing reporting, with a particular focus on three key performance indicators (KPIs).

These are leadership, eNPS, and overall temperature score. Leadership because we know how important it is to have a good leader who supports, provides security, and challenges the team for further growth. eNPS, or "employee net promoter score," to determine how many ambassadors the company has. And overall temperature score because it gives insight into the average of all nine research-based categories.

Formue reports on these quarterly, just as they report on their financial situation. CEO Øystein Bø presents these figures to the entire organization.

Winningtemp is also a useful tool for reporting on various sustainability reports and ESG parameters. Both HR and management use the tool weekly and continuously, says Merete. It has become a tool that supports us in monitoring our organization and our people in a meaningful and effective way, with solutions well-grounded in research.

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A Continuous Process

Merete Borg Larsen has clear advice for other companies wishing to use pulse measurement tools like Winningtemp.

It’s a continuous effort. Both leaders and employees should understand why the chosen KPIs were selected. With Winningtemp, you get an active system you can use to develop employees. Use the results over time. Data is collected, analyzed, and actions are initiated. This is an ongoing process, and time must be set aside for it. Be cautious about comparing different departments and their results. We have different roles and conditions that affect our scores. Each team should work on what’s best for them. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn from each other, but be careful about comparing without delving into what lies behind the numbers. And remember – pulse measurements should never replace the meaningful conversations we want with our employees.

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Pulse Measurements Have Become Part of Employee Engagement

Formue has now used Winningtemp for three years, sending out six questions a week. It’s easy to respond, and HR finds that many are eager to participate.

We have an average of 90% response participation, and most employees are satisfied with the solution. I would say that pulse measurements have become part of the employee engagement we have at Formue. Employees also feel that leaders address any challenges through good dialogue and leadership.

The high participation rate gives the HR department a good overview of what’s happening. They can therefore focus on implementing measures where they are truly needed. According to Larsen, the company’s priorities and action plans are partly based on data collected from Winningtemp.

Do you find Formue’s experiences with Winningtemp inspiring? With Winningtemp, you can gather tangible data, analyze it, and implement measures. This way, you can also ensure higher employee satisfaction in a simple and visual way.

Order a free demo today!

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Epinova, part of the Nova Consulting Group, is a leader in web and e-commerce. Their success is thanks to employee satisfaction and the culture behind it. While exact numbers can be hard to pinpoint, there's little doubt that satisfaction impacts the bottom line. This is precisely why Winningtemp's temperature measurements and eNPS are so crucial for Epinova.

Winningtemp has been used by Epinova for a long time. In the Nova Consulting Group, of which Epinova is a part, the system is used by several companies. Epinova specializes in web and e-commerce. Account Manager and Group Leader Magnus Vik Lagerberg reports that Epinova has achieved good results through Winningtemp. Their success is attributed to satisfied employees.

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How can employee satisfaction be measured?

Nova Consulting Group, consisting of 12 companies, had one common challenge: They needed a system that could measure employee satisfaction more effectively than traditional employee reviews. Epinova, the largest entity in the group, was eager to build a culture that went beyond just development and coding.

They understood that good code and successful projects depended on employees being happy and feeling valued. Traditional employee reviews were no longer sufficient to achieve this goal. This is where Winningtemp came into the picture. Continuous temperature measurements were particularly interesting for Epinova.

Winningtemp was recommended during a leadership course. The system seemed like the perfect solution to achieve more frequent and accurate measurements of the work environment. A thorough and well-planned onboarding of the system was carried out. Winningtemp quickly proved to produce good results for Epinova.

"We wanted a new tool. The goal was to build a culture around being more than just a developer. Good code and projects are based on people being happy. Employee reviews were not enough. Winningtemp had a clever approach with frequent, short surveys."

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Continuous temperature measurements became key

Winningtemp's approach, with frequent, short surveys, proved to be a game-changer for Epinova. They started with a demo. It didn't take long before they realized that this was the answer they had been looking for. Winningtemp became a common thread in the organization. The system gave them continuous insight into employees' experiences of the work environment.

It was no longer necessary to wait for annual or semi-annual employee reviews. Magnus Vik Lagerberg, Account Manager and Group Leader at Epinova, points out that while Winningtemp is a valuable tool, it's important to remember that it alone cannot solve issues related to the work environment and employee well-being.

"Personal conversations and other forums where colleagues can meet are still required. Winningtemp functions as a supplement. It provides the organization with continuous temperature measurements that strengthen our understanding of employee well-being."

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Anonymity and openness

Epinova has achieved an impressive response rate of between 88 and 92%, thanks to Winningtemp's simple and user-friendly interface. The system sends out short questions where smileys are used as responses. The process also gives employees the opportunity to leave anonymous comments. This provides unique insight into the state of the organization.

Employees feel safe, with the option to share concerns or suggestions anonymously. Weekly, Epinova estimates receiving 2-5 anonymous comments – some with criticism, and some with praise. An important success factor at Epinova has been emphasizing openness and discussion around the results. Winningtemp provides numbers, but it is the trends that are most valuable.

Understanding the context behind the numbers is key to taking targeted actions to improve the work environment. Group leaders play an important role in initiating conversations and following up on employee feedback. This creates a culture where it is acceptable to speak up when things are not going well, which is especially important for those who are struggling.

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Results and future prospects

Epinova has always had low turnover. But as they grow and have more employees spread across several offices in Norway, a system like Winningtemp will help them continue to retain their employees and ensure they don't leave.

Employees themselves are more aware of the state of the organization and how they can influence it. This has also likely had a positive impact on the company's bottom line. Satisfied employees are often more productive and less likely to leave a job.

Although some have raised questions about the cost of Winningtemp, Epinova has found that the benefits outweigh the costs. The tool is easy to understand and provides them with a valuable indicator of well-being in the organization. They can immediately see the effects of the measures they implement. Employees can also actively participate in the process of improving the work environment.

New employees are slowly but surely introduced to Winningtemp. Here, Epinova can analyze numbers and trends based on a range of categories: age, gender, experience, and much more. It is especially the trends that Magnus Vik Lagerberg values highly. These can be tracked in real-time, and new employees can also be set as a separate category.

"When new employees arrive, it takes a few months before they get the first questions. Then they have something to base their answers on. Initially, we have 'onboarding' as a category. That way, they become familiar with the system at Epinova."

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A culture of openness and well-being

With Winningtemp, Epinova has created a work culture that puts employee well-being at the center. The tool has given them insight into the organization's temperature, which was previously more or less inaccessible through traditional employee reviews. The high response rate and the possibility for anonymous feedback have promoted openness and discussion about the work environment.

Through Winningtemp, Epinova has achieved a better understanding of employee needs and a stronger culture that goes beyond just development and coding. They have proven that investing in employee well-being yields results, both for the employees themselves and for the company as a whole. Winningtemp has proven to be the ideal partner in their journey towards a more satisfying workplace.

Do you also want to make visible how your employees actually feel? Winningtemp offers a range of different modules, including continuous temperature measurement. Do like Epinova and get a handle on the most important numbers and trends in satisfaction. Order a demo with us today for an overview of the system!

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In the fall of 2019, Anders Helland and co-founder Erik Windahl Olsen established Atender. The company outsources customer support for European companies and quickly recognized that the industry was plagued by poor management and employee culture. They aimed to change this, envisioning Atender as a workplace where people genuinely enjoy their jobs and thrive.

Both Helland and Olsen had experience in founding and scaling tech companies, having previously operated a company in Malaga. They decided to build their new venture from their office in the Spanish city.

Their previous company struggled to find good customer support and outsourcing partners, as most were focused on signing large enterprise deals, ignoring smaller tech companies. This realization showed the founders a market gap they could fill.

They found a niche they wanted to occupy, and today, Atender works with tech companies across Europe, primarily targeting startups, early growth stage companies, and those with newly established support departments. The work environment at Atender is also very positive, which is rare in the industry. So, what’s their secret?

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Outsourcing Abroad: A Challenging Industry

Neither Erik nor Anders had extensive experience in the customer service industry before starting Atender. Although familiar with the industry, they hadn’t worked within it. Helland quickly noted the poor management culture prevalent in the industry:

“It only took us a few months to realize that outsourcing, especially to foreign countries, is a dirty business. People are treated poorly, almost like cattle. They are placed in cubicles and managed in ways that contradict my idea of good leadership.”

Helland, the CEO of Atender, also mentioned that the industry is riddled with a culture of fear. The founders soon understood that no good industry standard existed, so they had to create their own way of doing things.

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High Priority on Employee Culture and Satisfaction

Determined to break away from the generally poor industry culture, Helland and Olsen sought to establish the "Atender way" of doing things, creating a unique workplace.

“We believe in creating a unique workplace. We think that when people feel good, it has significant value. From a business perspective, this means fostering a workplace where people thrive, leading to better performance.”

To ensure they were building a unique workplace, the founders needed a way to confirm and measure employee satisfaction.

“We started exploring the market for tools that could help us ensure we deliver on our promise – a workplace where people are happy and thriving. That’s when we discovered Winningtemp.”

