November 2024
This article was featured in our November 2024 edition of WorkLife Business News which you can read here.
Ericsson were accredited as a 2024 Sunday Times Best Places to Work (large organisation). Entries for the 2025 Sunday Times Best Places to Work are now live and close on 31st March 2025.
Ericsson’s Market Area Europe and Latin America (MELA) organization recently launched a new strategy called ‘MELA Momentum’. Representing a vast and diverse geographic region, and facing a growingly complex business landscape, the goal was to distil the company’s strategy into clear strategic priorities and focus areas. At the core of this strategy lies a pillar called ’empowering our people’, which emphasizes creating a workplace culture that inspires and fulfils the workforce, ensuring the company is equipped to meet the ever evolving requirements and challenges of the future.
Essential to creating this culture is a mindset shift in the way we communicate with our employees – moving from traditional internal communications, often characterized by dense, top-down information sharing, to a more engaging and collaborative approach. This new approach focuses on horizontal communication channels, advocating for our people’s achievements and the work they do, as well as taking our people on the company’s journey with transparency and recognition for their contributions.
Improving trust and connection with leaders through transparency is an essential factor in landing this initiative. One of the ways we encourage open dialogue is through weekly videos recapping the Leadership Team meetings, keeping employees informed about organizational performance, priorities, and strategy. This transparency is aimed at improving trust and conversation between our employees and leaders, ensuring everyone is on the same page and understands the company’s direction.
Leveraging social media to encourage meaningful conversations about the business is another crucial aspect of our strategy. Leveraging an internal platform called ‘TeamEricsson’, we draft social media posts for the latest announcements, reports, and milestones, which our employees can pick from, adapt with personal reflections, insights, or opinions, and then share on their own profiles. This approach not only keeps our workforce informed but also empowers them to contribute their unique perspectives and experiences, fostering a sense of ownership and belonging.
Moreover, we are reimagining the office as a place for connection, not just work. We are creating meaningful moments for employees to come together, such as “Bring Your Kid to Work” days and “Imagine Live” days. Imagine Live is our event campaign, primarily targeted at customers, to educate and inspire them about the latest 5G technologies and services they can bring to the market. Imagine Live days are held specifically for our employees, where they can learn about the latest insights and developments, and experience engaging demos, including augmented and virtual reality experiences. These events not only provide valuable learning opportunities but also encourages internal networking and a sense of community among our workforce.
Thinking about employee communications not only as a way to tell people what’s happening, but advocating for their contributions and achievements, is a crucial part of this mindset shift. By encouraging a culture of sharing stories and advocating for our teams, we are fostering a sense of ownership and pride in the crucial work our people do. We are achieving this by leveraging collaborative and conversational channels like Viva Engage, where our employees’ achievements and the impact of their work on the world of communications is shared and celebrated. The impact on the engagement of our employees’ has been evident, and is helping to build the perception of our company as an attractive employer for top talent.
By embracing this new employee engagement strategy, we are moving away from traditional top-down communications via email towards a more collaborative and conversational approach. We recognize the importance of empowering our people and building a workplace culture that inspires and fulfils our workforce. Through these initiatives, we are paving the way for a more engaged and motivated workforce, ensuring that we remain fit for the future in an ever-evolving business landscape.
This article was featured in our November 2024 edition of WorkLife Business News which you can read here.
