UX&I receives the Great Place to Work® seal of quality in three categories and ranks among the best employers in the ICT sector, among small and medium-sized businesses, and in North Rhine-Westphalia

Recognized by the international research and consulting institute: Great Place to Work® supports companies in approximately 60 countries in analyzing, developing, and showcasing their corporate and workplace culture. The basis for evaluating a company is an employee survey conducted according to the scientifically validated Great Place to Work Model® as well as the Great Place to Work® Culture Audit. The Culture Audit examines a company’s human resources and cultural initiatives, analyzing processes, measures, and tools. The results of these two evaluation methods are weighted in a 3:1 ratio.

UX&I has been recognized as one of the best employers in the “Best Employers in ICT 2023” industry competition by Great Place to Work®.

274 companies in the ICT sector, with a total of 67,361 employees, voluntarily underwent an independent assessment of their workplace culture and submitted to the judgment of their own employees. UX&I took third place out of 20 companies in the “Fewer than 50 Employees” category, making it one of the winners of this year’s “Best Employers in ICT 2023” competition. UX&I impressed the judges with its exceptional commitment to fostering a trusting and supportive culture of collaboration within the company. The corporate values of “trust” and “people-centeredness” are reflected in everyday work, embedded in various measures and principles. “At UX&I, you can work anytime and from anywhere. Every UXI decides for themselves whether, for example, working from home or in the office is a better fit. We have neither overtime nor core working hours. If you bring your dog to the office, that’s no problem. And if the daycare closes early, any UXI can pick up their child at any time,” says Marie Tetzlaff, Finance & HR.

UX&I receives the Great Place to Work® award for “Best employers in small and medium-sized businesses 2023.”

In addition to the industry award, UX&I has received the Great Place to Work® “Best Employers in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses 2023” award. Recent studies show that, in addition to traditional factors such as leadership quality, fairness, and trust, sustainable business practices, a healthy work-life balance, gender equality, and ethical business practices play an equally important role for employees when evaluating their employer. Tobias Schlei, Managing Director at UX&I, engaged deeply with the meaning, or “purpose,” of his entrepreneurial endeavors and, together with Patrick Oselka, also a Managing Director at UX&I, arrived at the following conclusion: “The search for the ideal organizational structure took us right back to the basics, and thus to the question: What do we get up for in the morning? Through a systematic process, we learned to explicitly articulate our stance on the meaningfulness of our actions. Our purpose wasn’t developed behind closed doors. Many UXI employees were directly involved in formulating it, and we presented and explained it in detail as part of our reorganization. The purpose was understood as our corporate culture and thus became part of the organization, the property of the entire company.” A company’s culture has become a key factor in the competition for young talent, because companies today must invest in a strong corporate and workplace culture to counter the shortage of skilled workers and reposition themselves for the future. The Great Place to Work® award for “Best Employers in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses 2023” shows that UX&I is already doing a lot right.

UX&I is among the winners of this year’s Great Place to Work® competition, “Best Employers in North Rhine-Westphalia 2023.”

UX&I also excelled at the regional level: In the “Best Employers in North Rhine-Westphalia 2023” category, UX&I was recognized for its employee-oriented corporate culture. “The award stands for a workplace culture that is strongly characterized by trust, pride, and team spirit,” says Andreas Schubert, Managing Director at the Great Place to Work® Institute. “An attractive corporate culture that fosters engagement and innovation is a key factor in economic success and in tackling important future challenges, especially in the current situation.” A culture of innovation is also a key pillar of the UX&I organizational model and is based on two aspects: On the one hand, the focus is on the organization’s continued development; on the other hand, the company embodies its identity as a learning community through the resulting rituals. Marie Tetzlaff explains exactly what this means: “For example, every month we hold what we call ‘Flipper Friday,’ a day dedicated exclusively to the exchange of knowledge. Another important ritual is our hackathon, during which the team works together on projects. Most importantly, however, both Flipper Friday and the hackathon are rituals that were initiated not by the Managing Director, but by the team itself.”

Expert discussion: What is workplace culture, and what exactly does “New Work” mean?

Instead of resting on our laurels, the focus now is on moving forward and becoming even better. The Great Place to Work® event in Cologne immediately provided the first sources of inspiration and ideas. During the expert panel discussion, the Great Place to Work® team of experts discussed key trends in workplace culture and “New Work.” Four aspects were highlighted: What role does hybrid work play in the post-COVID era? For example, half of the employees surveyed stated that they are more productive when working outside the office, but their sense of identification with their employer is correspondingly weaker. Another key focus was on sustainability, as climate protection plays an increasingly important role for employees. The expert panel also addressed the topic of “purpose” and what employees understand by it, as well as cultural change and a new understanding of leadership.

Knowledge exchange with the best

After two pandemic-related online events, the awards ceremony took place in person once again. A large number of companies accepted the invitation to a get-together in Cologne to receive the award in person and to exchange ideas and network with one another. “We were pleased to see that the ‘People First’ philosophy is so firmly established at other companies as well. We were able to talk with other award-winning companies and learn about their approaches and methods. We’ll share these insights with our team so we can discuss together which ideas we’d like to try out,” says Alina Binzer, Marketer at UX&I.