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Weekly Surveys Provide Insight into Employee Satisfaction

With extensive experience in the tech industry, both Anders and Erik were familiar with various systems. Winningtemp was new to them, but its frequent surveys and user-friendliness appealed to them.

“It was crucial for us to have real-time control over employee well-being, not just checking in every six months. Setting up Winningtemp with weekly surveys has largely provided us with what we were looking for.”

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Alerts for Issues Before They Escalate

Atender now uses Winningtemp across the entire company. According to Helland, all employees respond to the surveys they send out. Creating a culture of one-on-one dialogue, human interaction, and continuous follow-up is invaluable, he says.

“The tool is like the canary in the coal mines of old: it gives us early warnings and flags trends at an early stage if something isn’t right.”

The founders can point to many instances where Winningtemp has identified potential cultural or employee satisfaction issues early on.

“The positive aspect is that we can address these issues at an early stage, making it easier to correct them before they become entrenched.”

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The Company’s Most Important Management Tool

According to Anders, Winningtemp is highly intuitive, which is one reason it benefits the entire organization.

“Most people grasp the essence quickly, and we’ve used the tool for several years now. Since employee satisfaction is crucial for us, Winningtemp has become our most important management tool.”

As the organization has scaled, they now have many team leaders. Helland explains that these leaders work very autonomously with their teams, making good tools essential.

“Team leaders use Winningtemp as an ongoing management tool, helping them work with their teams and build satisfaction within each team. We get a lot of benchmarking data within the organization with so many teams using the tool.”

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The Industry’s Best Employee Satisfaction?

Atender has worked diligently for many years to achieve a strong culture and employee satisfaction, and it has paid off.

“Our result is that we have insanely high employee satisfaction. I dare say there’s no one else with the same level of satisfaction in outsourcing customer service. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The CEO attributes much of this success to having an effective management tool that has guided them.

“I believe the most important thing about Winningtemp is that it represents a mindset – something you want to achieve as a company. For us, Winningtemp has been the tool we needed to create a unique workplace in an industry with its share of challenges.”

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Take the Temperature of Satisfaction in Your Company

Do you, like Atender, want to take employee culture and satisfaction seriously? Winningtemp is a versatile and user-friendly platform for measuring employee satisfaction with their job situation, leadership, development opportunities, and more.

The platform allows you to analyze, visualize, and communicate – all in one place. Order a free demo and create the workplace you desire!

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At NetOnNet, it has long been known that strong relationships between employees increase engagement and productivity in the workplace. However, when the pandemic hit, the value of insight-driven leadership also became apparent. This realization led them to invest in Winningtemp.

In recent years, the consumer electronics company NetOnNet has focused on the soft values within its organization. The goal is to build stronger relationships with their employees, believing that such relationships contribute to engagement and job satisfaction, ultimately leading to higher productivity.

“We decided to work on what we call relationship-oriented leadership,” explains HR Manager Per Carlsson. “A leadership that sees and cares about the individual, believing that the better the relationship between our leaders and employees, the better the conditions for creating the engagement and joy that are so important for any company.”

By seeing their employees and creating security within workgroups, the chances increase that everyone will move in the same direction.

“The conditions for increasing engagement rise dramatically if you have a good relationship with your colleagues and managers, and feel secure at your job,” says Per. “If you are involved and can contribute to the department's development, you will thrive and grow. This creates a lot of energy and drive. If we succeed in creating these conditions, it is a fantastic feeling to be a manager or leader. It becomes like a self-playing piano when everyone wants to move in the same direction.”

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Insight-Driven Leadership

The global pandemic required NetOnNet to shift focus slightly, turning previous ideas into more concrete priorities. They wanted to work more with insight-driven leadership, which means basing decisions and actions on data, and in this case, data that can be collected remotely. This information helps to drive better leadership and higher employee well-being.

“We want to work with insight-driven leadership. Before the pandemic, we mostly practiced leadership in physical environments, but now we’ve had to find new ways. We needed to give our leaders a complement to physical leadership. One solution we saw was insights in the form of data. We already work a lot with customer data, so this is somewhat similar, but now we’re also working with employee data. This helps our leaders become even better. It’s an effective further development of all the company's leaders, whether they practice their leadership digitally or physically.”

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Employees at NetOnNet Feel Heard

It felt natural for Per to use employee data in the same way customer data is used. It is equally important to work on improving the workplace for employees as it is to create a positive experience for customers. To collect insights and employee data, NetOnNet started using Winningtemp in November 2020.

“Since we started collecting insights with the help of Winningtemp, we’ve received very positive feedback from both employees and managers,” says Per. “Employees feel they are involved and that their opinions are heard. We always want to keep the possibility of direct dialogues between leaders and employees, as that is the best type of communication, but this is a good complement. It especially suits those who are not as skilled at expressing themselves in meetings, even if they have positive thoughts or ideas for change.”

An important function of Winningtemp’s platform is the research-based questions available to users. These questions are proven to lead to insights that drive engagement and productivity, and for NetOnNet, these questions have worked beyond expectations.

“The best thing about getting this data is that leaders have better conditions to steer in the right direction,” says Per. “You can address issues before they grow too large. Additionally, we currently only send out four questions each week, and it takes 10 seconds to answer them, so it’s not burdensome for employees.”

The smart AI also helps to develop the business.

“I like that the tool is smart, that if someone answers a bit hesitantly, the AI in the tool will continue digging with follow-up questions. This way, we get more data each week that we can work with to develop our business and our leadership.”

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“You Can Focus on the Right Things at the Right Time”

Thanks to Winningtemp, NetOnNet feels they have been able to avoid conflicts and boost confidence within the company.

“Before we started using Winningtemp, conflicts or other problems could grow quite a bit before we became aware of them, and then it’s much harder to find solutions. But with Winningtemp, we can see those signals early on, so we focus on the right things at the right time. Additionally, we get a boost when we see that we are doing particularly well in certain areas.”

The platform has also helped make life easier and more enjoyable for those working in the HR department.

“We in HR get signals and insights in the system if we need to contact a manager or employee. So it’s a fantastic tool for HR as we can help monitor the business proactively. We have better tools than ever to handle ‘problem areas,’ for example, and come in and support so that everyone gets the help they need to perform and feel at their best. It has never been more fun to work in HR!”

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Helping to Avoid Employee Turnover and Unnecessary Conflicts

Winningtemp’s AI can analyze behavior based on responses from thousands of users and see when someone is considering changing jobs or when a conflict is brewing. This way, unnecessary loss of personnel or energy can be saved. For NetOnNet, Winningtemp has been an investment that has immediately provided value and paid for itself.

“Winningtemp is an investment that quickly provides value. We avoid high employee turnover and costly conflicts, and above all, we have gained a tool that helps us increase engagement in the company. Additionally, the tool does not represent a significant investment compared to traditional annual employee surveys. The system was quick to implement, and it was super easy for employees and managers to learn. It really feels like we have taken a step forward in development,” says Per. “It’s really fun to be part of this journey.”

Länsförsäkringar Älvsborg consists of 9 offices, with the headquarters located in Vänersborg. Here, HR specialist Roger Rönnerhag, who is passionate about employee well-being, now has better insights into the organization's well-being than ever before.

Previously, they worked on employee well-being in various ways, but three years ago, they discovered Winningtemp.

Annual measurements have their obvious limitations, Roger explains. They serve a purpose, but it's slow to implement changes. It’s better to continuously understand how everyone is feeling, as much can happen over a year. Now, we can catch signals early, act immediately, and receive feedback on what we do.

85% Response Rate Indicates High Engagement

One thing that stands out among the offices at Länsförsäkringar Älvsborg is their high response rate.

We have 500 users and an 85% response rate. We send out short surveys every other week and have had a high response rate from the beginning. This must be because it's easy to respond, we are clear about its importance, and we often discuss why we do this work.

“Winningtemp is as natural as brushing your teeth”

They also place great importance on ensuring that all comments receive responses so that employees feel heard.

We have really skilled managers, I must say. They are quick to respond and show great interest in advancing the well-being work. This shows the employees that someone is listening and seeing them on the other end.

As a manager, it can be daunting to get such a clear picture of how employees view leadership, but Länsförsäkringar Älvsborg quickly realized the value of the feedback.

Managers could initially be a bit anxious when the temperature dropped, Roger explains. But just like in family life, where things go up and down, it can be challenging at times. In the long run, it's only positive. Now, it’s part of our everyday life, it's as natural as brushing your teeth.

Well-being Can Be Measured

With Winningtemp, you get concrete figures in several different well-being categories. This makes it easy to detect whether the well-being among employees is moving in the right or wrong direction.

We follow dashboards with various key figures and use index values from Winningtemp to see where we stand, Roger explains. We also usually select specific benchmark values in the categories, meaning numbers we don't want to fall below. It works really well!

The Importance of Positivity in the Workplace

An underrated feature in Winningtemp is the ability to send praise to each other. But at Länsförsäkringar Älvsborg, they have long understood the value of positive feedback in the workplace

It’s so convenient and good to be able to send praises across the offices when someone has done something well, Roger says. We want to be the most attractive employer in Sweden, and of course, we need to spread positivity among employees. They deserve it.

