In the contemporary business landscape, prioritizing employee development, refining their expertise, and fostering diverse and inclusive environments are critical for achieving organizational success. Boku emerges as a standout organization, excelling not only in cultivating talent growth but also in championing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Positioned as a global tech enterprise, Boku collaborates with industry giants such as Microsoft, Sony, Meta, Tencent, and more, underscoring its commitment to nurturing talent on a global scale.
We sat down with Marisa Cardenas, a Technical Program Manager and talked about how Boku has managed to create a culture that is supporting talent growth.
🔵 Can you tell us a little about what attracted you to Boku in the first place?
I had heard about Boku and Fortumo way back in 2016 when I was working for a Malaysian mobile content provider working with different mobile operators in Asia. Boku and Fortumo were known in the region for being some of the best in direct carrier billing. These companies worked with renowned digital brands and published market reports that I found very useful even back then.
When I moved to Tallinn, I had two friends working in Boku and they happened to share the amazing work culture of the company – how fun and interesting it was to work there. Combining this feedback with the previous knowledge about the reputation of these companies – it was an easy decision to come work here!
🔵 Can you share your journey with Boku and your current role within the company?
I am very happy that I have gotten the opportunity to grow so fast within Boku. When I started my journey with Boku last year in April, I was initially appointed as a Technical Project Manager. This year I was offered the position of Technical Program Manager for one of our partners in one of products called bundling. You may ask, what is the difference between a Technical Project Manager and Technical Program Manager.
As a Technical Project Manager, I was in charge of leading and executing different projects: collecting requirements, building solution designs, attending meetings with partners and making sure the projects are executed in the timeline and with the requirements expected.
As a Technical Program Manager, I have a much more of a strategic role as I oversee the delivery of all projects and post-launch operations, making sure they run successfully from all angles: process, product, etc. I now work much more closely with Technical Project Managers, Operations team, Product Managers and Account Managers.
🔵 How would you explain Boku’s product to someone who doesn’t know anything about it?
At Boku we provide the possibility for partners like Netflix, Tencent or Meta to reach out to more customers by connecting these to merchants who provide other payment alternatives, different from debit and credit cards. (We do this through our APIs). Think for example of the opportunity to pay your Netflix account with your GoogleWallet, AliPay or as a part of your preferred mobile provider’s services. This enlarges our partner’s capability to acquire users and at the same it democratizes digital services to users worldwide, specially in countries where credit cards or debit cards are not common.
🔵 How would you describe Boku’s company culture in your own words?
Boku’s culture is a real treat! We work with inspiring and open colleagues, our work involves dealing with renown digital merchants such as Netflix, Tencent, Amazon, Spotify, etc. We have a wide range of different events, such as cultural evenings, summer and winter days, sports challenges, parties and much more.
In a nutshell, we work in a fun, inspiring and engaging environment! And the cherries on top, we also enjoy flexibility in schedule and location, making it easy to have better work-life balance, have a transparent and positive culture and have cool offices with the typical start-up treats (ping-pong tables, play stations, etc). You can see I have a lot of positive things to say about Boku’s culture!
🔵 How do you perceive the importance of diversity in the tech industry, specifically in a company like Boku?
I want to specify that the key is not only to be diverse, but to have equity and inclusion. Diversity can be achieved fairly easily, you add someone from a different background to a homogenous group and you obtain it. But without equity, the fostering of equal opportunities, and inclusion, the involvement of those different to us, you cannot foster an environment for diversity to be an asset.
In a tech company, diversity is very important for many different aspects. First, it fosters innovation and creativity. When you have a diverse team, you bring individuals with different perspectives which then can think of multiple ways to approach a situation and problem as opposed to when you just have one angle to the problem. It really helps to reduce groupthink.
Second, it improves marketing competitiveness. For example, in Boku we work with a vast number of countries where cultures and languages can be vastly different. When you have employees from across the world, you are able to cover for such differences. The needs of a diverse and global customer base, making the company more resilient for growth.
Finally, for a Public Company Like Boku, investors want transparency from companies on the diversity of their workforces. Investors, passive and active alike, have integrated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into their investment decisions. Doing DEI well correlates with better change power, which in turn is linked not only to company performance but also leadership and employee engagement.
