How Aqua Dental uses data-driven temperature measurements to create an excellent work environment

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.

‍

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."

‍

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."

‍

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.

‍