Switchee has set the bar for progression in people's cultures. Achieving the highest score they maintain their place at the forefront of employee satisfaction with company transparency with a recent OpenOrg accreditation.
The data and insights company are no strangers to leading the charge when it comes to a positive working culture. They were one of the first Internet of Things (IoT) companies to get the coveted B-Corp accreditation and are now breaking the mould once again with their recent OpenOrg success.
OpenOrg provides a verified accreditation of a company’s culture when it comes to transparent practices. They evaluate how transparent an organisation is across areas such as career development or compensation, and then use these assessments to calculate an overall score. Typically, organisations’ scores tend to be in the region of 95, a region Switchee found themselves nowhere near with their exceptional score of 565. Impressively, this puts Switchee in the top 1% of the most transparent companies globally – which is even more impressive when you consider this is the first time that they have been accredited for their transparent people practices.
Another part of the accreditation process is a reality check, this allows OpenOrg to see to what extent an organisation practises what it preaches. Employees are anonymously asked questions, and their answers are compared with the statements made by their organisation. A score of around 70% is the expectation, however, once again Switchee effortlessly surpassed this with a score of 93%.
In addition to their transparent company culture, Switchee has also recently become an ‘employer with a heart’. The employer with a heart initiative was set up by charity The Smallest Things to improve the support offered to families of premature babies. One of the main ways they do this is by offering an extension to maternity/paternity pay for parents of premature babies born before 37 weeks. When babies are born very early, they often spend months in neonatal intensive care meaning that parents spend most of their maternity/paternity leave in hospital rather than at home bonding with their baby. Given that nearly one in four parents of premature babies were diagnosed with PTSD after a neonatal stay, and three quarters experience anxiety, it’s vital that employers approach this with care and understanding to give families the time they need.
Switchee’s commitment to this not only emphasises that employee wellbeing is at the core of everything they do, but also how important it is for the wellbeing of their families to be at the forefront too.
Olya Yakzhina, Head of People at Switchee said “The health and happiness of our team is our priority and we’re determined to make sure this remains the case even as we grow. This is one of the reasons why we wanted to apply for OpenOrg accreditation, to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to set an example for others to follow. It’s almost unheard of for employers in our industry to be accredited for transparency and culture management but we think it should be the status quo. Becoming an employer with a heart is another way we are carving out the new normal and offering parents as much support as possible when bringing the newest members of their family into the Switchee fold.”
Jess Prevost, Head of Marketing adds “Switchee’s commitment to being an Employer with Heart demonstrates the dedication to all employees. Through the premature birth of my own son, I witnessed so many parents trying to juggle work while looking after their new baby. But now, following this policy change Switchee parents can be assured that should their baby be born early, Switchee supports them in looking after their family and loved ones first.”
These positive business updates come during a period of rapid growth for Switchee. In the past year, the company has virtually doubled in size with 40 new employees joining since January 2023, making their continued commitment to employee wellbeing more inspiring. Staying on top of trends and ensuring they are ahead of the curve has enabled them to become a driving force behind transparency. Switchee have built the foundations for their natural evolution as a business that opens up a real scope of career culture management for their employees.
