Nearly 200 human resources professionals got together for the seventh Best Workplaces Experience ceremony held at the Nouvel Etablissement Namur by the Great Place to Work Institute last Thursday 23 March with Cabinet d’orthodontie Becker & Associés and Atoz taking the top prizes for Best Workplaces in the Country for, respectively, companies with fewer than 50 and greater than 50 employees. 

Speaking to the group, five experts addressed the topic “Corporate culture and goodwill: the performance recipe?”, alternately presenting their expertise and advice before the winners announcement was made. 

Florent Voisin, chief happiness officer at OVH Group, started the conference with the main issue of how to establish a feeling of well-being within a company, saying that “In all professions and all business sectors, there is a contrast between what people express concerning their job, such as the passion or the core values, and what they really live within the company.”

Voisin, who was an occupational psychologist for 15 years, has also noticed that the happiest people in the workplace are the ones who build social links with the others.

“Thus,” he noted, “I have been interested in the importance of this link within the company because first and foremost, we are social beings.” 

The CHO explained that in his experience it is very important to develop a unique corporate culture in order to recruit and integrate the necessary talents so that each data-centre works in the same way in all the continents.

Referring to OVH, he said “We have three main values that represent our company’s DNA. Innovation, passion and cooperation, and they run with a common thread, namely customer satisfaction. 

“We also produced a study about the quality of life at work which showed several areas for improvement such as the physical work environment, career trajectory, the health of collaborators or the work life balance. We have thus developed solutions such as janitorial services or teleworking systems in order to improve this last issue”. 

The company also opened a fitness gym and hired sports coaches, not forgetting to redesign the workspaces. “It allows the creation of a link between the employees.”

Taking over, Axel Pierard, managing partner at Kozalys presented the first innovator pitch, explaining the necessity for HR to have an automated and analytical HR Dashboard which aims to be different and much more practical, offering a 360-degree view within the same document, and always with the same goal: facilitating the HR work. 

Armin Leinen, HR Director at Coplaning, defined his company’s values as kindness, honesty, respect and trust, values that are absolutely fundamental to the company’s employees’ relationships with one another, but also with their customers.

“This is our ‘bible’” he said, “a bible that has to lead the employees in the same direction because team spirit remains one of the most important principles of Coplaning.”

In order to achieve that, the company does a variety of things, including introducing new staff to everyone a few days before their official arrival, as well as team building, seminars, keeping employees informed of company objectives, as well as providing a healthy, well-balanced breakfast each morning to give everyone the best start to the day. 

Finally, a “Chief of Heartiness” takes care of all the problems linked to the well-being of the employees.

Christopher Lindholst, co-founder of MetroNaps, and the second innovator pitch, presented the advantages of naps at work made possible by the energy pods the company offers. He explained that “Our solution is disruptive because mentalities did not change for almost 200 years: it is inconceivable to sleep at work. This concept is still negative in the public opinion.” 

However, several studies have now shown that micro-naps improve productivity, offering five major advantages: productivity and creativity, cognitive capacities and memorisation, decrease of stress, good mood and, finally, better health.

Frédéric Duponchel, managing director at Accuracy, elaborated on the “People First” strategy of his company, namely the “Exigence Bienveillante” principle which is based on six key concepts for improving the well-being of the company’s employees. He explained that a good consultant who feels happy will bring inevitably customers. 

“When we recruit people, we assess three main criteria: intelligence, behaviour and finally the human being with the team spirit,” he said.

First, he offers a project to each employee so that he feels involved in his work, adding that “pride is also a part of our prerogatives. A unique corporate culture is important for our collaborators. 

Great importance is also given to the learning because work must, in my point of view, allow young and less young people to develop themselves and to grow.” Talent, audacity and trust with themselves and the other collaborators were also put forward by Duponchel.

The thirteen Best Workplaces of Luxembourg announced by the Great Place Institute of Luxembourg are: 

For SMEs from 20 to 49 employees:

- 1st:  Cabinet d’orthodontie Becker & Associés

- 2nd: Worldline SA

- 3rd: Aviva Investors Luxembourg

- 4th: AkaBI

- 5th: Arval Luxembourg SA

- 6th: Herbalife International Luxembourg

- 7th: Betic Ingénieurs-Conseils

For companies with more than 50 employees:

- 1st: Atoz

- 2nd: ALD Automotive

- 3rd: Intech

- 4th:  The Adecco Group Luxembourg

- 5th: CTG Luxembourg PSF

- 6th: EBRC