Debut companies focus on flexibility, dialogue and training

Three different realities, one common denominator: putting people at the centre. Jet Hr, Acetaia Giusti and Gruppo Davines, three of the new entries in the Great place to work classification, tell the same virtuous path. Companies that are distant in terms of history, sector and size, but share the same approach: to build working environments in which listening, flexibility, internal growth and quality of relationships become part of the company strategy. Underlying this is a vision of work well-being that passes through structured confrontation tools, attention to the work-life balance, development paths and an organisational culture that enhances skills, differences and dialogue between generations.

In the case of Jet Hr, the subject of people is intertwined with a phase of rapid growth. The tech company founded by Marco Ogliengo and Francesco Scalambrino is developing a personnel management platform that aims to integrate payroll, recruitment, timekeeping and other administrative tasks into a single HR operational software. In two years it has grown from zero to 250 employees, launched a campaign for another 100 hires in 2026, and today works with 1,200 client companies including SMEs, start-ups and more structured groups. In this context, says CEO and co-founder Marco Ogliengo, one of the defining elements of Jet Hr's environment is a sense of purpose: 'People must feel that what they do can really have an impact'. On the listening and diversity front, the company works on selection processes with tasks and tools designed to limit bias. As for flexibility, the model focuses on remote or hybrid, autonomy in time management and confidence in results: 'We evaluate people on the basis of the impact and results they bring, and not on the location they work from or the time they start or end their day'.

La boutique di Acetaia Giusti a Milano

An approach to human resources that is also shared by Acetaia Giusti, the historic producer of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena founded in 1605 and today led by Claudio Stefani Giusti, a member of the seventeenth generation of the family. The company has 100 employees, a turnover of 21.5 million euro and exports to almost 90 countries. Here, the theme of inclusion is translated into precise data, including a zero gender pay gap, with +1% in favour of women's pay. In fact, the workforce is 64% female and almost 17% of employees have non-Italian nationality. Listening is managed through questionnaires on the company climate, individual interviews with the HR team, anonymous reporting systems and informal moments of discussion. Flexibility translates into modulable working hours, personalised welfare, meal vouchers and parental bonuses, in a reality where the average age is just over 30 and where dialogue between generations is considered a lever for growth: 'We manage a 420-year heritage, handed down for 17 generations, but we do it with a very young team,' the company explains. Internal growth is accompanied through continuous training, mentorship and interdisciplinary teamwork, within a culture in which error is experienced as an opportunity for growth and not as failure. 'Investing in training, safety and welfare is never a brake, but an absolute priority,' Giusti points out.

Una sessione di meditazione al Davines Group Village

Creating an environment conducive to the development of personal potential is also the goal of the Davines Group, founded in Parma in 1983 and becoming B Corp in 2016. Active in professional cosmetics, with Davines in haircare and comfort zone in skincare, the group operates in more than 90 countries and employs more than a thousand people worldwide. In the words of human resources manager Laura Gilieri, one of the distinguishing features is the focus on welcoming new recruits. In addition, she explains, 'we try to encourage cross-country exchanges of our collaborators, whenever positions open up and in the presence of technical skills and linguistic property'. But it is above all on the listening front that the company claims structured work over time: 'For more than 10 years we have been carrying out the Great Place to Work survey', flanked by workshops for teams and departments aimed at reading the results and defining improvement actions. Flexibility, adds Gilieri, 'is a form of respect for people and their life-time'. In the group, this translates into smart working policies initiated since 2016 and the 'focus time' rule: 'From 2024, we will not schedule meetings after 5 p.m. every day or even on Friday mornings'.

In different forms, these companies narrate an idea of the workplace that is not just a series of measures aimed at wellbeing, but an organisational model in which listening, trust and the development of people become concrete levers of growth and lasting attractiveness.