DOLDER UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

HOW OUR EMPLOYEES PERCEIVE OUR CULTURE

We did a the survey to get an overall view of how all our employees think about our culture: What it looks like, what has changed during this strange and difficult year and what we could do to maintain and strengthen it. Here are the results.

(Before we start with the answers to the four open questions: The employee net promoter score (eNPS) was at 87.5. This KPI of employee satisfaction can be between -100 and +100 and everything over 50 is considered outstanding. With our result of 87.5 we are, despite the incisive changes we had in 2020, at an exceptional level. Also, this figure for the whole group is a new record for us. This is a wonderful feedback.)

THE DEFINITION OF DOLDER SPIRIT

Dolder spirit is principally about teams and people. We feel that we are recognized as the humans we are and that we are not simply treated as numbers or parts of a machinery. Collaboration is a strong focus in our company, we support each other, and we achieve more as a team. Moreover, there is the fact that we are having a lot of fun reaching our goals together. Finally, we can bring our strengths to work, feel valued and have the opportunity to make a difference.

THIS IS WHAT COVID HAS CHANGED

Two main things have changed: One thing is the social relationships, be that with customers or colleagues. We feel that there is less human contact, less communication, less interaction. What is missed most inside of Dolder are the informal and spontaneous meetings over a coffee or at an event. We have also seen that family and health have become a higher priority in our daily lives and that we are more appreciative of what we have in this regard. The second main point is WorkSmart/Home Office. This increased offsite working seems to have been a rather positive experience for most of us. We feel that we can concentrate better and that we are more efficient. Also, we enjoy the good work-life balance that this allows us. What is still needed is increased proficiency with our digital tools and we need to further adapt our leadership style to match this way of working.

WHAT WE CAN DO TO STRENGTHEN THE DOLDER SPIRIT

About this point we are not going to say too much in order not to spoil the next months for our colleagues. Suffice it to say that there were a great many interesting and feasible suggestions. These have let us to the following plan: Every third Thursday will, during the first half of 2021, be Dolder Spirit Day and on each of these days, we will have some kind of interaction in order to spend some time together. The first of these events was our virtual Christmas get-together. We met up in Christmassy garb and with a drink at hand – and did a pub quiz. In this way, not only did we spend some fun moments put we further tested our digital tools. A live teams event? With breakout sessions? A challenge before the challenge of the pub quiz.

We have started this summary of the survey results with a quote and we will end it in the same way.  The Dalai Lama once said: “Whenever there is a challenge, there is also an opportunity to face it, to demonstrate and develop our will and determination”. With the COVID pandemic we are facing a huge challenge in many areas – private, corporate and public. One of these hurdles to be taken is keeping up our company spirit and culture. We are a great team and we certainly have will and determination. Thus, we hope that we can grow with this challenge and have some light-hearted and fun moments along the way to help us through the difficult times.