Why We Don't Expect to Win the Employer of the Year Award Again Next Year

As they announced Infinum was this year’s Best Employer award winner and I got up to collect the heavy-duty trophy, they asked me whether we expect to win in 2020 as well. To the surprise of other HR Managers, I bluntly said ‘I hope not’.

Mind you, I didn’t mean that in a skeptical, there-are-no-guarantees-in-life kind of way. Certainly, ‘life is a box of chocolates and you never know what you’re going to get’, but you can be pretty sure that it will be chocolate.

Similarly, I know that our employees will always be taken care of, no matter how big the company gets.

I will always know everyone’s name, problems, and what makes them happy. Sometimes, I will even know what size of shoes they wear.

Clearly, there is no telling that our 260 + (insert the number of colleagues we’ll hire next year) employees will still feel this way this time next year, nor am I taking the collective opinion of more than 90% for granted.

But that’s not why I answered negatively either.

Call me cheesy but I would honestly like to see companies from the bottom of this year’s list make it to the next year’s top three, because that would mean someone somewhere made a huge effort to create a better workplace.

It would be the result of someone taking their work as seriously as they should be, having worked hard, having worked some more, and as a result, making some other 250 individuals happy, their lives better, and families happier.

We solemnly swear to keep Infinum as wonderful as it already is, with each and every new employee making it better in his or her own way. And trust me, it is (an even) bigger challenge to maintain the standard high and try to raise the bar further than it is to get there in the first place – but that’s not an excuse not to try.

Having written all that, I’d like to admit I’m proud beyond words. There is no bigger recognition for the HR team and the company than having your colleagues think this is the #1 place to work.