🔵 Could you share any ongoing diversity initiatives that Boku is particularly proud of?
There are two things that our DEI committee is currently really focused on. First of all we want to understand what the needs of the different minorities in our company are, so that we can give recommendations on how to support them better and enable them for opportunities.
For example, we have started running interviews with parents returning from Parental Leave to understand how to make their return to work much smoother so that they do feel engaged in their return.
Secondly we have launched a series of trainings regarding DEI. The importance of understanding unconscious bias and how to work with a diverse workforce. For example, slightly over a month ago, we shared with our colleagues outside of Estonia, what characterizes the Estonian culture and how to work best with Estonians.
🔵 Reflecting on your time with the company, what has been your most fulfilling moment at Boku?
Looking back on my journey with Boku, there have been several moments that have truly filled me with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Among these, two stand out prominently. Firstly, being acknowledged and appreciated for my contributions was a pivotal moment for me. Within just a year of joining Boku, my dedication and efforts were recognized, resulting in a significant career advancement. Moving from a marketing-sales-business development background to a technical role at Boku initially brought about a sense of uncertainty – that classic ‘imposter syndrome.’ I was constantly questioning my performance, wondering if I was meeting expectations.
However, during my first performance review, the feedback I received was incredibly validating. It affirmed that not only was I managing projects effectively, but I was also excelling at it. This feedback not only surprised me but also fueled a sense of achievement. It signified a positive shift in my career trajectory and validated my potential. Soon after, the opportunity to transition into a Technical Program Manager role presented itself, reinforcing the confidence in my abilities and the direction I wanted to take my career.
Secondly, witnessing the evolution of one of our team’s key products has been immensely rewarding. From its experimental stages to becoming an integral driver in Boku’s growth strategy, seeing the impact of our collective efforts has been deeply satisfying. Knowing that the work we put in has contributed significantly to the company’s success has been a source of immense pride and fulfillment.
🔵 Is this a common practice for Boku – recognizing the talent early on and moving them along the career path?
I would say it is and I’ve seen it happen to other colleagues multiple times! It definitely depends on the teams, as some of them are more dynamic and different positions open up a lot faster than in other teams. We do try to recognize and have these different levels of growth so people can jump into these different roles. We also have a constant and active feedback culture with platforms making it comfy. And addition to that we have a quite a strong 1-1 tradition, where the manager sits down with their team member once every week or two to discuss their wellbeing, problems, goals, dreams etc.
🔵 Talking about Boku as a workplace. What are the main reasons you would recommend Boku?
Firstly, the pace at which Boku is growing is remarkable. This rapid growth prompts constant innovation and adaptation, making it an ideal environment for those eager to contribute ideas that can make a tangible impact. Boku’s focus on continuous improvement encourages professional growth and fosters a culture that values innovative thinking and pushing boundaries. If you’re seeking a place that encourages you to expand your professional horizons and think creatively, Boku is an excellent fit.
Secondly, if you have a passion for IT and aspire to delve into the realm of paytech while collaborating with leading brands, Boku offers an exceptional platform. It provides an opportunity to validate your skills, face industry challenges, and align with the high standards set by these prominent companies.
Lastly, Boku’s culture is a standout feature. Working alongside a diverse range of individuals and engaging with different countries and markets offers a unique and valuable experience. This exposure fosters a global mindset—a critical asset in today’s IT landscape, where being a global citizen holds immense importance.
🔵 How does Boku ensure welcoming and supportive onboarding members? Are there any special initiatives or programmes for new joiners?
At Boku, ensuring a welcoming and supportive onboarding experience for new members is a priority, backed by various initiatives and programs.
For example in Estonia, we appoint a designated mentor, complementing the manager’s role, to guide newcomers into the company culture. This dedicated individual ensures support and integration within the team, fostering engagement right from the start.
Moreover, we have a well-structured onboarding plan, initially outlined by weeks and later extended by months. This plan offers clear expectations during the probationary period and charts a path for growth thereafter. Regular 1:1 sessions with managers and consistent check-ins with HR further facilitate a smooth transition into the organization.