Are you also interested in working more effectively with employee feedback by listening to your employees and taking concrete actions? Book a demo and see how Winningtemp can help your company.

Kollmorgen is a company that works with automated transport solutions. The global company is part of a group with thousands of employees. An engaged team is important for Kollmorgen, which focuses on working agile by picking up trends in real-time and then making decisions based on this data.

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Real-time insights make it easier to act

Kollmorgen started using Winningtemp about two years ago. Before Winningtemp, it was often difficult to identify trends in real-time to understand what could be improved and why.

"The problem areas and challenges revolved around the delay in engagement measurements, making it difficult to act quickly when it took time to get the data," says Martin.

Kollmorgen discusses problem areas through employee dialogues. Every three or four weeks, Martin's team looks at the results in Winningtemp. They then choose an area to focus on, either one where they are strong or where things can be improved. The team gathers to discuss what the desired state would look like and where they would like to be. Martin usually splits the team into pairs to first discuss how the best of all worlds would look. Then they regroup and hold a briefing.

By discussing the situation based on the data, you get a very good understanding of how your colleagues think. It's rare that everyone thinks the same way. The value of the data we collect in Winningtemp lies greatly in the discussions and dialogues among employees.

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Trends show what can be improved and why

Kollmorgen has an annual employee survey that goes out to everyone in the group. Winningtemp offers the company a convenient tool to measure engagement and see development over time, rather than waiting for annual survey results. In a global team spread across Europe, the USA, and China, an agile mindset is important to pick up on trends.

"We work agile, and being able to run regular measurements is valuable to us," says Martin. "We have also been able to link the large survey with the Winningtemp questions, so you can see what similarities there are. This also allows us to follow trends linked to another system. In this way, we have been able to use the data that already exists."

Martin explains that the data the company collects can be used in different ways.

"For example, we can use it when planning organizational changes in my team. You can use it to ask team members to be careful to enter data and answer questions so that if we make changes, we can follow the trends. If something then becomes worse than it was before, we will be able to see when and how it happened. For example, in my team, we had working methods that we tested and felt were not very good. The signs and information were there in Winningtemp, even if it wasn't the whole answer. The lesson was that we should use the data and talk about it when we get indications."

Generally, employees stay longer at Kollmorgen than at other employers. A concrete example of how Kollmorgen used data to increase engagement and reduce the risk of high staff turnover during the COVID-19 crisis. Martin explains:

"With the current situation, you notice that some things go down. The employees who normally travel a lot and help customers in the field, we haven't been able to perform that task in the past year. If you have the expectation when you are hired to do that, engagement can easily go down. Then we can talk about the areas that have been affected and ask employees how they would like it to be. Several say they would like to work more practically. Then we have been able to rethink and do our best to find tasks in the local area by asking our customers if we can come in and help them. Then you have to be okay with engagement going down and that you can't fully influence the situation."

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Working proactively is the key to continued results

Kollmorgen doesn't stop actively working for a good work environment even though engagement looks good.

"We are around the index as a company, and it's something we should be happy with, but we don't stop working on this just because of that," says Martin.

Winningtemp is part of that work.

"I would recommend Winningtemp because you can have an agile approach to employee engagement. You can follow up and talk about how you would like it to look if engagement were at its peak, and you can follow up on trends and see how they change over time."

Aqua Dental began its journey to becoming Sweden's safest and friendliest dental chain in 2010. Today, the company has 350 employees and eleven clinics. Their goal is to be Sweden's leading dental chain, and given the labor-intensive nature of dental care, Aqua Dental sees the work environment as crucial to achieving this goal. Winningtemp is used in every clinic to monitor employee well-being and leadership development.

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Aqua Dental’s Focus on a Good Work Environment Leads to Better Results

Aqua Dental started using Winningtemp to improve their work environment, which they see as critical to their business.

"The work environment is very important to us because dental care is so labor-intensive," says Niklas. "We work hard to take care of our staff properly, and it’s important that our employees are happy and have the right development opportunities. Our goal is to be an employer that takes good care of our employees and to be the most attractive employer in dental care."

The same applies to leadership. "Leadership is extremely important. For us, it means trust-based leadership that builds on personal responsibility," says Martin Beiring, dental care manager and head of Aqua Dental’s clinics in Gothenburg. According to Niklas, employee well-being and clinic results go hand in hand.

"For example, we often see that the clinic with the most satisfied staff also has the most satisfied patients – it’s clear that we have a better patient experience when the staff is happy and feeling well."

To maintain employee engagement and satisfaction, Aqua Dental uses Winningtemp to continuously collect data. This data is used to improve the employee experience.

"With Winningtemp, you can quickly pick up how the organization is doing on different parameters. This information can then be acted upon," says Niklas. "We see feedback as a very important tool, and we want to receive all types of feedback – both positive and constructive feedback on things we need to improve, such as the work environment or employee satisfaction."

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Weekly Surveys Measure Employee Well-Being in Real Time

Before Aqua Dental started using Winningtemp, they lacked a tool to continuously monitor employee well-being and satisfaction in a structured way.

"Before Winningtemp, there wasn’t really a forum to capture comments, and it wasn’t as continuous," says Niklas. "We usually received feedback only when something had already gone so far that it had become a problem. By using Winningtemp, we can capture employee feedback more quickly."

Today, Aqua Dental sends out weekly surveys to their employees.

"We send out automated questions and then I review the answers every week," says Martin about the clinics in Gothenburg. "We follow a standard setup that the whole company uses."

According to Niklas, employees are generally satisfied with using Winningtemp.

"The staff thinks Winningtemp is a good way to express themselves anonymously, and they can communicate everything from good things to frustrations they have within the organization."

Winningtemp’s temperature measurements help Aqua Dental monitor how the work environment is developing. By analyzing measurement results over a longer period, the company gets the information needed to understand how employees really feel.

"Every week we get a lot of feedback in Winningtemp. We look closely at how the temperature has gone up or down. One week may not say much, but seeing the trends and what causes the changes is important," continues Niklas.

Some questions are preset, and sometimes the company uses additional questions. They used this feature during the corona crisis, which helped Aqua Dental act on employee feedback and adjust communication or address issues that needed clarification.

"Recently, we received more feedback that people needed more clarity about the corona situation. We used Winningtemp to capture this and clarified some policies or guidelines."

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How Aqua Dental Uses Winningtemp’s Temperature Measurements to Create a Better Work Environment

Aqua Dental uses their temperature measurements to continuously work towards a better workplace.

"We have many examples of how Winningtemp has helped improve the work environment," says Niklas. "Sometimes we capture things like too much stress or pressure, the need for more clarity, or something frustrating the staff at a clinic, which we can then work on to improve."

The company measures the temperature at each clinic and then follows up on the results so that they can focus on the clinic that needs the most support.

"You see big differences per clinic, and it helps us identify which clinic we need to focus on," says Niklas.

"We are then more present at that clinic and provide more information. If, for example, it’s been stressful or turbulent at a clinic, we’ve been able to organize a staff event, such as bowling, and then we often see that the temperature in Winningtemp also rises."

Leadership has also improved thanks to the employee temperature measurements.

"We capture if the staff is dissatisfied with the leadership. Then we can coach the leaders better and have a dialogue about the staff feeling, for example, that they haven’t received enough support."

Winningtemp is still a new tool for Aqua Dental, and the company continues to learn from the temperature measurements.

"It’s a very good tool that we use a lot," concludes Niklas.

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Alti Forvaltning currently owns and manages around 45 shopping centers in Norway. They have experienced significant growth since their inception just over five years ago. With dozens of new employees each year, it became increasingly challenging to gain insight into employee satisfaction levels. Winningtemp eventually proved to solve this issue effectively!

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Difficult to Get the Facts on the Table

According to Olve Røen, HR Manager at Alti Forvaltning, it has been crucial for the company to gather honest feedback from employees. Without knowledge of how the employees are doing, it is difficult to implement improvements. "We wanted to get feedback from our employees to have facts on the table rather than guessing about the organization's temperature." Many companies find it challenging to get the necessary overview. Without full anonymity, employees often moderate their feedback in conversations with managers and HR. This prevents the company from getting a complete picture of the real situation. With Winningtemp, you can have two-way anonymous conversations with employees, which promotes openness and dialogue. Anonymous personnel analyses also provide insights into employee satisfaction and engagement within the organization and its various departments.

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Wanted to Evaluate Employee Satisfaction Continuously

The HR Manager of Alti Forvaltning explains that the organization evaluated several different providers when looking for a platform for employee feedback. They ultimately chose Winningtemp.

"We quickly became enthusiastic about Winningtemp's continuous pulse surveys on employee satisfaction. Ongoing evaluations are clearly better than annual measurements."

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Overview of Satisfaction at Both Organizational and Departmental Levels

Larger organizations will usually get more valuable measurements if they interpret the results at different levels. Even if overall satisfaction is high in a large company, there can still be dissatisfaction at the departmental level, which can be challenging to detect without measuring satisfaction in each department. After implementing Winningtemp as a tool in their daily operations, Røen experienced a good overview of the temperature across the entire organization.

