What advice would you give to HR professionals for creating an irresistible organization to work for?
It’s about listening, listening, and listening. Make sure your organization and the HR organization are the role models of this, and that the organization knows its value proposition—for example, what we are good at and what we are not focusing on.
How do you foster talent development and support employees in excelling in their performance?
We go more and more into personalization, which means you need to meet talents where they are on their career journey. We are just starting that up. On top, we are building our own Internal Talent marketplace called “the Growth space”. Here we are combining project assignments, rotations, learning opportunities, coaching and assessments so everyone feels that they can grow. This will be launched at the end of September in the Fiskars group.
How do you build a strong company culture that leverages employee strengths and fosters ambassadorship?
You focus on the good stuff that is happening. You reward and recognize when people are acting in the right way. We have installed what we call a growth code, meaning 9 key behaviors that we think are important to live and strive for. By constantly pointing out the good examples fosters ambassadorship.
Could you share the impact of the internal talent marketplace initiative at Fiskars Group?
As mentioned earlier, at the time of writing, the initiative has not been launched yet. The intended impact is that employees will see reasons to continue working with us, since they want to be a part of the future and see themselves working here and growing.
How do you ensure alignment of HR strategies across different cultures and regions?
When I started (March 2022) Fiskars had a lot of processes in place already. My work is to make sure we have well functioning COE’s. My first step was to craft and build a People Experiences team. They lead the global processes and develop the HR strategies together with me to meet the business requirements for the future.
How do you enhance employer branding and cultivate a passionate workforce at Fiskars Group?
We are just building our new EVP, (Employer Value Proposition). By involving people within the organization and focusing on what we are good at, we get so much input on how proud people are to work here. We are a global home of design-driven brands, and it’s ok to identify yourself with one of our great brands: Waterford, Wedgwood, Iittala, Royal Copenhagen, Moomin Arabia, Fiskars, and others. The Group is only there to serve the brands and facilitate internal mobility and talent development, creating a sustainable future. We also just launched an Inclusion Experiences Index. We measure how good our leaders are in including others. The more diverse our workforce the more inclusion practice needs to be in place. So we need to work with both.
How do you drive innovation within the HR function to support overall growth and sustainability?
Innovation comes from everyone daring to fall (or fail). We do sprints, try, and embrace and follow up, and even celebrate when we make mistakes. It’s okay to fail, and you need to be brave enough to try. So, rather ask “Why not?” instead of asking “why?”. The innovation comes from when people in HR know what they are good at, and when we dare to say, “I do not know, let’s try it.” A bit like Pippi Longstocking’s mindset: “That I have never done before, so I am sure I will be successful.”
Sometimes, when I talk about HR, I like to quote Tove Jansson’s characters from Moominvalley. The Moomin story is built on the idea that it’s totally okay to be different. It’s the differences that make it fun, challenging, and meaningful. You should give it a try at www.moomincharacter.com. (I am Little My – who are you?)
How do you foster purpose and meaningful work among Fiskars Group employees?
We have the best company purpose: “Pioneering design to make the everyday extraordinary.” I believe that most of our employees are proud to work for us, and they find meaning through our vision. We encourage people to search within and ask the question, “Why do I go to work each day?”
What advice do you have for HR professionals to support and motivate employees in achieving their full potential?
Dare to be you, Dare to fail, Dare to take the conversations that matter. Talk with employees about what they dream about doing, instead of always talking about what they have done before and therefore what they can do. So to HR people: Take the conversations that matter.
Recently, Great Britain has introduced a pilot project of a 4-day working week. What’s your opinion about it? What advantages and disadvantages do you see both for employers and employees? Would you take part in the experiment, and why?
In general it’s a good idea. It depends a bit on the constitution of the workforce, I would see it as a huge benefit as an offer as one Benefit of several to negotiate, however not as a mandatory for all employees in any company.
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