And also one of our strengths lies in information transparency. We provide access to tools and resources, including data-sharing platforms and informative materials upon joining. These resources are designed to facilitate early engagement and equip new joiners with essential knowledge about the company.
🔵 What does the future bring for Boku? What are some exciting upcoming endeavors?
Considering Boku’s future endeavors, there’s a vibrant landscape of ongoing developments across various fronts within the company. Our products continue to experience rapid growth, fostering a culture of relentless innovation. Every department is geared towards improvement, perpetually exploring new possibilities to enhance our offerings. Notably, we’re actively shaping strategies around account-to-account and instant banking payments, paving new directions for our services.
On an organizational level, our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) remains a continuous journey, open for everyone to engage in. Additionally, our ‘Building Better Boku’ task force is a platform for sharing and nurturing ideas, ensuring a collaborative environment where innovations thrive.
Moreover, our culture is dynamic and diverse, marked by engaging events. Recently, colleagues proposed activities like a ping pong competition and meditation sessions to promote work-life balance. Boku fosters an open culture, actively embracing and encouraging novel ideas, providing numerous opportunities for collaboration and contribution.
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Employer branding can sound like a mythical creature that you’ve heard of but never seen. 🦄
On the other hand, there are some companies that seem to be very good at it, attracting all the top talent.
So what is employer branding? How is it done? And who in your company should be responsible for it?
Employer branding can sound like magic art – Image source
In reality, employer branding is not a magical hoax, it’s hard and continuous work. Because almost every quality candidate now has a job or multiple competitive offers. Recruiting has turned into selling, drifting away from the buying concept — and companies, that don’t adapt, aren’t able to attract and hire the best talent.
In reality, there are many people working on it daily as a full-time job.
We reached out to the HR, branding, and recruitment teams in some cool companies – Bolt, Veriff, Scoro, Supermetrics, and TransferWise– to hear how they do employer branding.
A big THANK YOU to the employer branding and talent sourcing experts who took the time to help us out! 🙌
Anna Golubchenko, previously Lead Tech Recruiter in Bolt & now in Meta
Elisabeth Seepa, previously Recruitment Specialist in Veriff & now at Inbank
Marika Salkola, Senior People Operations Manager in Supermetrics
Mai Kand, previously People Operations Specialist/Recruiter in Scoro & now Talent and People Lead in Alpha3D
Jihan Ahmed, Employer Brand Global Lead in TransferWise & now Employer Brand and Culture freelance consultant
What Is Employer Branding?
Put simply, employer branding is making your company more attractive to job-seekers in order to hire top people. Why would someone want to work for you rather than a competitor?
Companies with a strong employer brand have a higher chance of getting top applicants to job offers and closing them after a round of interviews.
There’s no one activity that would make the employer brand. It’s a mix of various aspects.
Anna Golubchenko, Lead Tech Recruiter in Meta pointed out that people often value having a team of highly skilled people around them: “In Bolt, whether it’s engineering or marketing, you will meet colleagues from Google, Amazon, Facebook, Booking.com, TransferWise, Bloomberg and much more.”
Elisabeth Seepa, Recruitment Specialist at Inbank brought out that their company’s outlook to become one of the next tech unicorns is highly attractive for many job-seekers.
Marika Salkola, Senior People Operations Manager in Supermetrics added that having a good product plays an important role: people want to work on something meaningful and see thousands of others benefitting from their work.
Jihan Ahmed, previously Employer Brand Global Lead in TransferWise and now Employer Branding consultant, added that ownership and trust are among the things people value the most.
What are the main employer branding activities?
If there’s one sure thing we learned about employer branding channels, it’s that there is no one go-to channel or activity.
Employer Branding expert Jihan emphasised that their company prefers a very targeted approach with their employer brand and picks an individual mix of channels for each specific target audience.
On the bright side, there’s a wide selection of potential channels to use. 💁
Here’s a list of channels that the people we talked to mentioned:
Company’s website
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Glassdoor
Hiring events
Social media ads
Stackoverflow, Github
Referral bonus
Let’s take a closer look at each.
