What does a normal day look like for you?
Today I work with about 220 employees who are all employees of the Axelent Group’s Swedish companies, with about 150 employees at Axelent and Axelent Safe-X and about 70 at Axelent Engineering. Over the years, Axelent AB in Hillerstorp has seen very strong growth, both in terms of the number of employees and the addition of managerial roles.
It’s hard for me to predict what any single working day will look like as I handle everything from coaching the company’s managers to all types of personnel matters.
My energy goes where it is needed. But above all, I meet with people in the organization and try to work out how we can move forward and solve the question marks that come up. It can be personal things but also more strategic, work-related matters.
I also work as the contact person for schools and various networks to create a common view of the company and the industry – to develop guidelines for how we will work with and attract the next generation and to attract young people to work in the industry. I am responsible for ensuring that they are informed of what the industry and Axelent can offer them in terms of the various jobs and roles here”.
What is your biggest challenge in your role?
Getting young people interested in the industry is one of the bigger challenges forward. Competition for tomorrow’s workforce is high, and it is important to market yourself and maintain contact with the people who may be a good fit.
It’s important to stay on your toes. The industry has changed a lot and will likely continue to do so. We need to constantly be seen on site and work with both primary and secondary schools as well as universities. It will be even more important in the future that we let people know what it’s like to work with us and what we offer – to talk about what Axelent stands for and why it is an interesting place to work. I also involve our leadership team in these matters”.
How does Axelent work actively when it comes to CSR?
So much has happened since I came to the organization in 1999, especially in terms of diversity. For my part, I came in as the second woman in the organization, and strategies have been gradually put in place to increase diversity among the company’s employees.
In the production for example, we have actively elevated the women who have applied. We can see that the results are getting better as the composition of the workforce is more mixed.
Axelent’s diversity is one key to its current success. Just as the technology has evolved, one’s thinking can also evolve. People used to think that if you wanted to work in the warehouse, you need to be big and strong and tall, but that doesn’t really hold true anymore. Increased diversity has made positive contributions to our working environment. Many of our workers have immigrated to Sweden and strengthened our workforce – in our production, we currently have workers who are originally from nine different countries. We couldn’t have done it without them!
