NetEnt: A Healthy Mindset
My name is Per Eriksson. I was the President & CEO for NetEnt between 2012-2018 NetEnt is a company that produces games and platforms to the Igaming industry with offices in 3 continents.
When I first started in 2012 it was clear that my predecessor had used management by fear and the company was in distress.
The first thing I did was gathering the whole staff and together we had a workshop where we set the company's vision and mission. We also set our core values. When that work was done I stood up on stage and asked the staff if they were committed to start a new jouney together based on what we together had decided was our vision, mission and core values.
After that I had personal intervews with all managers in the company and asked them if they were fully committed. Some had to leave the company after the interview, because they were not fully committed.
Then I started a training program for all managers on how to lead a team in a fast growing company and how to empower and to lead the team based on our core values. It was important to make sure that all managers understood the importance of leading by example. The managers were trained in leadership, communication, open atmosphere, empowerment, accountability and performance management.
Our office was modern and had recreation areas, we served breakfast in the morning and we made sure that we had events so that we could have time to socialize.
To make sure that the staff had a good physical and mental health. I hired a former soccer player that used to play in the Swedish national team. Her new title was Health and Energy inspirer. Her job was to educate, coach and inspire the staff to live a healthy life. She arranged a lot of events during the weeks. The management team had an important role here and lead by example by attending her trainings to show that we all were committed to live a more healthy life. The trainings could be from jogging to mindfulness. The sick leave level went down by 60% after 6 months.
We started something we called innovation week. During an innovation week we focused on innovation. All staff was involved from the Receptionist to the CXO. We worked in teams during the week and the teams were put together so that you didn't work together with any of your regular team members. The team that came up with the best innovation idea won a trip to Las Vegas.
The company's market cap was 200 MUSD 2012 and when I left it was 2BnUSD. The employee and customer satisfaction index was the highest ever.
It was a wonderful journey I had together with a wonderful team.