An employer for today’s market challenges

A culture of feedback and appreciation, support for employees’ personal development, and opportunities to engage with society and nature are examples of practices appreciated by the chapter of the Humanites Institute’s “Family/Human Friendly Company” Competition. After a thorough three-stage evaluation process, the jury selected the winners.

The winners of this year’s edition were:

• In the small business category: KatalogMarzeń.pl
• In the category of medium-sized companies: Xceedance Consulting Polska Sp. z o.o.
• In the category of large companies: Intrum Sp. z o. o.

In addition, the Jury decided to award distinctions to honor the exceptional activities of committed employers. Honorable mentions were awarded to:

• KatalogMarzeń.pl for its “dedicated “Dream & Do” budget for the realization of employees’ dreams.” AND “an additional 6 days of paid leave for charitable activities as part of the “Dreamers Help” project.”
• Xceedance Consulting Polska Sp. z o.o. for its “individual development budget, which can be used 30% for non-work development.” AND “emotional intelligence development workshops for leaders.”
• Intrum Sp. z o.o. for “the creation of a space for the exchange of experiences related to interacting with culture (events, books, films, etc.) within the framework of the “Kulturoteka INTRUM” project.”
• Appsilon for “frequent and regular employee satisfaction surveys using the Officevibe tool.”
• Akson Elektro Sp. z o.o. for its “comprehensive approach to employee well-being using the dedicated Mindgram platform.”
• ETL Outsourcing SA for “an additional 3 vacation days for full use of annual leave.”
• Centrum Terapii Dialog for “a free Ukrainian language course for employees who wanted to become more strongly involved in psychological and psychiatric assistance to Ukrainian patients.”
• Tokai COBEX Polska S.A. for “100% paid sick pay and an additional surcharge for employees over 50 up to the 33rd day of illness.” AND for “incentivizing greater physical activity and environmentally friendly behavior through subsidies for environmentally friendly commuting to and from work – the ‘Green Way to Work Program.'”
• CRIDO  for “5 additional days off after childbirth.”
• EGIS Polska Sp. z o.o. for “a very high rate of completion of the employee survey, high team involvement in the life of the organization and employee identification with the company’s mission, vision and values.”
• ING Bank Śląski S.A. for “oncology prevention program – “We study genes.”
• Grupa Kapitałowa Rekeep Polska for “taking responsibility for the local community by employing people with disabilities, from abroad and offering opportunities to develop skills useful in life outside of work, among other things, through training in the subject of personal finance.”

About the Competition

The Family Friendly Company/Human Wellbeing Humanites AWARD title is a unique award that rewards the multidimensional approach of business to social development. Employers, by shaping their employment policies, have a significant impact on the broad social ecosystem, which translates not only into the performance of companies, their level of innovation, commitment, but on the quality of health and life of people in general, emphasizes Zofia Dzik, CEO of the Humanites Institute – Man and Technology, which promoted in Poland the concept of “integration of professional and private roles” as an alternative to the previous notion of work-life balance, which implies competition between these spheres. We have one life in different roles, and the work culture in companies should make it possible to combine them. Because a happy person is simply also a more engaged employee, a better parent or member of society. This approach also translates holistically into people’s physical and mental health.

The four-stage process analyzed submissions from companies across Poland with a total of 19,400 employees. The evaluation included a strategic approach to employment policies and the development of employee well-being, solutions for flexible work arrangements that support the integration of family and work life, as well as support for employees without family obligations and those who care for the elderly. In the final stage, employees themselves were also asked how they rated their employer’s actions and what they valued them for.

On the basis of more than 1,000 employee surveys and the materials collected, we can say that a Family and Human Friendly Company is first and foremost a cohesive company – where both superiors and subordinates agree on the conditions that prevail in the company, and where management adapts wellbeing solutions to the real needs of employees.

Summary of the Competition

All participants in the Competition, including those who were not awarded, received an individual report from the Humanites Institute with a summary of the employee opinion survey. In addition, the Institute’s team is working on preparing a Good Employer Practices Report based on the wellbeing strategies presented by the participants of this year’s Competition, which can serve all companies on the Polish market as an inspiration and a tool for shaping wise employment policies.

Partners of the Competition

The strategic partner of the Competition is the Institute of Family Business.

Supporting partners are:

Business Women Leaders Foundation, Great Place to Work, Lewiatan Confederation, LiderSHE, Sukces Pisany Szminką, THINKTANK, Vital Voices Poland, money.pl