How to use your website as an employer branding channel
Most people applying to a job in your company also check out your website.
So having a high-quality home page is already an indicator of your company and its product.
On top of this, all the companies mentioned in this article have a dedicated Careers landing page with information about the company and available job offers.
TransferWise Careers page
The Careers page is the best place for listing all the employer awards, reasons to work in your company, and for sharing positive reviews from your current and past team members.
Elisabeth from Inbank added: “The importance of a website for employer branding is very significant, which means that one key consideration should be how to optimize your career page. Often, the career page is a candidate’s first step to familiarizing themselves with an organization and its values. If a company brand is not portrayed correctly through its career site, it could lose potential top talent and not attract the right candidates.”
How to use social media for employer branding
You can use all the main social media channels – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn – for employer branding purposes.
If you have time to create beautiful images of cool company events and office life moments, you can set up a special Instagram account. Here are links to the team Instagram accounts of Scoro, Veriff and Transferwise.
Scoro team’s Instagram account
LinkedIn is a channel that most companies are already using for finding and recruiting top talent. You can also boost your brand awareness by sharing positive news about your company.
For example, Bolt recently shared a LinkedIn post about being the 3rd fastest-growing company in Europe. Pretty impressive, huh?
Bolt LinkedIn post
Want a less traditional approach? Here’s Jihan ex-Transferwiser:
“Rather than TransferWise saying it’s great to work here, we wanted to create authentic content that our candidates can relate to. That’s why we’re really proud of our employee vlogs.”
PS. And remember to live up the promise. Difference between promoted messages and the reality will quickly spread with Word-of-Mouth.
Does your company need a Glassdoor account?
If you plan to grow your company across multiple markets and have a team of 1,000+ people one day, you should create a Glassdoor account sooner rather than later.
According to Elisabeth (ex-Veriff), 50% of the current employees checked Veriff’s Glassdoor before they made their decision to start to work at the company.
Veriff’s Glassdoor page
Tip: If you’re just getting started on Glassdoor, ask your existing team members to write reviews, so that your account has a strong kick-off.
What to do with negative reviews? – Embrace them, learn from them, and make sure to keep them away in the future by hiring the right people and taking good care of them.
Should you organise employer branding events?
Employer branding events can be highly efficient if you know whom exactly you want to attract.
For example, Anna from Meta shared a hiring event they did in Moscow to attract software engineers (way back for Bolt). It was a coding contest and Bolt received 2000+ first challenge submissions – a huge number! To reach so many people, they used Facebook ads, articles and interviews with Bolt’s Engineering team members, Telegram channels and direct email marketing, and collaborated with Work in Estonia.
Bolt hiring event even had a custom website
TransferWise also organises regular hackathons to attract IT talent. See the Facebook event here.
It’s an event where students, hackathon enthusiasts, and TransferWise employees come together for two intense days of collaboration to turn big ideas into a working product. TransferWise mentors and talented participants will share their ideas and knowledge with one another to build something groundbreaking in FinTech.
TransferWise organises hackathons
In addition to helping the Estonian tech ecosystem grow, TransferWise will also attract early attention from talented young people.
Should you start organising hiring events?
It depends. If you’re looking to hire a large number of talented people working in highly competitive fields, having an in-person meeting ground might be a good idea.
However, if your company’s only looking to hire 10-20 people this year, organising a huge hiring event might be too big of an effort.
What are Stack Overflow and GitHub?
Stack Overflow is the largest online community for developers to learn, share their programming knowledge, and build their careers.
It is also a great channel for attracting top technical talent.
By having your team members actively contributing to the forums or by advertising your job offers through these platforms, you can build brand awareness inside the developer community.
We took a sneak peek to job offers in Stack Overflow and guess whose job openings first popped up? – TransferWise and Bolt!
Stack Overflow job offers are a good way to attract developers
Should you set up a referral bonus?
There’s also one critical channel that can only be built up over time and with considerable effort: word of mouth.