"Alti Forvaltning gained the necessary overview of overall satisfaction, but also divided by departments and shopping centers."

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Focuses on Areas for Improvement

According to Røen, Alti Forvaltning closely monitors areas such as "leadership and work situation." They consider the eNPS question "how likely are you to recommend others to work at Alti Forvaltning?" important. But primarily, they use Winningtemp to gain an overview of areas for improvement at both organizational and departmental levels.

"We encourage both managers and employees to discuss different excerpts from the results. The aim is to reinforce what is going well while focusing on areas that can be improved."

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Quickly Address Challenges – All Year Round

The HR Manager of Alti Forvaltning explains that the goal with the tool is for managers and employees to have the opportunity to adjust the course within their departments. At the same time, it is an important goal to further involve employees in issues related to their workday.

"The advantage of Winningtemp compared to more traditional tools is that we get continuous feedback throughout the year. This allows us to quickly address any challenges that arise and try to actively 'close the gaps.'"

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Positive Response Among Employees

Olve Røen reports that the majority of employees and managers find Winningtemp to be a useful tool. It serves as a good supplement to employee conversations, safety rounds, and ongoing sparring between managers and employees. He elaborates:

"The response rate can vary somewhat, but on average, we have about 80% participation over a three-month period."

Today, Alti Forvaltning has approximately 190 active users of Winningtemp. This provides a lot of valuable information about satisfaction within the organization!

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Volvo Car Retail has 16 facilities in 3 regions, where they help Volvo owners with financing, service, repairs and much more. Their goal is to contribute to simple car ownership, free from worries.

The company is a relatively new merger of Bra Bil, Upplands Motor and Volvo Bil. Even before the merger in 2022, Bra Bil and Upplands Motor had started using Winningtemp to streamline and improve their corporate culture.

The challenge

Charlotte Sterner, Senior HR Business Partner at Volvo Car Retail who worked with Upplands Motor before they began using Winningtemp, says employee wellbeing used to be measured through annual surveys which were extremely inefficient.

 ”It was quite difficult at the time,” says Charlotte. ”Before we had gone through and compiled the results, a few months had passed and the results felt almost out of date. We clearly wanted a way to do surveys in real-time instead.”

In 2019 they switched to using Winningtemp and they noticed a difference immediately. With Winningtemp, they were able to quickly act on the insights from the results and work on the ”soft” questions in a clearer way.

”We know that soft values ​​lead to good results in the end. Therefore, it was very much appreciated to be able to have quick temperature measurements, to be able to follow up on feedback and to receive important information via the employees' comments,” adds Charlotte.

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‍The merger led to new challenges

 In 2022, Bra Bil merged with Upplands Motor and formed Volvo Car Retail. And although both companies had used Winningtemp before, the merger created new challenges, when two company cultures became one.

”The companies had not worked with Winningtemp in the same way, so it took a while before we understood how to use it together. But with 'commitment' as a common watchword, we ended up with an approach that everyone appreciated,” says Charlotte.

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Concern among managers

 There was also a challenge in getting everyone onboard. As a manager, it can be sensitive to be judged in such a concrete way, and when Winningtemp was discussed, there were doubts among the leaders.

”Not everyone thought it was a great thing, some managers thought it was pretty scary from the start. They were worried about getting numbers on how good or bad they were and probably didn't fully understand the benefits of such frequent examinations”.

 Solution

 As the usage of Winningtemp increased in the new company,more employees became aware of the advantages.

”The managers learned quite quickly that temperature changes are not something to be worried about, but are an opportunity to learn and take the organisation forward,” says Charlotte.

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Adapted based on the needs of the leaders

During the spring of 2023, Volvo Bil joined the company, and today there are a total of 800 employees in the company. Therefore there are many different teams and managers who have different needs. With that in mind, they don't have a common way of working across the entire organisation, rather each team gets to choose how they work with Winningtemp.

In our working method, the management group chooses a focus area, and then the leaders choose another - preferably together with their employees. Metrics are set jointly based on these areas and Winningtemp is a standing discussion topic in various forums every week”, says Charlotte.

Ultimately, Winningtemp is a leadership tool, but even the managers may need support from their teams, HR and other leaders, and therefore Winningtemp is a tool that everyone in the organisation can benefit from.

Results

 The leaders within Volvo Car Retail send out shorter pulse surveys every week, and have a response rate of around 70% - including many valuable comments. Charlotte emphasises the importance of high commitment and how it leads to better results and profitability.

”We believe that engaged employees lead to better results for the company. Winningtemp is an important tool in that journey, and that's why it's so fun that it's used so much by leaders and employees”. 

‍More control over well-being

Winningtemp use has led to several positive effects in daily work.

”Now we don't have to guess what the employees think, now we know. This means we can make better decisions when things need to be fixed. We also have better control and see that things are going in the right direction, even if not every single number is measured", says Charlotte.

 Now they don't have to wait for feedback for months, instead they can act faster and work more agilely.

”When any part of the organisation is about to get worse, we can quickly discover it and reverse the trend. We always have a clear overall picture thanks to all the comments that employees can submit anonymously.”

 The company culture is still evolving but Volvo Car Retail is on the right track to creating a more engaging and productive workplace - and Winningtemp is one of their most valuable tools along the way.

Do you want to work more effectively with employee feedback? Book a demo and see how Winningtemp can help your organisation.

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Nowadays, at, Zeekr it takes about eight seconds for employees to share their thoughts and experiences about the workplace. Consequently, this impacts their working conditions both at the individual level and for the entire organisation. By being data-driven and proactive with the well-being of employees, management gains a comprehensive picture of the company's leadership capacity, stress, and engagement levels. A task that previously took several months for Zeekr to measure and compile is now carried out directly in Winningtemp.

Zeekr, is a technical innovation centre in Gothenburg working on delivering technology to several well-known car brands such as Geely, Volvo, Lynk & Co, and Lotus. Approximately 2000 people presently work at CEVT. The company was looking for a modern tool to replace the traditional employee surveys, and they quickly chose Winningtemp.

"We thought Winningtemp sounded exciting because the platform is based on research and AI, thus compiling automated analyses," says Dennis Heltorp, project director for GROW at Zeekr. "That's something we haven't seen before."

Insights that led to concrete actions

With Winningtemp, Zeekr gained access to real-time, data-driven insights and analytics regarding employee engagement and satisfaction. These crucial insights led to concrete actions being taken for the employees to improve their working condition and increase their engagement.

"We noticed that a team recorded a significantly low score regarding their work condition, which necessarily points towards dissatisfaction. This gave Winningtemp a reasonable basis for advising their supervisors to help them out by allocating additional resources." We were able to get an action plan in place, and within a few weeks, you could clearly see a surge in the scale for 'working conditions' category. You could also see that the temperature measurement for the 'leadership' category rose. "

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“At LOAVIES, our mission is to inspire the young fashion-minded to feel awesome, proud and confident. We know the foundation to do this starts with our people – by creating a supportive and inclusive environment for our employees. We believe that honesty is iconic, and that's why we use Winningtemp to measure our employees' feedback. Being able to foster real-time communication and listen to our employees' opinions helps us make informed decisions to improve employee satisfaction and wellbeing.”

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THE CHALLENGE & SOLUTION

At LOAVIES we work in a fast and flexible way, so the known yearly employee satisfaction surveys were not the right fit. Winningtemp enables us to receive frequent and actionable feedback from employees, with the aim of improving overall employee satisfaction and wellbeing. It allowed our employees to provide their feedback and opinions quickly and easily. The platform's real-time insights, which included multiple-choice feedback and weekly pulse surveys, enables us to understand changes in employee sentiment quickly.

THE RESULTS

Thanks to Winningtemp and an 84% participation rate in the weekly pulse surve, Lovaies improved their two-way communication between managers and employees and enabled proactive actions and prioritisation for managers via the anonymous conversation feature. This increased theoverall transparency in the organisation.

Improved Employee Wellbeing and Engagement

Since implementing Winningtemp, Loavies has seen a significant increase in employee engagement, with 84% of employees sharing their feedback via the weekly pulse survey. Additionally, topics that normally are not discussed or highlighted are now more clear and it’s easier for leaders to open the discussion in their teams.

Transparent and Supportive Leadership

Winningtemp has enabled Loavies to create amore supportive workplace culture. Managers are now more available and receptive to feedback, leading to more transparent conversations and improved communication between employees and management. Result? Action lies with the employee, to take charge of their own development in the company.

Increased overall transparency

Winningtemp's weekly pulse surveys and temperature dashboard provide Loavies with real-time feedback on employee sentiment. This allows the company to take immediate action on any issues that arise, preventing them from becoming more significant problems. The dashboard with insights and smart actions is loved by leaders across the business.

Features

“With Winningtemp's temperature dashboard, we have a clear understanding of the overall sentiment of our employees. This helps us make informed decisions on the data and create an uplifting and openwork environment for everyone. Winningtemp has become an important tool in our commitment to employee wellbeing and satisfaction and Winningtemp data is discussed in our team meetings and town hall”.

