Diversity brings new perspectives

International growth of course means increasing diversity among the company’s staff. Today, iLOQ employees consist of 16 different nationalities. “Diversity is certainly a gift as it brings together people with unique skills, behaviors, values and mindsets,” explains Minna Tuomikoski, Chief Human Resources Officer. Different cultures and backgrounds have proven to actually improve innovation, efficiency and, in the end, growth. “Even if you have the same engineering degree, but from a university on the other side of the world, your perspective and approach to the same challenge may be completely different.” This is one example of diversity that we want to embrace at iLOQ.

But diversity does not happen automatically for a company with its headquarters and roots embedded in the permafrost of Oulu in Northern Finland. Special emphasis is being placed on the development of diversity through recruitment. The aim for the ongoing strategic period is to increase the share of new employees from a multicultural background to 25%. To achieve this, iLOQ is looking at new ways to attract a more diverse and international group of people to Oulu, through, for example, University cooperation programs.

“At the same time, we are actively looking to increase the share of women in our traditionally male-dominated engineering industry,” Minna explains. “The share of women amongst new employees already exceeded 20% in 2022. We are again aiming for 25% within the next four or five years.” A clear indicator of positive development in this respect is the fact that two of iLOQ’s new Leadership Team members are women.

Getting recruitment right is vital

But Minna wants to emphasize that recruitment at iLOQ is far from just fulfilling quotas. Over the years, a great deal of work has gone into developing successful recruitment practices that have led to iLOQ having a staff that performs well together and likes working at the company. So much so, that a staggering 88% (2022) of iLOQ staff say that it is the best workplace experience they have had during their careers. “One key success factor in recruitment for us has been the decision to not set internal deadlines for recruitment processes. We will not fill an open position until we have found the right candidate.”

iLOQ has never shied away from allocating time and resources to building the strongest possible team. A carefully executed recruitment process evaluates each candidate’s suitability for the position, and also how they would fit into the iLOQ culture. “We also try to give candidates themselves access to more than one person from our staff, in some cases their entire potential future team, to help them make an informed decision about whether or not they want to join the iLOQ Family,” Minna explains. This may well be one of the factors behind iLOQ’s strong employee retention rate.

No room for complacency

Part of iLOQ’s strength as a business has been a commitment to continuous development and maintaining a positive momentum. The same effort and ambition apply to the development of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. With inclusion having a strong role in the strategy, iLOQ is committed to developing its corporate culture accordingly. “At the end of 2022, we made concrete plans for ensuring the feeling of psychological wellbeing in the workplace. For example, at the beginning of 2023, a DEI survey will be carried out to provide information on the present state and this will be used to plan and prioritize potential development needs and actions. We will also implement inclusion training for our staff during the year.”

The work around inclusion and building iLOQ’s corporate culture will also continue in 2023 with the Leadership Development Program. This program involves all management globally. More than 40 employees will participate in trainings that ensure leadership in accordance with iLOQ’s Leadership Principles and Ways of Working. Key DEI themes will continue to be important topics related to building an ever stronger and increasingly international iLOQ.

Walking the walk

People are an important asset of most businesses and certainly, for iLOQ, the most important success factor. “When we say that caring for people is an important part of our culture, we make sure we act accordingly. In 2022, we introduced a complimentary mental health service for all our staff,” Minna Tuomikoski explains. The online platform provides a low threshold to seek help in full anonymity. The service is provided to everyone in their native language online by trained professionals. “Regardless of whether it’s work-related stress or grief stemming from personal loss, we want our people to have immediate access to the help they need.” These are the kinds of actions iLOQ wants to implement and encourage employees to take advantage of.

Among the HR highlights from 2022, Minna Tuomikoski wanted to mention the successful integration of the Kodinportti team after they were acquired by iLOQ earlier in the year. “It was important to us that our new colleagues felt not only welcomed to the team, but also that the iLOQ Family and culture was their own.” Minna Tuomikoski is proud of the iLOQ she is a part of. She sees a company that has benefited from its staff, but that has also been able to give back in return. Minna concludes: “We are in a good place, but there is always more that can be done. The work will continue, as will the positive results.”