As Marika from SuperMetrics put it:
“For us, the power of word of mouth has increased a lot over time. This means that marketing is no longer the guardian of the brand. Rather, the employer brand is in the hands of your employees and candidates. Research shows that 92% of candidates trust the recommendations from people they know.“
Having a job referred by a friend you trust is a strong seal of approval.
And referral bonus is a great way to boost the word of mouth among your employees. Both Bolt, Veriff and SuperMetrics have a referral bonus system.
Usually, the referred candidates have to work for the company for more than a couple of months before referrers receive their fee. According to a survey, 71% of companies paid their employee referral bonus in full after an employment period between 45 days and six months.
So once again, what are the best employer branding channels?
It depends!
There are no universal employer branding channels, each type of role needs its own approach. We recommend that you start by defining your employer branding strategy and goals, and only then select the best channels.
❗Also, here’s a very important note from Anna from Meta:
“None of the channels above will work unless you take care of your candidate experience during the interviews, thus make sure that even if you are not proceeding with an offer they will still be recommending your company to their friends.”
Make sure your employer branding is in the DNA of your company, not just a facade you show to the outside world.
How to get started with employer branding in your company?
Ok, this thing called “employer branding” sounds pretty amazing: people considering your company a cool place to work at, more talented job applicants coming in…
So how to get started?
Here’s the advice from our favorite employer branding experts! 👇
Let’s get the employer branding started! – Image source
Start by taking a laser-focused look at a specific target audience you want to attract.
List all the possible reasons they aren’t applying to your jobs and why you’re struggling to hire the right people e.g. they just don’t know about your brand, they don’t want to relocate, people are applying, but they don’t have the skill set you need.
Then think about how you can change perceptions through your employer brand.
If someone hasn’t heard of your brand, you need to be out there, telling people what you do. If people don’t want to relocate, your messaging needs to talk about the positive impact of relocating. If you’re attracting the wrong skill set, be explicit in your messaging about what you’re looking for.
Marika Salkola, Senior People Operations Manager in Supermetrics
Start with the strategy. Who is the target audience that you want to reach?
Who are the potential candidates you want to hire, what’s their skill set, where are they located? Which channels can be used to reach them? What kind of content are they interested in?
What is your brand’s unique story that makes you stand out? Interview your employees about why they love working at your company and what made them in the first place. Always be authentic in your employer branding!
The first and the most important thing is to understand why you are special – what makes working in your company better than elsewhere? Once you know that, start spreading the word.
First, define the message: It is important to first define your employer branding messages and goals.
Create an authentic message and tone of voice for your brand, so the employees and also candidates know exactly what to expect from working in the company. Make a plan and define the channels to promote your employer brand.
Don’t forget to nurture your culture: Employer brand is a reflection of your culture, and so building a positive culture is the root of a strong employer brand.
Don’t copy other brands, but still look around and check what other companies are doing.
Start with the basics: Glassdoor, LinkedIn and Wikipedia (sounds weird I know).
There is no need in buying a special offer from LinkedIn for a company page from the very beginning, just keep it simple with basic information and posting updates, articles or photos of your achievements, good news or daily life.
Do not forget to invite your employees to join the company on LinkedIn and let them share and like the content from the company page.
The same with Glassdoor: fill the initial information, connect to your ATS for automated job posts, and invite your team to leave reviews, feedback about interviews and compensation. There will be not only positive reviews, listen to those carefully, take into consideration common points and remember that all companies on different stages of growth have received bad staff. It’s inevitable, and a good way to improve interviews and internal processes.
If your applicants and future candidates start to research your company, what is the first thing that comes up in Google search? – Think about thefirst potential touchpoints.
iGaming company Betsson Group invites all FinTech professionals to a meetup on the 30th of March in Tallinn. Open to all curious professionals in the digital space and especially with experience in payments technology. Join the network!
Betsson Group’s FinTech Meetup on the 30th of March
Approximately 700 of 2200+ Betsson Group employees are tech and product professionals. With a strong global presence and revenue exceeding €777 million in 2022, Betsson Group continues active recruiting across all departments.
Interested in taking your FinTech experience to the next level? Take a look at their openings in MeetFrank:
Betsson Group, operating Betsafe and SuperCasino brands in Estonia, offers casino, sportsbook and other games. From a single slot machine in 1963, Betsson Group is now one of the largest companies within the global iGaming industry.
