Each company success story is based on its employees

We understand that any business success story is based on employees, their loyalty, and their high performance. Employees transmit the attitude they feel from their employer on to our passengers. Every year airBaltic receives a high passenger rating for its service and the team serving passengers is rated as professional. This shows how important this is to our business. That's why we're working on a great many of internal HR processes that we are concerned about, such as introducing new solutions to meet the needs and interests of our diverse workforce, so that employees are loyal and satisfied and will stay with us in the long run and be interested in their daily best performance.

We need an orderly personnel management process

We take care that the personnel management process is well-organized and transparent, Employees should have a clear internal view of their working life cycle in order to have a competitive and motivating remuneration system, other benefits, and that there be a feedback link not only between employees and managers, but also between departments and different project groups, so that people can give feedback, express appreciation and gratitude to each other for their collaboration.

Employee participation helps them understand company business goals

We also expect great involvement from our staff. Every quarter there is an employee survey aimed at improving work processes and working lives in which recommendations and opinions are welcomed on what is good what it is necessary to improve. Through internal communication measures, we engage employees in business development so that they understand the business and its goals in the long term. This a whole complex of undertakings in several dimensions.

However, the employer's branding activities are not just an HR task. It is common goal we are striving for. In order for us as a recognizable employer to transmit an internal culture into the outside world, we also take actions through public relations and marketing, so that we can attract young workers. We are looking for new talents among students in various educational institutions.

The role of new technologies in company success

One of the components that makes up our image as an employer is the innovations that find expression in our development of different services. This can only be maintained if people inside the company are accustomed to using technologies and solutions both in internal communication and in product development as well and in human resource management.

The Sage HR solution for the 360-degree assessment, which is very important to us -is particularly flexible and adaptable to our needs. In addition, it is being streamlined in the light of comments from managers and employees on their experience of using the system. We also appreciate the fact that the system is available outside on devices and computers outside the workplace, because the Sage HR application, which is very necessary for employees is also accessible if they are on the road for a large part of their business day.

A personnel management technology partner was acutely needed to ensure efficiency

We implemented the Sage HR technological solution two years ago, when we changed from an old and quite inflexible system, built with our own IT tools, to something new, much faster and more adaptable to our needs, which at that time were very different depending on the area and department in which the respective function employees are employed. We started to look for a new solution for employee performance management and feedback. The offer from Sage HR representatives was one of the most successful.

At that time, we realized that we could not work in the old style. The initiative for change came from the management side because we realized that a survey once a year makes no sense, and it does not produce results. We have gathered viewpoints from all levels of management, which is about 100 people, and we have gained the essential requirements that managers expect to make the communication process simpler and more efficient and to ensure they really use it and be able to apply it meaningfully in their daily work.

Meeting specifications determines victory

Sage HR was selected in an open competition, in which we address both the suppliers of existing established systems and the start-up Sage HR, which were all directly involved in the development of various tools in the field of personnel management. They were ready to develop a completely new solution for us.

We are currently using the Sage HR performance management tool – the main components are the 360-degree assessment of employee competencies, feedback and goal setting for both performance evaluation and personal development. We use this tool also for the employee onboarding process.

Sage HR’s cherry on top - flexibility and openness

The choice of Sage HR was favored by their own great flexibility and openness – the abil- ity to adapt to our diverse fragmented needs and to build a solution for us rather than offering a finished product. Moreover, in the long run, they were ready to work a perma- nent system update and improvement, error prevention, and changing the process as soon as we need it. The offerings of other suppliers were not as appealing as they were already ready-made solutions that did not fit into one or the other of our criteria, and we saw large IT costs in long-term cooperation with them.

The first success story and accomplishments - thanks to Sage HR

The big surprise, and at the same time, a significant result was the 360-degree poll of cabin attendants where colleagues appreciated each other. Thanks to the fact that the system was very flexible and was also available for the app, it took us a lot less time than in other years. Within two weeks we received 11 thousand ratings to later process and advance our internal process. It was the first successful accomplishment. The other thing, if you look at the challenges, then it should be noted that a new tool does not resolve the issue or shortcomings of the process itself. It is also necessary to educate managers on the progress of the process. The tool is just a tool, and the continuing challenge is to educate managers on how to manage conversations so that they are meaningful and are appreciated by employees. How to make employees feel responsible for improving, progressing and developing their performance. It is significant that the implementation of the tools has made more time for us to focus on collective education and not focus on fixing technical issues or data collection.

Employees gladly use the Sage HR tool day-to-day

With the Sage HR tools we have implemented several internal surveys, and we see that the employee response is high. We understand that the tool is easy to use and accessible, and it also appeals to people to give a judgement or feedback to each other. Responsiveness is quite high, and for many employees it is a daily routine to link to colleague. An achievement of the application in providing a feedback link is the introduction of a game element, as colleagues are happy to like someone similar to what can be done on Facebook. The app allows you to give quick feedback to a person, and it remains and is saved. And it is possible to give back a review to a colleague who has given a positive comment. Later, at the company level, we collect data and reward the best or most popular receivers of comments, including the most generous commentators. The element of fun multiplies the amount of feedback, and day-to-day it gives a positive atmosphere when people thank each other.

A special benefit - a design thinking approach to project implementation

During the implementation of the Sage HR system we worked with a design thinking approach, the same as used by Sage HR representatives in their work. This means implementing a large system in small steps. We tested the small steps and improved them at once: we took a prototype, tested, got feedback from users, change something and move ahead. Working with such an approach resulted in a good experience and we are now using it to implement other internal processes. It was an experience that developed us – a nice side effect.

Another great benefit, which was set as a goal, was to give managers a tool to both they and their employees could actively use for their daily work and moving processes ahead. That was the ultimate goal and task.

Integration with other systems and platforms is essential

One of our main requirements was to integrate the Sage HR system with our existing human resources management system. It was implemented. Also, the access system was set up so that a person could access the system from anywhere in the world.

The Sage HR tool helps managers make decisions

From the management perspective, they are now more open and ready to use such a tool to gather the views of employees, or to evaluate staff and review their career advancement or salary reviews. They see it as a source of information that helps in making decisions.

From an employee perspective, a tool is available that allows each employee to quickly give his or her own judgement about his or her performance or give thanks, or to ask for feedback, part of the day-to-day life of many departments. As soon as a project is complete, they are ready to immediately remember and share their views. It has become a part of everyday working life.

Successful cooperation is a pledge for the future

Employees highly appreciate clear performance management. The main this is that the tool meets the needs of employees so that their performance is improved and that they understand that the system is transparent, and they are involved in making decisions and evaluations. Overall, we appreciate the Sage HR approach, openness to our very many different requests and needs. They themselves came with many proposals and quite quickly find new solutions to offer for our problems and challenges. Cooperation is very positive, and we look forward to continuing it as positively as hitherto.