“Germany’s Best Employer 2023”: Employees Vote Vector Informatik Into Second Place
Stuttgart-based Vector Informatik GmbH is one of Germany's best employers. The software specialist took second place in the Great Place to Work Awards in the “Employers with 2,001 to 5,000 employees” category for its excellent employee-friendly workplace environment. Vector also impressed at state level, achieving second place in the “Best Employer in Baden-Württemberg” category for companies with 1,000+ employees as well as in the area of ICT for companies with 2,000+ employees.
Managing Director Dr. Stefan Krauß explains how valuable this feedback is for Vector Informatik GmbH, “The award has extra credibility because it’s based on an anonymous, representative survey of our employees. They were asked to give their opinion on aspects such as trust in our managers, team spirit, fairness, appreciation and respect. This was accompanied by a culture audit to look at the measures we take to shape an attractive corporate culture. The audit counted for a quarter of the total evaluation, the employee survey for three quarters. So, the overall result focuses primarily on the feedback from our colleagues, and they are ultimately the best judge of how good Vector really is as an employer, because of their own experience!” As well as looking for challenging tasks at the cutting edge of technology, software developers also expect a working environment that caters to their individual needs. Vector delivers on this, as the excellent ranking this year shows.
Appreciation a top-rated core value
Employees gave the aspect of “appreciation” a particularly high rating in the survey, which was carried out by the Great Place to Work Institute. “It's in our DNA and guides our thinking and actions in all areas,” explains Ingrid Aguilera-Fichter, Employee Development & Working Conditions Manager at Vector. “Employees experience this through things like the genuine work-life balance we offer and personal communications from management in a variety of formats. The Ask Me Anything series, where employees have the opportunity to ask one of the managing directors questions on an equal footing and receive direct responses, is part of this. We also make sure we treat each other with respect and fairness, just as we do our environment and communities.” This is why 93% of employees agree with the statement "I would recommend my company as a very good employer to friends and family”. A score that is well above the average of other companies with excellent ratings.
Highlight for the judging panel: the holistic approach towards individual employee development
Something that came up again and again in the course of the culture audit and employee survey was the fact that people are at the heart of everything Vector does. This management mindset, and the fact that values are actually lived and not just words that sound good on paper, impressed the judges across the board. The holistic approach to employee development and long-term retention also stood out. “Our vGrow Training Center plays a part in this, alongside access to modern self-learning platforms. It has been designed in line with the latest research into creativity and learning and is aimed at promoting and expanding the technical, methodological, and personal skills of our employees,” says Aguilera-Fichter. “Our employee development training is totally needs-based and geared to the individual,” she goes on to explain. Employees decide with their managers which areas of learning and development they want to focus on during their annual appraisals. “It’s the content and individual needs that matter, not the budget!”