Employee development helps to build long-term competitive companies

In today's highly competitive environment, the knowledge and commitment of our employees are crucial to our success. The development of employees and the pipeline of young talent are gradually building a company that is competitive in the long term. Creating gender-equal organisations and healthy corporate cultures with sound working environments is a priority. It also makes OEM an attractive employer for both existing and future employees

Sales staff and product specialists are central to the work of developing the operations' customer offerings, which is a prerequisite for growth and profitability. Strong teams that are constantly developing enable OEM’s companies to meet the market's stringent demands when it comes to knowledge of products and applications. Focus on development and growth also creates favourable conditions for employees to be able to pursue a career within OEM.

A strong corporate culture helps to build competitive organisations

Ever since OEM was founded more than 50 years ago, the corporate culture has played a key role in the company's development. Over the years, a number of key words have crystallised and today the activities are characterised by a positive attitude, commitment, unpretentiousness, goal focus, openness and a long-term approach. OEM’s corporate culture helps create strong organisations and makes the Group’s companies attractive employers.

Long-term relationships with customers and suppliers

Strong trust and long-term relationships with customers and suppliers are an important part of OEM’s business model, and the ambition is to exceed expectations. Sales staff work closely with customers and aim to provide the best service on the market and continually add new value. The sales process is well organised and good business acumen makes it easier to identify and take advantage of new business opportunities. The individual development plans of the sales staff, which often extend over several years, are an important tool in the work of developing the sales process. The product organisations work closely with the product suppliers and have face-to-face meetings, both at the suppliers' factories and at OEM's operations. For large-scale and more complex projects, it is customary for suppliers to visit customers together with OEM staff to create the best conditions for making competitive offers.

Development of individuals and teams

Strong teams with specific goals, for both the group and individuals, are success factors and key to OEM’s leadership culture. To meet our employees' expectations for development, it is important that each manager works to identify and develop people with leadership qualities who can become the leaders of the future. Since the majority of management recruitment is from within OEM, this is given a high priority. Curiosity, creativity and goal-orientation are encouraged. These are important characteristics for employees' career opportunities, while contributing to the group's development. Experience from the sales and product organisations is highly valued and mobility between different operations and countries is encouraged. The Group's companies bear the main responsibility as regards employees' skills development. In addition, key initiatives such as group-wide development programmes are undertaken to strengthen skills and build networks between employees.

New young employees strengthen organisations

An important part of building competitive organisations is to continuously reinforce them with new young employees. An interest in technology and sales is favoured in recruitment in that it brings dynamism and drive to the organisation. Induction programmes and personal development plans are used in order to ensure that new recruits settle into their duties quickly. In the long term, this also reinforces the employee’s own career prospects with the possibility of gradually filling more responsible positions. OEM has a trainee programme for newly-graduated employees with degrees in engineering or economics and the potential to assume leadership responsibilities in the future. To facilitate future recruitment and raise awareness of OEM's activities, OEM also co-operates with several educational organisations, including offering internships and supervision of degree projects.

Increase the proportion of female employees

One of OEM’s overall sustainable development goals is to increase the percentage of female employees with the ultimate aim of increasing the number of women in senior positions. Organisations where every individual has equal opportunities are more dynamic and have a stronger competitive advantage. The aim is to recruit two-thirds of managers internally, and senior positions are currently often held by people with a background in the sales and product organisations. This means that increasing the share of women in these areas is particularly important for achieving the gender equality objective. The technology sector is generally male-dominated and there is an over-representation of male job applicants. The focus is therefore on increasing the number of female applicants, especially within services that work closely with customers and suppliers. A series of activities are in place to maximise the chances of succeeding with this, including setting requirements for those conducting the recruitment and giving female candidates the opportunity to meet female employees during the recruitment processes.

Skills development

Personal development is important to ensure employee satisfaction and happiness. Annual performance appraisals and individual development plans are an important part of this skills development. Development plans are adapted to each individual based on follow-up of the previous years’ activities and the employee’s ambitions combined with the objectives and needs of the organisation. Effective employee development processes are also an important resource for identifying new leadership candidates. Many OEM employees stay for a long time, which is in line with the Group’s ambition. Continuous efforts are made to strengthen our position as an attractive employer, both to retain existing employees and to recruit new ones.

Healthy lifestyle and good working environment

To enable employees to perform and develop to the best of their ability throughout their career, both individually and as part of a team, happiness and health are essential. OEM encourages a healthy lifestyle, for example by supporting exercise and company-wide activities. Workplaces must provide an attractive, safe and healthy environment, and regular investments are also made to safeguard those standards for the employees. In conjunction with workplace meetings and conferences, for example, activities are also carried out to create positive group dynamics, strong teams and good cohesion.

Reduced number of employees

The number of employees fell from 1,054 to 1,048 in 2024.