News
Pauwels Consulting is once again a Great Place to Work!
Last year, the Great Place to Work™ Institute and Vlerick Business School awarded the Great Place to Work™ label to Pauwels Consulting for the first time. The label is a wonderful recognition of the job satisfaction and other feelings experienced by our colleagues at Pauwels Consulting.
After we achieved the label last year, we took many steps to further improve our internal operations and added value for our consultants. We sent out a new survey to all our permanent staff in November and we could hardly wait for the results.
This year’s feedback from our internal colleagues and external consultants at our customer locations was again very positive and valuable. And as a result, Pauwels Consulting has yet again been named a Great Place to Work™ in 2022, which we continue to be very proud of!
To celebrate this wonderful news, we interviewed Céline Van Puymbrouck, our Learning & Development Coordinator. She is one of the driving forces behind the achievement of the label.
First of all, Céline, congratulations on achieving the Great Place to Work label! So what exactly does a Great Place To Work™ mean?
Céline: Thank you! The Great Place to Work™ label is awarded to companies with a sound work culture, companies where employees like to work. Like last year, we worked with the Great Place to Work™ Institute and Vlerick Business School to send out an anonymous survey to our staff. The survey looked at their experiences at Pauwels Consulting. And for a second year in a row, the answers were very positive. That’s why we can now officially call ourselves a Great Place to Work™ for the second year in a row!
Of course, we are very grateful to our consultants and back-office employees for their time and feedback. It is thanks to them that we have received this label again and we can continue to improve our organisation, so a big thank you to everyone who helped make this possible!
Why is the Great Place to Work™ label important to Pauwels Consulting?
Céline: The aim of this survey was to gather anonymous and therefore honest feedback from our staff. That’s important to us to keep improving our internal operations and the added value we offer to our consultants. This year, we were able to add some extra questions ourselves and we could break down the answers from our consultants (at our customer locations) and those from our internal employees (our back office). That has led to some interesting insights! The results from the survey have allowed us to define specific areas for improvement for the future.
We are very happy with the added value of the survey and with the Great Place to Work™ label we received for the second year in a row. It was the icing on the cake for us. The label is a true endorsement of the company and our staff, so we are all very proud of it!
Are there any specific issues that have clearly emerged from the answers?
Céline: It was interesting to compare the new results with last year’s responses. For example, the score of the statement ‘In general, I can say that this is a very good organisation to work for’ went up from 85% to 91%.
That immediately illustrates why we are participating in a Great Place to Work™: we want to continuously improve ourselves and make sure that everyone feels – and continues to feel – happy at Pauwels Consulting. ‘Always challenge the status quo’ is one of our core values. ‘Be a warmhearted family’ is another one. The results show that we are on the right track.
Of course, we are also curious about the other answers… So what really makes Pauwels Consulting a Great Place to Work™?
Céline: For that I would like to take a look at this year’s results. Firstly, we score very well on diversity, inclusion and community. That’s because we are actively committed to these issues: we avoid discrimination and encourage inclusive behaviour. The family feeling that pervades our company is very precious to us.
We also keep our work atmosphere very friendly and open. And there are plenty of opportunities for fun as well. Our staff are proud to work for Pauwels Consulting and they don’t mind going the extra mile every now and then. Our people have also indicated in the survey that they can count on each other and everyone feels welcome here. That was wonderful to read!
Pauwels Consulting also received some constructive feedback in the first Great Place to Work™ survey. So what exactly have we done with these areas for improvement?
Céline: We’ve sure been busy this year. To make the management’s communication even more transparent and proactive, we have introduced our six-monthly status update meeting in which Bert and Mélodie inform everyone about Pauwels Consulting’s results and future plans. We are also sending out more surveys, we have created a Culture Book and we are setting up pilot projects on mobility and e-learning.
We also focus even more on personal follow-up via our Talent Managers, and we have hired a new coach. We also encourage the mentoring of junior consultants by senior consultants even more than before.
We have also noticed that our staff really want to bond with each other. That’s why we are very committed to our ambassadors. They are experienced consultants at customer locations who are always there for the other consultants. They also organise meetings so that even more joint activities are planned. Unfortunately, many meetings couldn’t go ahead because of Covid-19, but we will certainly get back to this again as soon as we are permitted!
Luckily, however, we were able to organise quite a few general after-work drinks at the end of last year. Our consultants and back-office employees had the opportunity to get to know each other better at various events. There were drinks, we went bowling, we broke out of an escape room… And we will resume all these activities as well as soon as it is safe to do so.
Sounds great, Céline! And what will you do with this year’s results?
Céline: Of course, we want to continue to focus on our consultants’ growth with training courses, and we are also committed to mentoring, coaching and our Pauwels Academy. As there is such a wide range of learning opportunities, we would like to draw up a clear overview this year. We will be sending out a learning and development survey to our staff to see how we can best offer such an overview in a transparent way.
We have also noticed that our staff are missing a platform. First, we are going to map out the specific needs and then we will look at how we can meet those needs. Finally, we will also keep expanding the cycling project and get back to our after-work drinks again as soon as the COVID-19 situation allows. That’s a promise!
And on that cheerful note, we will end this interview. Céline, thank you for your time and answers. Congratulations again and we hope to speak to you next year about our third Great Place to Work™ label!
Do you want to join our Great Place to Work?
Contact us
Do you have any questions for us? Let’s get in touch!
"(Required)" indicates required fields