Conclusion

Winningtemp has become an important tool in Loavies’ commitment to employee wellbeing and satisfaction. The platform has enabled the company to foster real-time communication and listen to its employees' opinions, leading to a more engaged workforce and improved business outcomes. Winningtemp data is discussed in team meetings and in general, demonstrating the company's dedication to creating a supportive and inclusive environment for its employees.

‍“It’s very easy for leadership teams to think their employees should just be grateful to have their jobs in today’s business environment. But, no – it doesn’t work like that. Employees want to feel they have a purpose, they belong and that their employer is grateful for them. Winningtemp has lifted the veil for us at Montcalm to understand what our employees want and how we can take action to make it happen. We’re no longer guessing what our people strategies should look like. We now have the data and power to truly put our employees first, creating a more inclusive culture that reflects the values of our business and employees.” – Jo-mandi Templeton, Head of Talent & Culture, The Montcalm London Hotels

The accounting firm Klara Papper has been using Winningtemp for nearly a year to get a clear understanding of their employees’ views towards the company, their duties, and expectations.

“Winningtemp has really helped our managers with their leadership.” says Magnus Ramfelt, CEO for Klara Papper. “It’s a tangible way of finding out what we’re doing right and where corrective actions might be needed.”

Before Klara Papper began using Winningtemp, they had no idea how much it would facilitate HR administration. The company’s CEO, Magnus Ramfelt, heard about the employee experience tool via LinkedIn and decided to give it a try. The reason behind the decision was that the management’s perception of its employees’ engagement does not always conform to reality, and Winningtemp’s intuitive platform offered a more accurate picture of how things really are.

“With Winningtemp, we can verify whether our understanding of how staff members are feeling is actually true”, says Maria Bjurström Rosén, administrative manager at Klara Papper. “We had no specific problems in our mind, but it was more of a matter of wanting to know whether things were as good as we thought. But the tool also reveals many other aspects of our company. It has surpassed our expectations. Now I wonder how we ever got by without it.”

People-first culture

Klara Papper’s fundamental values are “security, development, and commitment.” With Winningtemp, companies can concretely measure how their key values are perceived and adopted. From the very beginning, the response rate from employees has been nearly 100 per cent. According to Maria, it is because the employees like the platform and have seen that their responses lead to actions.

“Now we know precisely how employees are feeling, week-by-week. If we’ve taken a particular initiative or been busier than usual, we could see exactly how the actions were perceived. The tool also made it that much easier to know what we are going to talk about during performance appraisals. Every organisation benefits from knowing exactly how their employees feel about their workplace.”

Better employee interaction

Winningtemp has a wide range of pre-formulated questions that form the foundation for different “temperature measurements,” but there is also the option of writing your own surveys. Employees can respond quickly with smileys ranging from positive to negative, and if deemed necessary, they can even write an anonymous comment.

“Our employees’ response rate has increased. They’re starting to notice that the comments lead to action. That means that more people feel connected and committed to the company. Two weeks ago, we had a one-day conference, and afterwards, I sent out specific questions about what the employees thought about the event. Every time we use Winningtemp like that, I appreciate how good it really is!”

Why Acorns Children’s Hospice puts its trust in Winningtemp’s revolutionary platform

The hospice care sector supports more than 225,000 people with terminal and life-limiting conditions in the UK each year. But in a year that has had a universally devastating impact on the healthcare industry, it is the caregivers themselves that have witnessed unimaginable heartbreak, shouldered the burden of low staffing levels, comforted, and calmed emotionally charged clients and their families, and remained composed when supplies of basic safety wear ran short. But everyone has their limit, and if ever there was a time to support the people working in these vital roles, it is now.

Matt Bullock is the Director of People & Culture at Acorns Children’s Hospice. Based in the West Midlands, Acorns provide care and support to life limited and life threatened children, and their families. Matt joined the multi-site organisation in August 2020, 6 months into the global pandemic, acutely aware of how crucial it is (now more than ever) to put people – your greatest asset – first.

The quality and consistency of the service delivered to children and their families depends upon the person or people delivering it. Your most expensive, and therefore your most important asset is always going to be your people. So that’s where you need to focus your time.”

Matt prioritised the matter by immediately implementing a ‘cultural diagnostic’ of the entire organisation. He sought to discover how his people were honestly feeling, but he wanted to do so with as little discomfort to them as possible. In addition to initiating numerous focus groups, he introduced Winningtemp’s employee engagement platform. An anonymous, user-friendly tool that provides real-time insight into the wellbeing of your people.

As with many organisations, the pandemic has left its footprint on Acorns. By the time Matt had joined, there were already several areas of concern to overcome. Early into the outbreak of Covid-19, the Birmingham Acorns Hospice moved to offer a greatly reduced service to help ease the burden on the NHS. This meant that those working at the Birmingham hospice had to be redeployed to other sites across the region, often up to a 45-minute commute, which was once only 10 minutes.

“It may not seem a considerable point, but suddenly not being able to take your kids to school because you’ve got to leave early due to the traffic and distance, and then you’ve got to wear full PPE the whole day long that you don’t normally have to wear and which hurts and is uncomfortable and adds another 15 minutes or more on to your day, before driving back home in traffic, suddenly, the impact of that becomes quite significant.”

However, Matt recognises that the pandemic isn’t the cause for all conflicts. “A lot is driven by Covid, but I think there is an underlying theme across the organisation where we seem to have several red flags that should be much better understood so we can set a course to improve.”

To understand the situation further, he went as deep as possible. Starting with a large, one-off survey using the Winningtemp tools which he ran for 3 weeks. His goal was to pinpoint the areas that were working well, and conversely, those which weren’t working as well as they could be. “We then paused the survey for 2 weeks before relaunching it to initially run every fortnight with 6 questions each time. The ambition is to get to running the questions weekly, once people can see that feeding into it achieves something positive.”

Even in these preliminary days, the data that the platform has provided Matt with has been truly insightful. “It’s interesting, because overall for the whole organisation, Acorns has a higher-than-average Index score. Which on the surface you think, “wow that’s good – there’s nothing wrong”. When you start to dig and look at where some of the lower scores are coming from, we have a lower level of engagement and satisfaction in our care delivery teams particularly.

For Matt, the power that the insights can provide for other areas of business such as within leadership, is invaluable. “It is forming the basis of the leadership culture that we want to create.”

“That’s really about a cohesive leadership culture around everybody within the leadership team, effectively ‘signing up’ to doing things in a certain way, within a certain set of rules. Collectively, we need consistency.”

Matt’s deep diagnostics have found that throughout Acorns there are pockets of excellence and pockets that aren’t quite so good. “It’s about understanding how we are going to set our stall out, in terms of the leadership team and leadership approach.

“That will inform where we need to develop, how are we going to do that, and how we inform our learning and development offer. Which brings it back full circle again as to what’s the impact of that for our people? Are they seeing that change? And therefore, realising that their direct feedback has the ability to influence what we do.”

They say that mighty oaks from little acorns grow; but the oak does not become ‘mighty’ overnight. It takes time and patience and will grow through several life stages before maturing, much akin to a seismic shift in culture.

We are focussed on creating a culture in which we constantly listen and feedback. Did something positive happen by accident or was it by design? We must know where the problems are. Only by being brave enough to ask the questions, whether the answers are negative or not, can we possibly improve and know what to focus on.”

Winningtemp helps Sigma get feedback from the organisation in real-time

Sigma Technology Consulting is at the forefront of people management. They ensure a strong employee experience by combining Winningtemp with the efforts of a People Success Manager whose primary responsibility is to ensure that the company’s leaders are always putting their team members first. Through several measures of incorporating Winningtemp as part of their employee-focused corporate culture, Sigma Technology Consulting stands out in the competition of attracting the industry’s top talents.

Sigma Technology Consulting is a part of the Sigma Group and a global supplier of product information, software development and design of embedded systems, as well as offshore development. At Sigma Technology Consulting, “development” is the watchword, and the employee experience is the main priority. A People Success Manager has the overall responsibility for ensuring that the company’s team leaders have regular employee discussions and encourage employees to align their personal goals with the corporate strategy.

“For us, employee development is very closely related to customer development,” says Daniel Thysell, vice president at Sigma Technology Consulting. “It’s when both are working systematically; we can achieve business impact. That’s how we earn the loyalty of our employees. We have a dedicated People Success Manager because we see our employees as our customers. We want to earn their confidence, so they want to work with us. We are in an industry where people can change jobs in a day if they want. It is in our interest to provide a good and robust holistic experience, and Winningtemp is part of this. “

Why Winningtemp

Sigma Technology Consulting has chosen Winningtemp as its platform to nurture each employee in their career development. But the benefits of using Winningtemp have gone far beyond that.

“One of our taglines is ‘we give you the ability to evolve’, and Winningtemp is a big part of that. We can communicate that we have the platform for it when we recruit,” says Daniel Thysell. “Everyone in the industry claims to do that, but with Winningtemp, we have a platform that many competitors lack. Besides, several of our customers have chosen Winningtemp after we mentioned that we use the tool as part of our offerings to our customers. Taking the team’s well-being seriously is considered to be highly professional, and rightly so. That’s why it’s invaluable to us. “

The company’s wellbeing is the real measure of performance

At Sigma Technology Consulting, the response rate in Winningtemp among employees is typically 85%. Employees are committed to using the platform because it contributes to their own career development.

