Listen to this articleVincit is a software development, service design and ICT outsourcing services company operating across six offices in Finland and the US. Through hard work, they have been ranked first at Best Workplaces in Europe by Great Place to Work Institute, and have been selected three times as Best Workplace in Finland. Now their California office, established in 2016, has set their sights on establishing themselves as a top workplace in California and plans to disrupt the way many American offices are run.
To find out more about Vincit’s management style and plans for 2018 we sat down with their new Head of People Operations in California, Rachel Valentine:
Q: Rachel, could you please explain, what is People Operations?
A: We never use the word “resource” when speaking about people. Instead we call them: people. You can think of my role as combined Staffing + Culture + HR Executive. In today’s world these functions are inseparable, which is something not many companies have realized.
Q: What brought you to Vincit and what are your plans in this new role?
A: Coming from the agency side of recruiting, I saw enormous potential with Vincit when I was approached for this internal role. Traditional HR needs to be disrupted, and must shed it’s ‘stuffy’ image held by most employees. Instead, it should by a dynamic core of a company that helps foster the growth and success of employees, as well as the organization as a whole. Vincit caught my attention because as a company they have already taken many steps in this progressive direction: having an entirely flat organization, a lack of middle-managers, open salaries, a bottom-up leadership model, and a ‘no policy policy’ to name a few.
My plan with Vincit California is to not only increase headcount, but get the name Vincit and our “No policy policy” work style in front of the masses and recognized by all.
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Q: Can you elaborate on Vincit’s ‘No Policy Policy’?
A: At Vincit, we don’t want anyone bogged down with rules and policies that could inhibit their work production or creativity. We believe that your responsibilities are up to you to manage, however you see fit, with the tools that work best for you.
Overall we operate as a flat organization and in using our ‘no policy policy’ we have cut out middle management and the bureaucracy often tied to it, streamlined processes and let our employees be advocates for themselves and their colleagues.
Q: What has your organization done to implement this successfully?
A: We recognize that every employee is unique in how they run their life, both at work and in a personal setting, so it goes without saying that the types of leadership that work for each individual are going to vary. Knowing this, we don’t try to offer the same blanket style leadership for everyone, but instead we give everyone the opportunity to receive the right leadership based on their personal needs.
Given this approach, we are very specific about the individuals we hire. We look for not only the best technical talent, but look for people that can act as independent leaders and contribute to the progressive and dynamic culture we are developing.
Q: What are your plans for next six months?
A: We have some exciting things in our pipeline. Not only are we increasing our headcount, but we are working on some new concepts in our People Department. One of which is the idea of a Vincit Employee Satisfaction Guarantee for new team members. I can’t go into much detail before it’s finalized, but it’s essentially a financial guarantee offered to new employees that they will enjoy their new position with us, and if not, we will put our money where our mouth is. It’s something I’ve never seen offered, and again just shows how Vincit is doing things differently for its employees.
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