Year 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of Betsson Group – reflecting stability and company’s strong background. And it shows in the results. Despite the challenging market conditions in 2022, Betsafe delivered 15% growth. The profitability makes way for new investments in new markets and constant development of the tech platform.
The company mixes its heritage with a forward-looking and tech-savvy mindset. As the iGaming industry is ever-evolving, Betsson Group recently moved to a brand new office at the heart of Tallinn. When their first office was opened back in 2002, there was only one single employee. Only one! This has grown into 120(and constantly 📈) people, working mostly in the commercial and tech teams. Nevermind the 2200+ colleagues from 72 nationalities Betsson Group has at other locations.
Betsafe is also a loyal supporter of the local sporting scene. Sponsoring different sports disciplines, federations, leagues, and individual athletes. Lithuanian basketball league, Paide Linnameeskond, Ott Tänak – to name a few. Also one of the most legendary sports commentators Kalev Kruus hosts Betsafe Podcast.
At the SiGMA Europe 2022 Betsson Group won the Responsible Gaming of the Year Award for the second consecutive year. This category recognises industry leaders of safer gaming.
Enabling employee growth and developing their knowledge, skills, and capabilities is more critical than ever for driving business performance. One of the companies that excels at Learning & Development (L&D) activities is Oxylabs – a tech company and a front runner in market innovations for web-scraping infrastructure solutions.
We sat down withFrederika Dovgal, Learning and Development Manager, and talked about how Oxylabs is nurturing its internal resources and creating talent growth.
🔵 How would you describe Oxylabs as a company?
Oxylabs is a hyper-dynamic company driven by people full of creative potential, often figuring out the way forward by experimenting, sometimes failing but most importantly – always learning.
🔵 What kind of value does Learning and Development create at a company?
Well-structured L&D strategies can, over time, create innumerable benefits. To begin with, aligning L&D strategies with company directions leads to ongoing, mutual growth for both the company and its employees.
Businesses have the opportunity to hire a junior professional and see that person grow until they reach a senior position. Over time, the employee’s overall value grows together with the company. It’s also valuable to have an L&D strategy because it promotes loyalty. These days people tend to look for a working environment where they can learn and grow personally and professionally, meaning a simple static day-to-day job is not enough anymore.
It’s a win-win both ways. The companies benefit from attractive value propositions and natural employee growth, whereas employees get all the necessary tools to take all they can from the company.
So, in our case, Oxylabs excels at this because the hunger for knowledge is one of the critical values. We encourage people to learn by trial and error. There is no fear of failure, as we promote thoughtful feedback, openness to failure, and knowledge sharing. Thus, when faced with a challenge or a potential failure, we see it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Combined with other L&D tools, we are able to create an environment where people are hungry for more challenges and knowledge.
🔵 What are the different professional and personal growth opportunities offered at Oxylabs?
“On paper,” our offer is more or less similar to any other larger IT company in the market. We offer internal & external training, organize conferences, provide access to online learning platforms, and constantly update our book library and others.
What is probably unique compared to the competition is that we provide guidance and support on the available resources based on employee, role, or team development needs. A lot of the effort goes into collecting these puzzle pieces to create a coherent picture of the professional and personal growth opportunities, aka specialized learning journeys directed towards career development. For this, we often apply a blended learning approach.
🔵 What measures do you take to promote learning and development?
First and foremost, we aim to establish a continuous learning culture, where learning is not happening in one-off instances, but rather make it a constant process with direct connection and impact on the job that can still be as fun.
We do feel a constant demand for learning from our colleagues, regardless of whether we promote it intentionally or not. That said, we often organize one-off initiatives to nurture such a learning culture and engage those who haven’t yet found their angle for growing.
An example of this would be the Learning Month initiative, where we organize an intense amount of various training sessions on different topics to encourage maybe a bit more passive people to participate and ignite their passion for learning.