“Having a healthy workplace is essential, and Winningtemp delivers accurate measurement of performance. We follow up on our financial ROI regularly, but we think it’s equally important to track employee satisfaction and performance data in the same way. The platform provides trends and forecasts in real-time and in a visual format.

When we pay attention to our employees’ needs and motivations, we get better engagement, which leads to innovations for our customers, growth and better career development for our employees. That job has to be done. It is essential to set aside time for this type of analysis, setting requirements and making it part of the corporate culture and reward system. It is otherwise difficult to assert yourself in the competition for talent. We chose Winningtemp because it’s such a fantastic tool for precisely these kinds of things. “

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“Our employees do an incredible job to help patients make the most of every moment.It’s not an easy job, but the care they provide is exceptional. We need to showcommitment to every single one of our employees, just as they do every day forour patients. We launched Winningtemp as part of our wider employee support andwellbeing package to create a space for people to share their thoughts andfeelings. Employees can choose to comment anonymously, and we’re committed toreplying to every single one, so no one is left unheard.” – Gerry Crow,Director of Operations & Support, Mary Stevens Hospice

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As a multinational, forward-thinking company, many employees worked remotely, or in different offices to their managers prior to the pandemic. However, due to the worsening Covid rates in early 2020, the company, like many others around the world, were forced to ask all their people to work from home, indefinitely.  

“For us, COVID sped up something that was slowly happening already. The company is spread between five offices across Europe with different functions in different countries. Our headquarters are in Ireland, but most of our employees are in Spain. For instance, I'm managing the HR function for the whole company here in Dublin, yet most of my employees are outside of Ireland. So, I'm a remote resource for them already.”

However, in the months following the office closures the travel industry was brought to its knees. The ONS reported that monthly air passenger arrivals to the UK fell from 6,804,900 in February 2020 to 112,300 in April 2020, a fall of 98.3%. In terms of room occupancy, Greater London saw the largest fall of any English region from 2019 to 2020, with just 20% of rooms occupied in July 2020 compared with 90% in the same month in 2019. The consequences were catastrophic and in 2020 alone, Statista Research Department estimated that the global travel and tourism market lost approximately 62 million jobs.

A clear need

As the pandemic took grip, the travel industry felt its stronghold almost immediately with global restrictions placed upon everyone. As concerns set in, Kasia reveals that Bookassist knew they needed to understand how their staff were feeling to help them through this turbulent period. Bookassist are part of umbrella organisation Jonas, and, while managed separately, partake in an annual survey run by Jonas.  

“The annual survey is sent to all their employees, but we felt once a year wasn’t enough. Moreover, because it is used across multiple countries it tends to be quite broad and generic.”

The Jonas survey gets sent to multiple global companies that are not necessarily in the same areas of business or experiencing the same challenges as one another. But the pandemic has of course affected businesses differently, and if ever there was a time that generic was not good enough, it’s now. Bookassist felt it was crucial they understood what their people were going through on a deeper level.

“Some companies were not affected at all and some of them suddenly ceased to exist. So, people had quite different experiences, and we were looking for the best way to understand how our people were being affected. We knew we wanted regular feedback from people that wouldn't feel intrusive or time-consuming for them to answer.”

Introducing Winningtemp gave their people the chance to express their feelings, whilst providing management with the feedback needed to help them.  

“Every country we operate in suddenly had a lockdown in place. So everyone was working from home whether they wanted to or not. They were having regular calls with their line managers, but people don’t always feel comfortable sharing their feedback in person. Because Winningtemp is anonymous, they tend to feel more comfortable expressing themselves.”

The concept of remote working may have chiefly been how the company operated pre-pandemic, but without the option of an office at all, they soon noticed the disadvantages that brought about. Pre-pandemic, Bookassist were afforded the ability to share the care and wellbeing of employees in a way that just wasn’t possible once the Coronavirus took hold.  

“As a manager in Ireland, I could have an employee reporting to me based in the Spanish office. While I wasn’t physically present in the office, other managers and colleagues would see that something might be wrong and inform me of their concerns. Suddenly, that was gone.”

They were finding that those conversations between managers and their staff that would naturally occur in an office setting, were not always happening remotely. If there is an incident, or someone is upset, it can be easily identified. But working from home can mean that people increasingly hide how they are feeling. And if you cannot see a problem, you cannot react to it.

“We needed to implement Winningtemp to help identify things that we would have noticed in an office setting. We needed a way for people to express how they are feeling. We needed feedback so that we could be accountable and actionable to our people.”

Engaging a workforce through the worst of times

The company have been using Winningtemp throughout much of the pandemic and from the outset the platform was received well with a large proportion of employees using it and providing feedback. One of the primary functions of the Winningtemp platform is the ability to provide comments and feedback anonymously, crucial when there is so much uncertainty.

The hotel industry has been through a devastating couple of years and many of Bookassist’s clients were struggling to make the revenue they needed. “It has really been the toughest time and keeping morale high throughout the whole company can be challenging, even in ‘normal’ times.  

“Of course the whole premise of the platform is keeping your company engaged, and that has been truly put to the test since we began using Winningtemp. We provide supports for hotels, but a lot of our clients have really been affected by the travel restrictions. Some had to pause services -or worse.

“Which of course has a worrying effect on our own people concerned about whether we would lose clients, and what that would mean for us as a company and them as an employee. So keeping people motivated became the priority. We needed that safe space for our people to voice their own concerns, while our clients took stock of their situations.”

And that’s a challenge when your people are based in different countries, and all receiving different levels of help from their own governments. In some regions they were able to keep people working the entire time, in other countries they had no choice but to furlough some staff.

“There are errors. People are very frustrated. They're not getting the money that they need, and it's nothing that we as a company can do about it because it's not on our side, it's on the Government, but obviously it affects people’s morale.

“It's particularly challenging and very demotivating for those on furlough because people begin to feel redundant, even though they're not really. So having a platform in which they could express themselves became especially important to us, particularly when they were feeling low and not communicating directly with their managers.

“People have had vastly different experiences. And for our managers, managing teams who are all having such different experiences has been difficult, but the platform has really enabled those conversations.

“If someone is giving positive feedback, they can have a conversation around how to sustain that. However, sometimes it transpires from the comments that something is not going all that well. But if your people can tell you the bad things as well as the good, it means the platform is doing its job and enables us to focus conversations on the correct topics and a closer working relationship develops.”

Fully booked for 2022

In January 2022, Boris Johnson offered the travel industry some much needed hope with the lifting of many restrictions, including the end of the pre-departure test, which he said: “discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense.”

As the world finally begins to open again and the UK becomes restriction free, people are already embracing the opportunity to book hotels and accommodation again. Having chosen Winningtemp to better understand and help their people in the worst of times, what would Bookassist hope to achieve from the platform as the world opens for business again?  

“I hope that people will engage and express even more. That’s what is going to help managers understand better. As people feel more comfortable providing feedback, and giving honest opinions, the more it helps develop our managers and help them understand their teams. When you have quality feedback you start meaningful conversations, even if it’s difficult to hear at the time. Because this is when you learn.”

“My hope is that managers will learn to really listen to their employees and in turn learn from them how they can be better managers. At the same time, the employees will feel much more confident that they can share openly what they think and how they feel and that it's going to be taken on board by their managers and used as much as possible.”

And finally, does Kasia have any advice to any leaders new to the platform?

When you get negative feedback, use it as a learning experience. What are your people trying to tell you? What does the data tell you? You must talk to your people. What can we improve? What can we do better? And if it is me – as a manager, I need your input to help me improve.  

You must have these conversations and it's not always going to be pleasant. But having an environment that encourages people to openly express their feedback to you, that's the best thing that can happen to you as a manager. It's the only way to improve and grow.

Avega Group records over 350 employees, distributed across several different companies specialising in digital transformation. They use Winningtemp throughout the organisation and have already witnessed positive results in areas such as work environment, employee development, and leadership. Winningtemp has now become a business-critical tool as its unique engine helps leaders develop and retain skilled consultants.

“It’s great to be able to see what’s happening in the organisation in real-time,” says Anette Melin, Head of HR, Avega Group.

Real-time data is absolutely crucial

The goal of Avega Group is to become the most attractive and progressive workplace for its employees. The reasons for choosing Winningtemp were three-fold. They wanted to have an understanding of how their employees and the organisation as a whole are affected by corporate decisions, be able to get real-time signals or red flags and to create a transparent company culture.

The CEO of Avega Group, Fredrik Ring, talks to Winningtemp about the importance of focusing on employee development.

“In our industry, everyone wants to attract the best consultants. Therefore, we have to understand what they think of us, whether there is something we can do better or something we should do differently. It is not enough to have this understanding just once or twice a year. Simply put, we need to understand our consultants as well as possible to create an environment that is as healthy as possible. I believe strongly in this way of working. The fact that employees, through the tool, can give us clues about what we can do to help them succeed and of course, retain them, is precious. “

The effects of employee insights and pulse measurement

Avega decided to try Winningtemp for a pilot project for several months, with employees being involved both before, during, and after the project. Their inputs tipped the scale towards investing in Winningtemp. The pilot project was so successful that Avega chose to implement the platform across all the groups, which at present affects all seventeen specialised subsidiaries and approximately 350 employees.

