Our people
We entered 2020 with a clear ambition in terms of the support, development and empowerment of our people. However, COVID-19 forced us to adapt to collaborating in a new reality. In the face of this challenge, we achieved a number of truly admirable milestones that pave the way for a more agile, engaged and empowered future.
Engaged Etex teammates
Facing the future with vision, agility and collaboration
Inspired and driven by the results of our 2018 engagement survey,
Etex embarked on a journey to achieve two outcomes:
1. establishing a simpler organisation with harmonised processes;
2. instilling a leadership DNA that fosters a culture of collaboration, innovation and value creation.
The Etex Leadership Principles
In 2020 we have defined our Etex Leadership Principles. We seek to foster leaders who are the visionaries, architects, coaches and catalysts needed to enable the full potential of each one of us in order to grasp opportunities and overcome challenges in this new world. As of the first quarter of 2021, our Leadership Principles are incorporated into performance review cycles.
The Etex CEO Award 2019
Playing a central role in our engagement efforts is our Etex Awards programme. At the end of May 2020, the winner of the very first Etex CEO Award was announced: Michael Orlowski for his ‘Zero Rejects’ project.
Adapting our engagement approach to changing times
In 2020 we were forced to condense our second ‘Me & Etex’ engagement survey in digital format. An impressive 8,500 Etex teammates responded to the survey, including a very high response rate from our work floor employees. 93% of them agreed that we successfully connected and cared as an organisation and that proper safety precautions have been put in place.
IT tools for collaboration and learning
in the time of COVID-19
The pandemic pushed our organisation to accelerate our implementation of IT platforms to allow teammates to keep in touch with each other and customers alike. In 2020 about 5,000 employees were active on our learning platform. On average they spent nine hours on learning activities (webinars not included). Two fine examples of 2020 high-impact digital development initiatives are our Plant Manager Induction Programme and the First Line Management Development Programme.