But looking at the broader picture, people often forget that they have all the resources needed to grow or do not know where to start or what kind of value learning can bring. That’s why aside from the continuous learning model, we have to do some marketing actions to help newcomers engage in L&D opportunities or empower those who may lack some initiative.
Overall, once a person wants to grow, all we need to do is help them navigate their growth path.
🔵 How do you manage training tech and administrative teams as diverse as they are? Do you have a different approach depending on the skills needed to develop?
I would say the approach is more or less the same. However, there are a couple of layers to these training programs.
In the first layer, tech and administrative teams share everyday training needs. For example, the World Economic Forum has named the following top skill types of 2025 – problem-solving, self-management, working with people, technology use, and development. So, these competencies are vital, whether you work in tech or administrative teams.
Apart from core competencies that administrative and tech people share, any role, whether a tech or managerial position, has its specifics. I will never be able to teach tech roles any tech topic, nor, most likely, will external training fully cover the needs of how things are done in different companies based on those companies’ processes and standards.
Here, as I like to say, the role of L&D is “connecting people.” Sharing common challenges and experiences can be the best source of knowledge, and our part as L&D is to bring these people together, be it through mentorship programs or guilds.
🔵 What kind of training do you organize? Are those just professional growth training, or are the options to choose personal growth training?
We do both as it goes hand in hand, and it actually loops back to the training program layers we discussed earlier. Self-management and working with people are some of the fundamental (inter-) personal skills employees of all roles share a need. We have open training on personal effectiveness and collaboration, and there are always online resources available with plenty of content on personal growth.
For professional growth, as mentioned earlier, we are working on job role-specific learning journeys, a big part of which is based on internal expertise and knowledge sharing.
We offer over 40 training subjects, internal language courses, access to over ten online learning platforms, and an internal library. It’s worth mentioning that these are just internal resources, with regular external training depending on the people’s learning journey needs.
🔵 Do you use more internal resources or reach out to external services?
We blend both, yet we search for resources internally first, especially if we are talking about the layer where the subject knowledge primarily resides with the people of a particular role.
We see more long-term value and better applicability of internal resources, not talking about the benefits of building a stronger community where colleagues not only take but also give and, in such a way, actively participate in shaping our learning culture.
But mind that when we talk about internal subject matter experts (SMEs), it often is that SMEs know the subject very well but are not always very good at explaining it to, say, junior colleagues. For this purpose, we also need to strengthen internal trainers’ competencies. And this we do with the train-the-trainer program provided by L&D.
🔵 Are the people keen on participating in the training? What persuades them the most?
Generally, there is no need to force training onto people just for the sake of it. Since our company’s culture is based on feedback and continuous growth, learning in various shapes and forms is already attractive to people. For example, over the last quarter, over 70% of all Oxy people participated in at least one kind of training. I believe this is a significant result, considering that we have over 350 people at the moment.
The main reason behind such a high engagement rate would probably be the overall culture at the company. Furthermore, at some point, a mob mentality comes into play. When the vast majority of people participate in training, conferences, etc, others might start feeling left out, a FOMO feeling of some sort.
Furthermore, the variety of the training also helps. Our colleagues can find at least several training topics that are appealing to them, so it’s easier to attract and get them engaged.
🔵 Do you have any success stories of people who managed to grow internally? What were the key reasons for growth?
We have many examples of both vertical and horizontal growth. Each of them has displayed different skills and qualities that led them to advance their careers, so it isn’t easy to describe all of the cases. Some have shown adaptability. Others – just straight up had a great learning curve and managed to hone their skills.
We launched a career ambassador initiative to help inspire other people for career growth. They can meet other employees willing to advance their careers, discuss growth opportunities, and share their experiences and success stories. We want to inspire people to escape their comfort zone and move on to the next zone – the learning zone.
🔵 What is the learning zone model?
The Learning Zone Model’ was developed by Tom Senninger, a German Educator and Adventurer, based on the Lev Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development. The model encourages us to see positive experiences as learning experiences and helps individuals to understand and expand their boundaries and ‘comfort zones.
🔵 Could you share the most popular or successful training topics?
Effective Communication, Public Speaking, and Problem Solving. These topics cover some of the core competencies of the nearest future, or should we say present already?
