Corporate Culture

SOL’s Approach to Corporate Culture

As one of northern Europe’s most admired companies, SOL Cleaning Service, located in Helsinki, Finland, isn’t what you might expect. The company’s headquarters positively “explodes” with color, creativity, and chaos. Smart in bright red-and- yellow uniforms, staff hurry about, carrying laptops and the latest smart phones, as well as vacuum cleaners. All this might seem tailor-made for creative organizational types (such as software designers or advertising executives), but SOL competes in a basic and unglamorous business – industrial cleaning. It’s a high-energy, knowledge-driven organization whose business is washing hospital floors, making hotel beds, and sweeping grocery store aisles.

This is a company in which people work when they like, and flexibility is strongly tested. The philosophy of its chairman and owner is: “In a service business, if you are not happy with yourself, how can you make the customer happy?” Answering that question has made SOL wildly successful. What does the company do differently to “clean up” in an industry notorious for low wages and terrible service?

SOL is characterized by five corporate values. First, hard work has to be fun, that’s why the company’s culture is built around optimism and good cheer. SOL’s logo – a yellow happy face – is plastered on everything: from the company’s stationery to the most important financial statements. Employees enjoy the freedom of minimal rules and regulations; there are no titles, individual offices, or set working hours; and the company has eliminated all perks and status symbols.

Second, there are no low-skill jobs. The company invests significant amounts of time and money in training employees. SOL’s staff study topics such as time management, people skills, and budgeting. Training is focused on turning cleaners into customer service specialists.

Third, people who set their own targets shoot for the stars. SOL employees have significant amounts of responsibility and authority. The company’s supervisors, each of whom leads a team of up to 50 cleaners, work with the teams to create their own budgets, do their own hiring, and negotiate their own deals with customers.

The fourth value is loose organizations need tight measures. Although the chairman believes in employee autonomy, she is a fanatic about performance measurement and accountability. The company measures performance frequently, and most of these measures focus on customer satisfaction.

Finally, SOL believes that great service demands cutting-edge technology. In fact laptops and other gadgets are standard equipment for all supervisors at SOL. The company uses its intranet for scheduling training, relaying news, and informing employees about upcoming company events.

Notes:

headquarters – штаб-квартира

flexibility – гибкость

notorious – (зд.) пользующийся дурной славой, печально известный

perks – льготы, привилегии

accountability – подотчётность

cutting-edge technology – передовая технология