English
Light has always had a special place in Sweden. Even in the darkest of winter, as I walk through the city streets there are lights in every window from candles, lamps, and Christmas decorations illuminating the snow clad buildings. It makes me realise how much people actually miss sunshine and long summer nights. The longing for light in Sweden culminates around one of the shortest days of the year- December 13, called “Luciadagen”.
In a company where growth is in constant focus, it is easy to end up in a situation where you constantly ‘just have your head above water’. You know the feeling? The focus is on machines and productivity. You forget things like employee well-being, work environment and tidiness. We are trying to change that! We believe that everything is connected. Order, quality, employee well-being is in line with customer satisfaction. How do we work with this? On many levels actually, but this time I thought I would tell you about our work with property, work environment and the group that has been working with this. Here are some tips to make the workplace more pleasant, based on our experience. Maybe you can get inspired by it!
Remember the moment when the clock struck twelve and you made all these New Year’s resolutions? Eating healthier, moving more? It has been more than seven months now. How is it going? Surveys show that less than 50% of the people are able to keep their promises for more than a couple of months. But do not feel unsuccessful, it is never too late to start a new habit. My tip is not to promise, set goals instead. Then you can have intermediate goals, rewarding yourself. If you miss an intermediate goal, well it is not a disaster, you have a new chance for the next intermediate goal. This feels much better than breaking a promise.
Have you ever wondered how it is to work in a self-leading team? Does it sound like a dream? Or are you rather sceptical? At Garantell, we are trying to work like this. In all transparency, it is a bumpy road. And this might sound corny, but we are growing every day. I want to share some lessons learned. I think that setting shared goals, growing together, and maintaining a good working environment helps us on the way.
It went so fast. One cannot completely grasp it, but we have a spring feeling in our cold country. We went from -18 to +8°C in one week, so we really did not have the time to let it sink in. The snow melted at a furious pace and most of us removed skates and skis to make room for bicycles and boats…
Digitalization is important to Garantell. From our customers drawing mesh decks, machine guards, rear mesh in the Garantellator online to producing it, everything is automatic. But digitalization is only a tool. Our self-leading teams are at the heart of our company. How those two go together explains our chairman Mikael Axelsson. This time around he has not written a blog, but we made a vlog. Watch it here:
In today’s world, it is important to keep on your toes and be well-prepared for whatever the day has in store. This is so much easier to achieve when you have employees around you with different experience and knowledge. Perhaps you have read the previous blog posts “Different Nationalities, Shared Strength” and “Shared Breakfast, Nourishment for the Soul”, written by a couple of my colleagues. They give the impression that we are like a bag of mixed sweets – a great many people from different countries and different departments. And that really is true. Garantell has all functions and departments under one roof, from Production to Sales, from Development to Painting.
Everything started when I left my beloved Iraq in 2015 and came to Sweden. I had to leave a life, a family, a career and a future. Everything. To start anew. In the middle of summer 2018, I entered Swedish working life. It was Garantell who opened the doors for me. I can clearly recall the day I biked through the fragrant and dense forest to get to Speditörvägen 8. Things I knew for certain: That day was the beginning of a new chapter in my life in Sweden. I was more than ready, full of gratitude and brimming with curiosity. I had great expectations and felt a strong drive.
Time is one of the few things in life that is truly equal – no one can complain or insist that the quota is unfair. Although, the 24 hours a day we all have at our disposal can be utilised or wasted in various ways. However, only the things we manage to accomplish endure over time.
This year, many traditions have had to take a back seat. Due to the spread of the coronavirus, there are restrictions regarding the maximum number of people permitted to gather in one place, and festive events have had to adapt. This has affected the ability to hold everything from weddings to funerals in the usual way. Online funerals have become common in Sweden, while holidays such as Midsummer, crayfish parties or birthdays have been celebrated within the immediate family instead of as is usually the case with the extended family and friends. Christmas, which is considered the major holiday period in much of Europe, is now on the horizon. That too will be different for many people this year, as older relatives are unable to participate in the festivities in the same way as usual.
The winter is now approaching and in Småland we can look back on magical August evenings when the sun went down at half past nine. Sitting by a reflective dark lake watching the sunset behind the treetops is really something magical. For those who believe in lake monsters, it goes without saying that August evenings, with their shadows and fantastic sunsets, are the height of lake monster season.
As a little girl living in the Polish countryside, I was a very good sales person in the school’s candy shop. Of course part of the profit disappeared in my mouth, but that is a pleasant detail … And now I am in a completely other line of business, mesh products, a great learning experience. However, occasionally I feel like the little candy seller again, as one my most favourite things to do is to go to the factory. To me it feels like the excitement of a school trip, or even more, I feel like a character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the wonderful book by Roald Dahl. There is so much to see, and every time I discover something new. So today, I want to take you along on a trip to my favourite magic place, the one where our mesh panels are created.
When I cycle to Garantell in the mornings, I pedal through a typical Småland landscape (if you’re curious about Småland, open a book by Astrid Lindgren: our national hero and Pippi Longstocking’s mom). Astrid Lindgren’s descriptions of the Småland landscape are still accurate today: forests, gravel roads, cows feeding in pastures, red cottages with white trim, all accompanied by birdsong. Foxes and deer are frequently spotted, and if you hear a loud crack and crash in the forest, it’s guaranteed to be a moose or wild boar. I also cycle alongside Lake Vidöstern and, if I’m lucky, I see a naked Smålander enjoying a morning dip. For us Swedes, a morning dip is quite natural, but my colleagues have said to me that it’s a quintessentially Swedish thing to do. So what is a morning dip? Basically, you get out of bed and go down to the lake (wearing a bathrobe if you have neighbours, naked if you don’t). In Småland, the lakes are placid and dark, and an early morning swim in the light of dawn is something absolutely amazing that I hope you all get the chance to experience at some point.
How many risks are there in the workplace and does a totally safe workplace actually exist? Is it enough to have warning tape on forklifts, should there be specific lines on the floor indicating where forklifts may drive, or should ceiling lights be illuminated to ensure safety?
When I started working at Garantell as a Belgian city girl, I was introduced to a lot of new habits and routines on the work floor. Swedish style. Yes, some are more peculiar than others. One of these habits is eating breakfast together with all the Garantell employees. Every day, at 9 o’clock on the dot, a bunch of sandwiches, eggs and yoghurt is waiting for us, joined by the fresh smell of a cup of coffee. The latter seems a detail, but it is serious business this coffee: Swedes are famous for their coffee drinking. As a food lover, I surely appreciate the fact of getting a paid breakfast, but the most important fact about this company breakfast is not the food, but the talk.
