The company
SIXT Baltics began its activity in June, 2010 when fleet management company Transporent became the official franchise partner of SIXT rent a car and SIXT Leasing in the Baltic States. For more than ten years, the company provides car rental, leasing services and consults the major company fleets and the companies with the small fleets. Sixt rent car stations are located in all capitals of Baltic’s – Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius and the airports of these cities.
The challenge
“Just like the rest of the world, during the infamous covid-19 pandemic, employees were forced to spend a lot of their working time from home. Humans are social beings, and this situation was not in favour of fulfilling this need. We could say that covid-19 inspired us to start thinking about how we can communicate more and engage our people better given the circumstances?” begins Līva Jansone, HR manager at Sixt. “We came across Peero app already earlier, but the timing was not right, and in general prior pandemic corporate priorities worldwide were naturally a bit different. With employees working fully or partially from home, Covid forced us to think: “How to be together without being together?” continues Līva. “Then, as Christmas time was approaching, we decided that we wanted to have something different this year. We wanted our people to communicate and recognize each other more. During Christmas time, people become more open to that; they reflect on the past year, their achievements, and peers by their side. Besides, people tend to be in a more giving mood. So it was a perfect moment to try out Peero for our annual employee awards,” summarizes Līva.
The solution
The company began the project in December, and it lasted three weeks. Some of the nominations were the same throughout all three weeks, but some were changed every day or week. “We were trying to come up with various nominations so everyone would have a chance to be recognized. Naturally, some roles are more visible than others, such as office administrator, so we really wanted to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to receive recognition,” says Līva.
Another challenge the company faced was keeping engagement stable throughout all three weeks. “Changing the nominations and giving the winners tangible rewards helped achieve just that. Each week we gave prizes to the winners. Winners were not only those who received nominations but also those who were giving them out the most. We did not focus on big prizes, quite the contrary. Prizes were a bonus – to make it a bit more fun and rewarding,” continues Līva.
“From our experience, a big boost was engaged management. You cannot expect employees to do something you are not doing yourself. Lead with an example, and then it will work. And remember to communicate. There is never enough communication!” enhances Līva.
Speaking about more technical conclusions, Līva says that “It was effortless and fast to implement Peero. It took just a couple of days, and if the company’s Active Directory is on point, it is even easier. First, we rolled out plans for the following week and then we kept planning every next week based on results from the last week. Peero has a great analytics part, and it really helped and guided us throughout all three weeks.”
The future plans
In the future, we will continue to innovate not only in our business operations but also in what comes to our company’s culture. “Nowadays, it is not anymore an option to not engage your people. We are creating our working environment, and if we manage to create a working place where people are happy to spend time with their colleagues, it is already half of the win. The job market is difficult these days, and you really need to make sure that your employees are satisfied and want to stay with you.” Finalizes Līva.