For me the guiding principle has always been that we are all equal and must be treated equally. It doesn’t matter who we are – only our actions matter. At work, everyone’s work is equally important, and all work is equally valuable no matter what tasks we do, and our appreciation comes from how we do our work.
The Right to Be You
In Ensto’s culture, I have always valued that we can all genuinely be who we are, and don’t have to pretend to be anything else. We can do our work in our own way and style as long as the work gets done. Ensto is and has always been a workplace where you can come as you are, and this is something we should maintain and take good care of.
Openness to Speak Up
We are and have always been also encouraged to speak up and say how we feel. We are encouraged to express our own ideas, which we often get to execute by ourselves as well. This is unique at Ensto that you get the freedom do a variety of things and learn. People are trusted and given responsibilities. The same applies to mistakes, which are part of life and are allowed to be made – the main thing is to be honest and open about them.
Learning and Equality from Diversity
I think that it is a real advantage that we Enstonians are an international and diverse group of people of different nationalities, cultures, ages, genders and backgrounds. We should always consider diversity when building teams, because we get more versatile views and are able develop ourselves when we have different people working together. For example, when I was younger, I learned from people older than me and now I learn from people younger than me.
We can all learn from each other.
I especially enjoy working with other nationalities and cultures, and I feel that our internationality puts us on the same starting line when communicating with each other in our company language English. When we all communicate in a foreign language, we are fully equal and do our best to understand each other. The main thing is to be understood, not strive for perfection.
These are all also the reasons why I have enjoyed working at Ensto for 26 years, and I hope that all Ensto people could experience the feeling of equality and inclusion at Ensto as I do.
Niko Helander
The writer of the blog is the Senior Vice President of Line Accessories, Operations and Procurement at Ensto.