Winningtemp helped the Avega management team to be proactive and take the necessary actions at just the right moment.

“The management perspective is probably the most significant part. The goal was to provide managers with a tool to continuously measure and understand how their organisations are doing. This has helped the management to be able to act more quickly. Having a user-friendly tool and being able to work in a data-driven way is so important. It’s worth highlighting that Winningtemp is not just a tool that HR initiates and implements. The pulse surveys and the insights gleaned are leveraged by the entire organisation because of the fact that these affect everyone.”, says Marketing Manager Ulrika Nyberg.

Anette points out that there’s an increase in interest among the managers to have expertise in areas such as health and safety issues. When the manager of each company receives the results, they sometimes come up with follow-up questions to understand how to handle the information that they have collected. They are increasingly becoming more receptive to gather more knowledge and insights.

“A somewhat unexpected effect is that we have been able to work more with questions about the work environment than we might expect. Our managers not only have a responsibility to look after the well-being of the consultants but also to ensure that the consultants have been assigned to those customers whose working environment complies with the existing laws and regulations. This means that we can take even greater responsibility when it comes to a healthier work environment.”

Annual surveys were not enough

As a consulting company, Avega is dependent on its skilled consultants. It’s their knowledge and expertise that contributes to Avega’s unique position in the market. Therefore, it’s crucial for them to create a workplace environment that attracts skilled individuals.

Previously, they used annual employee surveys to gauge the employees’ experience and their satisfaction quotient. Quite naturally, the final results of these surveys were not only outdated, but they were also really hard to analyse. It took several weeks to get the results, and when the results arrived, it took a few more weeks just to study them. As a result, the survey outcome was no longer perceived to be pertinent, and managers felt that the large mass of information was confusing to break down and transform into specific action items.

In her role as marketing manager, Ulrika is also responsible for internal communication in the group. She explains how the need to measure employee experience at the workplace grew steadily over time.

“We want to be the best workplace. To do that, we need to understand how employees perceive their current situation and how they react to the changes that affect the whole organisation. Previously, we used to send employee surveys once a year. It was far too difficult to do anything with the results as it took several weeks to produce them, and then several more weeks to go through them. By then, the results were no longer valid. We also heard complaints that the managers found it challenging to process.”

The management team felt that there was a need to invest in a modern solution that could measure the ” temperature ” of the organisation and help them understand in real-time how their employees felt about changes and the management decisions. Being able to show managers and employees simply and transparently what the “temperature” looks like was the top priority.

Partnership and flexibility

When the decision was made to invest in an employee experience solution, the team decided to invite several suppliers to get a clear picture of what the market had to offer. Anette Melin revealed the criteria they had set.

“The most important features we wanted were that it would be an easy-to-use application and that it should be easy to get answers to questions. It should not be complicated for the user in any way. Being able to see the results in real-time was a crucial factor for us. We also wanted there to be a pedagogical analysis tool so that we could easily understand the results that were presented even if there was a lot of information. At the same time, we needed flexibility, that we could customise certain functions such as the question frequency or even the questions that we’ll send out to the people.”

The management team chose Winningtemp because it not only met the criteria and expectations that Avega had set, but it also exhibited a willingness to allow customers to be involved and influence the development of the platform.

“There are several reasons why we chose Winningtemp’s solution. They were curious about what we as a future customer needed. We experienced a lot of flexibility and transparency, where we could be involved and influence how the tool would evolve further and also be customised. We co-created parts of the tool, and this was a huge plus for us. We continue to collaborate as we feel that our voice as a customer plays a role in the development of the tool, “concludes Anette.

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Winningtemp helps Prisjakt to be a highly engaged organisation

Winningtemp has been an invaluable tool for Prisjakt for more than three years. With continuous follow-ups, they capture crucial insights and “record the organisation’s temperature” so to speak, to determine its health and condition.

“It’s like anatomy,” says Linus Jonkman, HR manager at Prisjakt. “The organisation is our body, and Winningtemp is our nervous system. With Winningtemp, we can notice if, for example, there is a sudden pain in hand, and we can react in time.”

Prisjakt has over 200 employees in six offices in Ängelholm, Malmö, Stockholm, Oslo, London, and Krakow. The human resources manager is Linus Jonkman, one of Sweden’s leading human resources lecturers who have also written seven books on the subject. In three years, Prisjakt has increased engagement among its employees from 43% to 72%, while the average for businesses is about 30%. Also, there is a definite connection between employee engagement and increase in sales.

“I see the organisation as a big amoeba, and we are the ones responsible for keeping it healthy,” says Linus Jonkman. “This applies to everything from being clean to personal development. Our employees should like to come to work because it is only then that we can establish engagement.”

Transforming existing employee surveys

The traditional way of measuring how an organisation is doing is by bulk-sending employee surveys once a year. These age-old processes lack tools and resources to deal with the areas that need improvement. Winningtemp, on the other hand, is a repository of relevant, trigger-based questions produced in consultation with individual organisations. These questions are chosen using unique computer intelligence that adapts them to the “temperature” of the organisation.

“It’s easy to answer with a positive/negative smiley, but you can also write more if you want,” says Linus Jonkman. “Total transparency is important to us at Prisjakt, which is why anyone can log in and see how the teams are doing. Winningtemp also provides an attractive visual overview that makes it easy to understand. “

Praise creates a culture of feedback

Another vital feature of Winningtemp that Prisjakt loves is the ability to praise one another. The compliments you receive can be seen by everyone on the team and are displayed as medals. A playful and creative way of giving each other feedback.

“Gamification is an area that is in its infancy in human resources,” Linus points out. “But I think it’s incredibly exciting. It can be about using gamification within the areas the organisation needs to further develop, but also as an important cultural bearer. “

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For a company with over 500 employees, it can sometimes be challenging to get an overall picture of how people feel about their work environment and job responsibilities. The cable supplier Nexans is, therefore, actively working with Winningtemp to improve its leadership, employees’ working conditions and job satisfaction.

“By collecting questions and feedback from the group and talking about them, I’ve been able to grow as a leader,” says Christer Snäll, production supervisor at Nexans.

Nexans is Sweden’s largest supplier of cables and accessories. The main office, manufacturing and logistics centres for the entire Nordic and Baltic countries are at Grimsås in the Swedish province of Västra Götland. With more than 500 employees sitting together in the same location, it becomes vital for both the employees and the management team to feel happy and co-exist with the belief that they can actually influence the condition of the workplace.

Christer Snäll is the production manager for fibre production at Nexans, and his department was the first in the company to test Winningtemp. They have now been working for over a year and a half with the data provided by Winningtemp and are very satisfied with the results.

“We’ve been able to increase employee satisfaction after discussing the issues that have been identified with Winningtemp. I feel it makes me a better leader when I get feedback from my group.“

Importance of open discussions

By diving deep into the questions related to leadership, Christer Snäll notices significant opportunities for development. He feels that as leaders, you should not be afraid to ask open questions to the group if the results haven’t been as good as you might have expected.

“It’s a matter of daring to address all issues, even those that are directly negative to one’s leadership,” he says. “It’s only by talking about problems that you can come up with solutions and make improvements. I strongly believe in open leadership and open discussions. “

Answering the four weekly questions has become as natural for the employees as punching in and out. The anonymous answers are subsequently compiled into a report that is sent out to the entire company, which all the relevant production managers can go ahead and read.

Christer’s top tips for other managers working with Winningtemp is to take advantage of this process and talk about the responses with the group each week.

“We’ve worked up a response rate of 93% by actively presenting the results each week. I feel that these discussions and allowing employees to participate and influence make me a better leader. The entire organisation gets a boost from increased job satisfaction, and that employee opinions are valued. ”

Opportunities to influence

Previously, Nexans conducted employee surveys every two years. After starting with Winningtemp, these surveys were scaled up to twice a year, complementing the automated weekly questions that employees responded to directly on the digital platform. Frequent feedback from employees allows management the opportunity to develop corrective measures faster, and it makes employees feel more involved.

“We realised that when employees answer the questions, they are expressing how they feel at the moment. When we surveyed once every two years, we didn’t get a good picture of how they felt over time. With detailed reports every week, we in the management team now get a much better picture of job satisfaction in general, and we have the opportunity to take corrective actions promptly.”

Morrinson Wealth was founded in 2014 by Stanley Morrinson. The practice has grown from a team of three, to almost 100 people (with a mix of employed and self-employed team members). The practice’s headquarters are in London with an additional office in Reading, and they provide wealth advisory services to clients across the UK.

COO Nneka Orji joined Morrinson Wealth in 2019; one of her goals was to enhance the collaborative and inclusive culture within the practice. She understood the value of keeping a pulse on engagement and looked to engage an employee engagement platform that would support her in realising this goal. She introduced Winningtemp in the practice in the Autumn of 2019.

