Reap the Fruit of the Endless Opportunities and Possibilities

Make your employees feel being a part of the company’s purpose

How do you see the future of hybrid working and the post-COVID-19 workforce?

Let’s not forget that pre-pandemic, many organizations were working remote already. Of course, it exploded over just a few days during COVID-19, which meant we really needed to test our ability to adjust, and rearrange without policies and approvals, that’s a good thing!
There is a lot to read and engage ourselves in around remote/hybrid models. Organizations should really reap the fruit of the opportunities and possibilities that hybrid gives. This will require a heavy leadership rethink.

What techniques do you consider to be successful when dealing with employee recruitment and retention?

Today candidates, and employees, seek purpose and belonging. Any organization therefore really needs to think around how they communicate and incorporate their purpose, to make candidates attracted, and to make employees proud and feeling part of the purpose. We can learn from the marketing and insights function to apply similar thinking as our marketers do related to customers. If we do that, it will help us in the process of designing our work/processes/guidelines etc towards what people actually want and prioritize. The outside-in approach is so key today.

What are the best ways to create a high performing culture in your company?

A company culture is a common platform, the glue, that binds employees together. It will work best by having it clearly related to the purpose of the company, very visible and “felt”, everything we do needs to be supportive of the culture, and constantly co-created, communicated and shared. If this work very well, performance will come as employees then feel they belong, they understand the purpose of the organization and what role they play in to drive the business forward. I have personally learnt never to underestimate the power of transparency and trust. Organizations still have a way to go here.

 

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Marie-Louise Ek is a Former Sr Director HR at PepsiCo. She has over two decades of experience in the people area, having worked with several Fortune 500s across industries, spanning all continents. Marie-Louise possesses exceptional skills in building high performing teams, driving excellent employee experience, delivering through transformation and change.
After graduation from Lund University in Sweden, she spent 10 years with Swedish technology group Sandvik, early pioneers of HR transformation, which took her around the world and offered a broad variety of accountabilities. Post this she led Africa, Middle East & Asia for APM Terminals which is part of Maersk Group, cultural transformation at Bridgestone in MEA markets, lead emerging markets in Coty Professional Beauty and franchise business in PepsiCo.
Marie-Louise has a real passion for agility, tech and wellbeing. She is an avid fan of innovation, optimization and simplification, both in her personal and working life.