Dialogue, inclusion and meritocracy the golden rules of podium companies

There are a few words that constantly bounce around the offices of Apuliasoft, Quantyca and Accuracy. These words are empowerment, trust, empathy, flexibility, listening, participation. And they guide human resources management policies, also making employee sharing of business growth objectives a distinguishing feature. Apuliasoft (Bari) Quantyca (Monza) and Accuracy (Milan) have entered the Best Workplaces for Generation Z classification and reached the podium thanks to a golden rule: they believe in meritocracy and apply it by involving their staff step by step in paths that also include self-assessment. What these companies have in common is their size (they are medium-sized or small) with an innovative work organisation based on maximum flexibility, up to and including the use of smart working freely chosen by employees, depending on the results and objectives to be achieved.

Not only skills, focus on empathy

"Our corporate culture involves constant dialogue," says Giovanni Foti, CEO of Accuracy, which is part of an international network with several offices around the world (and headquarters in Luxembourg) specialising in strategic economic and financial consulting to assist companies in acquisition, restructuring, reorganisation, civil and criminal litigation. With a team of 40 employees out of 700 internationally, mostly under 35 years old and graduates in Economics or Management Engineering, the company operates both in Italy and abroad, creating teams that include Italian and foreign colleagues. 'We share our resources with the foreign offices and this,' explains Foti, 'is very much appreciated by our employees who can share experiences with other young people, different in language and culture. Our policy is oriented towards listening to staff and we organise events and sharing activities, seminars for the development of soft skills and in particular empathy, to which we also give a lot of importance in the selection process, in order to better understand the needs of customers: technical skills are not enough. We have created a meritocratic environment, with two evaluation moments per year. And the training we offer is designed with a view to both professional and personal maturity". At Accuracy (50% of the employees are women), great importance is given to measuring, through internal surveys, the degree of staff satisfaction. "This also serves us to decide what steps to take for company growth," says Foti.

Lunch with the Ceo

Apuliasoft and Quantyca introduced smart working well before the pandemic required it due to the restrictive measures imposed by the health emergency. "When the Covid 19 epidemic broke out in Italy, we simply formalised a model that we had already successfully tested extensively: now each employee decides when to come to the company and 70% of them work in smart working," explains Nunzio Gianfelice, human resources manager and happiness officer of the Apulian company, which was founded ten years ago by three former young university colleagues and produces highly innovative reactive software. Twice a month, the company - which has 45 employees, with an average age of 30 - promotes an office day to allow workers to meet and exchange experiences and opinions, with the aim of encouraging a presence in the office but without imposing obligations. Twice a year, with team building, in addition to training activities focused on soft skills, everyone is urged to discuss topics such as sustainability, social relations and flexibility. "We have introduced the initiative of lunch with the CEO,' continues Gianfelice, 'during which the employee can discuss with the manager the company's prospects, career plans, and technological trends. We carry out company climate analyses once a year with individual interviews on company performance and employee satisfaction. While with questionnaires to be filled out anonymously and on a voluntary basis we also try to collect opinions that perhaps our employee does not have the courage to express openly'. One thing these three companies have discovered is that everyone - and not only those with children - appreciates the work-life balance. And that maximum flexibility in work organisation cannot be separated from individual empowerment.