They are already Certified Great Place to Work!

In December two more locations will do a Great place to Work survey: LOLC Westerstede (Germany) and Cluster North-East.

What does happiness at work look like for you?

Marijke: ‘Personally, I prefer ‘enjoyment’ over ‘happiness'. For me, it means having the opportunity to continue developing myself. To stay in motion, to move forward. To always strive toward the next goal. It keeps work fun and exciting.’

Nicole: ‘I agree that enjoyment is a better term. As an employer, you can help people enjoy their work, while happiness is a very personal experience. Being part of a team, with colleagues who value your opinion and contributions, makes work enjoyable for me. ‘They never look up, they never look down’, is how I describe the people at Lely. They include you and make you feel like you're part of the family.’

How does Lely promote happiness at work?

Nicole: ‘We offer a whole variety of amenities, activities and benefits. From health and wellness to personal and professional development; there are options for everyone. The Lely Campus in The Netherlands also has a restaurant and coffee bar where people can socialise, and there even is a gym. And of course we have onboarding programs for new employees to help them feel at home at Lely.

Marijke: ‘Whom you work with matters too. Your manager and colleagues have a major impact on your experience at work. That's why we offer OneLely leadership programs to all managers, which focus on the skills needed to build engaged and motivated teams.’

What were the key takeaways of the most recent survey in The Netherlands? 

Nicole: ‘This outcome was consistent across the different segments. Overall, we scored high on work-life balance, but participants in some departments indicated they experience high pressure at work. We're paying attention to those differences as well. The results of the survey are important, but talking about them afterward ensures that we make Lely an even greater place to work. We do not want to determine top-down what the most important issues are. Instead, we let the teams discuss what we can do even better. The teams will share their insights with their department's management team, after which they will be discussed in the segments and finally in the Executive Board. It's truly a joint effort, in which all share responsibility for the outcomes and work together to create an even better workplace.’

Marijke: ‘That our employees are proud to work here, and that they feel that Lely treats employees fairly, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. We're happy with those results. The survey also showed that people understand the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of our company, but they are unsure of the 'how’: how do we achieve our vision for the Farm of the Future? What is my role and what is expected of me? We need to work on that.’

What made Lely decide to do a Great Place to Work survey?

Marijke: ‘First of all, we want to be a great place to work. By conducting a survey among our employees, we gain insight into our employees’ experience at Lely. It helps us understand how we are doing and, more importantly, what we need to improve or what we need to do more of. Benchmarking our performance is one thing, but ultimately, it's about what we do with the results.’

Nicole: ‘We're a family business; we want employees to feel engaged and to be proud to work at Lely. So far, we've asked our employees’ opinions about our Lely offices in the Netherlands and in four international locations. And I’m proud to say that all these locations are now GPTW certified. We plan to roll out the survey internationally, starting with two more countries in December. GPTW has offices worldwide, which means their method can be applied globally. We do want to be sensitive to, and take into consideration, potential cultural differences. As ‘happiness at work’ may be perceived differently around the world.’