Could you tell us what is the scope of your responsibilities at Waeg?
The HR team designed and implemented the human capital strategy for Waegers. This means we focus and design the right talent programs for Waegers, talent attraction, and retention, and people development. Basically, the goal is to create programmes that focus on taking care of the Waegers.
Waeg has grown tremendously to get to where we are today. What has this journey been like and how has it been possible to get there?
Over the last three years, we grew significantly. In 2018 we were 30, now we’re very close to reaching 200. It’s an amazing achievement! This was possible because of our unique value proposition. One of the things that has been completely distinctive in the market is that we work mostly with seniors with a ratio of 5 to 1 junior. This means it’s a great opportunity to work with some of the most experienced experts of the Salesforce ecosystem and the learning journey is ongoing.
Having such an incredible team also means amazing clients and projects. We work with enterprise-level companies, therefore the projects that we work on are not small and simple, which can make working on them somewhat monotonous – quite the opposite, they are complex and very challenging. For a lot of people, especially those that are very good at what they do, a job that challenges them every day, and takes them out of your comfort zone is a very rare and attractive offer.
Moreover, the brands that we work with and the technology we work on are extremely innovative – very often Waegers have a chance to work on something that has never been worked on before, for example the first ever implementation project using Salesforce Lightning. Last but not least, what is especially important nowadays, we are flexible and work remotely as one team and we prioritise a healthy work-life balance.
And, what makes the Waeg model different from other companies?
What makes Waeg different, unique even, is our one global team approach. We have offices across Europe, Waegers in various different locations but we never compete with each other. We work together, to achieve our goals together, and to grow together. This is pretty unique, you very rarely see environments like this around you.
Speaking of Waeg’s culture, what is Waegers@Heart?
Waegers@Heart is our caring program. Waeg’s founders, Chris and Jonathan, started Waeg because they wanted to work with people that they like to work with, in projects that they enjoy, with customers that share the same values. Both also thought that coming to work should be something that brings you joy and satisfaction. This spirit and these values are part of our DNA and translated into everything we do – every decision that we make, we’re looking at how this will impact Waegers and what we can do to make it relevant to them. Basically, we do everything with the Waegers at heart.
This program is meant to show that we care for each Waeger and that we want them to have a great workplace because they deserve it. All our initiatives are focused on giving all the Waegers a healthy workplace, where they feel fulfilled and where they can accomplish their goals, and do all that with a feeling that they are contributing to something important.
What areas are part of the Waegers@Heart program specifically?
This comprehensive human capital program touches different areas within Waeg, like leadership development, career development, succession planning, training, mentoring programs, coaching programs, well-being and health initiatives, social responsibility initiatives, diversity, and inclusion.
And Waeg approaches Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace?
Waeg has a very diverse culture- we consist of almost 30 different nationalities, spread mostly around Europe but we also have Waegers that are working from Asia, Africa, or North America, so the diversity is here, naturally. Also, one topic that is very popular in the tech environment is the female to male ratio and our Waegers are 30% women, plus our senior leadership team is 50/50.
When it comes to inclusion, every Waeger has a catch-up call every month with their own HR Business Partner and this call is all about listening about anything and everything. Whether they face challenges in their project or within the team, their wins, opinions, what they think should change, what should stay the same- we’re there to listen and take notes. We also have feedback-devoted space, which is later on checked by our Organizational Excellence Team together with the management and HR, who do their best to come up with solutions for any challenges/ suggestions that Waegers have. Thanks to those initiatives Waegers feel listened to and also included in how the company works.
Moreover, we have initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion. Let’s start with the very beginning- so the recruitment process. Everyone is given the same chance and opportunity to showcase their skills. Doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, what you look like, what your gender is- all that matters is what you can do and what your potential is. One of the steps of the recruitment process is a challenge in which our candidates can really show what they have to offer.
Our team is already pretty diverse and thanks to our referral program, we get even more diverse candidates- the process is very natural, it’s not a stiff program that we feel we have to implement, but it comes out naturally because of Waeg’s culture.
How would you describe the culture?
Waeg is open, easy-going, but also very hard-working.
That sounds like a good mix. What’s next for the Waegers and talent?
In terms of the talent team, we have several initiatives prepared in the upcoming months. There is our caring program Waegers@Heart, but that’s not all. We have a new training initiative coming from the Waeg Academy – we are working on a mentorship program that will help Waegers fill some specific gaps that they might have, which will help them to move forward in their careers. We’re also looking at the catch-up calls that we have every two weeks with our HR Business Partners to transform them into coaching-oriented sessions so HR can also support people in accomplishing their personal development plan.
Additionally, we have been working on wellbeing and healthcare initiatives, which is a very important area for us and there’s been a lot of engagement from Waegers around social responsibility so that’s another topic that we really want to work on in the next months. As you see- a lot of fun is coming 😉
Speaking of fun, one fun fact about Waeg?
I think the fun fact is that because we are so diverse, we speak more than 30 different languages. So we could actually speak fluently in a different language every day for a straight month, wouldn’t that be something 🙂
So if you would like to be part of this amazing culture and surf the wave with us, don’t wait, apply now.
