MICHELMAN has been awarded Best Workplaces™ Luxembourg 2024 (N°6 - Category Medium Companies).
We met Petros TOTTAS, Global Human Resources, and discover how they create a great workplace culture with and for their employees.
Which HR practice is the most appreciated by your employees?
That would be the Work & Development Plan (W&DP) process, which is the cornerstone of our People strategy.
It not only offers clarity on each business role’s objectives, but equally focuses on our associates’ career evolution. Particularly the latter has been commented very positively by our people, who are able to identify the areas they excel on behaviorally and/or technically, communicate their aspirations and discover a career pathing with the milestones to work towards, and build a meaningful training plan to learn and develop hard or soft skills and competencies.
Please give an example of how one of your values has been put into practice on a daily basis?
Giving is one of Michelman’s six core values. It entails coaching, teaching, and mentoring within our Michelman work-community, and engaging more broadly in the communities where we live, work, and grow our business.
A striking example of that is the Global Community Day of Service, celebrated by Michelman on an annual basis.
On that day, every single Michelman associate across the globe is offering their time and energy to a variety of charitable and non-profit organizations!
What do you do to build employee loyalty?
We have developed a thorough Associate Value Proposition to enhance our colleagues’ experience, as well as to attract global talent.
We have included in that, forward thinking initiatives in areas, like Organisational Design, Compensation & Benefits, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and Onboarding, DEI, Compliance and more.
We also run annual Engagement Surveys to receive associates’ feedback, and hold focus group discussions to better understand the concerns of the people and provide the right responses. Filling around half of the vacancies with internal candidates is another means that supports loyalty and retention.
What soft skills do you look for the most in your candidates?
We wish to onboard and retain people who can live the Michelman values of Integrity, Respect, Curiosity, Collaboration, Giving, and Success, so excelling in those is always a prerequisite.
Communication and listening skills, problem-solving, empathy, critical thinking, and leadership -which we believe can and should be found across the various hierarchical levels, and not only in managerial positions- are significant qualities we are looking for too
What do you offer to your employees to differentiate yourself from the competition and make yourself more attractive to future employees?
Our comprehensive Associate Value Proposition I mentioned above, together with a high degree of flexibility aiming to support a healthy work/life balance, the company’s uncompromised orientation towards Sustainability, and the commitment to our values represent the most significant elements in our positioning in the talent market
Fast & Curious
Chat GPT or Google ? Depending on the task, it can be either of the two
Work from home or work from office ? Work on a hybrid mode
Soft Skills or Hard skills ? Their combination
Lunch : going out to eat or bringing your own food ? Can be both -not on the same day though :)
Linkedin or Instagram ? Just Linkedin, I am afraid!
Have a look at MICHELMAN here.