Translations

REAKTOR an exemplary workplace

3. Labor relations / working conditions

Working conditions

Sector Telecommunication, Medias, ITC

Year 2010

Country Finland

Transmitter

Context

Reaktor Innovations is an IT consultant company specialising in demanding software solutions. The company is a pioneer in applying Agile Methods in software development. The successful personnel management is also reflected in Reaktor's economic figures. Founded in 2000, the company has had profitable operations and internal financing throughout its history. During the last five years, turnover has increased by approximately 77 per cent every year. At the moment, Reaktor employs about 125 people. In the company's history, only three employees have ever resigned their jobs. They have won Best Workplace in Finland three times (2008, 2009, 2010) and once in Europe (2008). In 2009, over 1350 companies took part in the European research. The study of Finland’s best places to work was conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute, which annually selects the best workplaces in over 40 countries around the world. The best companies in Finland are primarily selected on the basis of their employees’ opinions, with employee survey responses comprising two thirds of an organisation’s score. Every participating organisation also completes a background survey of its human resource management practices.

Objectives

To do everything as well as possible while contributing an exceptional amount of effort into the skills and well-being of its staff.

APPROACH

Comfort and Well-Being of Employees:
After braving the cold of Helsinki, the employees of Reaktor are immediately comforted at the entrance of their workplace. There is a coat check and shoe drop off, a breakfast snack bar with tea and pastries, a smoker’s room next to a chimney, and just like many companies in Finland, a sauna. Once they settle in, they find a vacant spot at one of the open workspace desks to plug in their computer and start their work. The employees have also created a blog to talk about the club-type activities they do together outside the office (skiing, cycling, and activities with their children).

Work Flexibility and Client Relations:
The efficiency of The Agile Method is based on the immediate feedback from the client during the development process. The team is able to react to changes and new information rapidly and in a controlled way. When using this method, practical work takes place in highly skilled self-organizing teams that are given power and responsibility over what they are doing.

Motivation and Management:
The management's human approach is put into practice, for example, by being flexible and supporting the employees in their different life situations and by employing standard working hours which is rare in the field.

"Our work is based on human values: with us, people always come first. The only way to succeed is to keep the best experts in the field committed to the company. A successful expert organisation cannot operate from an ivory tower or behind closed doors," says Reaktor's CEO Vesa Lauronen.