“People and Culture is one of the four areas that I look after. The practice has always taken this seriously, with regular feedback opportunities albeit more manual. With our growth, we had to find a more fit for purpose solution. I wanted a platform that would give us visibility so we can get a better pulse of the business and a sense of how everyone is really feeling.”

With the recent addition of an office outside of London, Nneka knew it was critical that the people working in Reading felt as part of the company as those in London. “What we see in London can be very different to what we see in Reading – there is one culture across the practice, but local offices can have different priorities and different concerns. Being able to understand the nuances between the offices and the cultures being developed there was crucial.”

Having used Winningtemp for almost a full year, Nneka is confident that the tool has assisted in numerous ways to establish the desired culture within the business.

From a top down approach, the platform has enhanced the management team’s ability to respond more directly across the practice.

We integrate Winningtemp in two main aspects of our approach. Firstly, the management team review the dashboards and insights monthly. As such we now have a deeper insight and understanding in terms of issues that we might need to address.

“For example, a recent point regarding learning and development was raised from someone in a specific area of the business. The insights from Winningtemp gave us the opportunity to discuss how we can support that individual.”

A second and substantial area in which the platform has supported leadership within the company is from the perspective of the line managers. This has been especially helpful when structuring one-to-ones, which had been in place but not fully embedded across the practice.

The line managers are now far more engaged and have much more content to direct their conversations in their one-to-ones with their team members. We encourage them to look through Winningtemp in advance of their one-to-one meetings to identify any trends or themes that might be coming through.

She shares that it has been especially useful during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“For instance, someone might divulge that working from home has been challenging for them. And rather than asking who has said that, it can be identified as a theme within this month’s one-to-ones.”

And while the pandemic conditions are far from ideal, using Winningtemp allows people to share how they are feeling at any given moment, from wherever they may be. “We’ve been able to see the parents who are struggling with working from home and parenting at the same time. We’ve received positive feedback saying that the practice has been supportive which has also been affirmative for us as a management team.”

An anonymous forum, Winningtemp offers an area in which all individuals can be honest.

In terms of creating an environment in which people feel comfortable to share ideas, this is vital. For Nneka, it provides a way into potentially sensitive conversations that might otherwise get left unsaid.

Some people feel less comfortable discussing specific points with their line manager. The forum allows them to raise those points anonymously. For example, someone may say they don’t feel as though they can share ideas and be creative in meetings with their line manager.

It gives me and the rest of the management team the opportunity to talk to the line manager about the problem and look for a way to solve it. It’s helped in terms of developing individuals but also in terms of developing the type of culture in which people do feel able to share ideas.

Using the tool, Nneka can see at any moment the overall pulse of the whole business as well as drilling down to how individual teams and people are feeling. It’s an important aspect for her that supports all areas.

“It helps in many ways. Meaningfulness, especially within the back-office, is one of the trends and insights that we look at often. Admin and paperwork are not always seen as the most meaningful tasks, however, it’s always important to understand why we might see a decline and interventions that might provide a reminder of the end goal that we’re working to for our clients. When they need a morale boost it’s useful to remind them that what they are doing is important.”

And while in general, the dashboard looks green and positive, there are occasions when Nneka knows uncomfortable comms may need to be issued that aren’t particularly upbeat – for example, during challenging economic environments when the management team has to make a difficult decision. Using the platform, she can monitor responses and act accordingly.

Whilst the response to the news might be disappointing, using Winningtemp gives us the opportunity to see the true impact it has whilst also providing us with important feedback from our teams. That gives us greater detail and the opportunity, if needed, to explain things further.

Nneka introduced Winningtemp because she wanted a platform that could support her in enhancing a collaborative and inclusive culture that empowers people to realise their aspirations. In under one year and in a challenging time that has seen the entire organisation working from home, the practice has made significant inroads towards this.

Why is it that some companies enjoy fantastic customer satisfaction feedback and others do not, even when their products are relatively similar? Many companies are struggling with this challenge, which obviously affects revenue. Bianca Britten-Austin, who is the talent manager at Elite Hotels, has the answer to that question.

“Engaged employees are the secret behind increased customer satisfaction. That's precisely why we implemented Winningtemp,” says Bianca.

Elite Hotels haven’t worked with systematic or company-wide issues related to staff well-being previously. That all changed on November 7th 2017 with the introduction of a new tool that turned out to be incredibly valuable. That was the date they began using Winningtemp, the platform that measures staff well-being across entire organisations and provides deep insights for better employee experience.

“We work in the service industry, and I know that there is a strong correlation between employee engagement and customer satisfaction. We constantly ask our customers about their experiences in our hotels, so it was quite logical for me also to ask our employees just as often how they feel about the workplace. Since the day we implemented Winningtemp, we have been able to measure the well-being of our employees in real-time, which is incredibly valuable!”

Increased employee engagement

"We see that employee engagement is at a relatively steady and stable level, which is positive and important for us to monitor on an ongoing basis,” says Bianca. “This helps us to to provide the right support, together with the managers on the local level, for continued positive development.”

She also adds that the praise you can give each other through the platform is an incredibly important function because appreciation leads to engagement and mental satisfaction.

"For us, it has been important to strengthen our feedback approach, and the function for giving praise contributes a lot to that. You see all the good things your fellow employees are doing, but you don't always have time to stop and say something appreciative personally. The praise function allows you to let people know that their efforts are noticed, and it’s always nice to hear that ping signalling positive and constructive praise.”

Complete anonymity

We live in a time where burnout and sick leaves due to poor mental health are continually increasing, and at the same time, it can be challenging for employees to open up and tell those in charge about what they really think. Winningtemp guarantees full user anonymity, which Bianca says is a decisive factor for them. The platform has been well-received by the employees - it’s easy to use and answering the weekly questions only takes about 30 seconds.

"One of the absolute best things about Winningtemp is that well-being and employee engagement are no longer things we only judge from the outside. We now have real-time data that is concrete, and that comes directly from the employees themselves. Employee engagement is one of our key factors for good profitability. That’s just the way it is. And Winningtemp is essential."

Science-based employee experience tool

Elite Hotels chose Winningtemp over other employee well-being tools for one simple reason – because it is research-based. Bianca knows that the questions that the platform poses are data-backed and developed based on research, and she can trust that Winningtemp knows what drives engagement.

“The questions change if an employee responds negatively for a certain number of days, which can signal, for example, that stress levels on a team are becoming increasingly dangerous. That is what makes the platform so valuable to management staff because this can be something that could easily go unnoticed in day-to-day operations. I must also add that Winningtemp is incredibly professional in everything they do. They are very responsive and patient in how they treat their customers, which I truly appreciate."

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The construction industry has dealt with controversies in Sweden when it comes to corporate culture. The controversies are characterised by issues of equal treatment and gender equality. Wästbygg, one of Sweden's largest construction and project development companies, has taken a holistic approach regarding its corporate culture and is focusing on improvements with Winningtemp.

Wästbygg's vision is to improve people's lives by designing and building attractive living spaces, as well as commercial and public sector properties. Anders Jansson has served as the HR manager at Wästbygg for over two years and is witnessing a changing industry.

“The construction industry has been under considerable pressure for a long time, with a large turnover of staff and extreme project volumes. We're an organisation that's growing, so right now, my focus is on leadership and corporate culture development. The goal is to create better workplaces and deliver favourable employee experiences. It's about everything from who we attract, to how we onboard new employees and how we hone the skills of our staff. "

The role of HR manager at Wästbygg includes helping strengthen the business by creating the right working conditions for employees and making the management team a better employer. To succeed with this, relevant data needed to be gathered to find out what the employees think about the working environment, leadership, and how management lives up to employees' expectations. Anders' first job when he started at Wästbygg was to select an appropriate employee experience management tool.

Improved skills development

Traditional employee surveys consist of basic questionnaires focused on specific issues. These lacked group-wide data and relevant follow-up questions. When selecting a new tool, Winningtemp was the apparent option, owing to the fact that its intuitive system can measure and collect data continuously, automatically and in real-time. Also, because the foundation of Winningtemp is based on research, it has a high degree of credibility. For Anders, it was also important that the tool be scalable and easy to administer because the organisation was in a transitional period.

“Winningtemp can successfully facilitate various forms of dialogue between management and rank-and-file employees. We chose the tool because it has so many useful functions and has a customer-oriented approach, which has made us feel like partners in the further development of the system.”

In February 2018, a pilot test was conducted with various departments, and eventually, the tool went live for the entire organisation in September the same year. According to Anders, there are already many instances where employees' experiences of the company have led to reprioritisation or new initiatives, including skills development.

“Things have become much better after completion of a significant communication and training program. Winningtemp initially helps us to highlight the things we need to work on. After that, it's through leadership and communication that we can contribute to changing behavioural and cultural patterns."

Becoming the construction industry’s best employer

The company hopes that Winningtemp will be integrated organically into the fibre of the organisation.

"The goal is to develop the company further and become the best employer in the industry. We can measure this directly in Winningtemp, and in the latest measurements, we can see that we are very well-positioned compared to our competitors. It is achieved through dialogue, where employees feel seen and heard, and Winningtemp is really helping us succeed", says Anders in conclusion.

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