Polar Cape Consulting has been named the best workplace in Sweden for 2018 by Great Place to Work Institute. HR Business Partner Ellinor Fröidstedt gives a sneak peek into Polar Cape’s culture, recruitment process and more.
You have managed to go long way in a rather short period. Congratulations!
How does it feel?
It feels fantastic to know that you have contributed to building the company and I’m looking forward to continue that work in the upcoming year. It’s a good feeling to be building something truly valuable, to be part of something great.
What would you consider your greatest accomplishment, what was crucial to your success?
The people are our greatest asset. Our committed, motivated, passionate and self-reliant employees are crucial to our success. Our core values and principles – quality, flexibility and integrity have been defined over time, and long-term stability has proven to be more important than fast growth.
How did you manage to jump from the 7th to the 1st place in only four years?
Creating a great company culture has been core to the vision of Polar Cape since the very beginning. Our vision developed naturally through group discussions and feedback from our employees – why they started at Polar Cape, and what they actually want from the company.
Personal development, knowledge sharing, work-life balance and a great social atmosphere are essential for creating a great workplace. Our process is all about continuous improvement. The GPTW surveys and assessments enable improvement in all areas based on feedback from our consultants. For instance we organize various workshops around this at different forums and at the kick-offs. It is an ongoing process that involves all employees and I believe that it is the key to success.
What would be the most important thing when interviewing a candidate for cultural fit?
Transparency – an honest conversation about who we are, how we work and our values. It allows both sides to decide whether we are a match or not.
What was the biggest challenge last year and what challenges do you expect in future?
From my point of view, we have two big challenges. The first one is talent acquisition – it is not easy to acquire the right talent, considering the competition in IT is huge at the moment. However, we have developed a recruitment process that really works for us. We assess competence and proven experience, but also what is most important to us, the fit to our company values. The second challenge is to keep and maintain our company culture as we grow.
How do you describe your company culture in five words?
Engaging, pragmatic, humble, fun & caring.
