Satisfied employees

The “Barometer” result for 2003 has improved significantly since last year. At the same time, the percentage of respondents has increased.

70% of staff who took part in the Barometer survey claim to be “doing well” or “really well” at Arla Foods. Overall the satisfaction level has risen from 53% to 59%.

”I’m well aware that daily life has recently been quite stressful for many of our employees – partly due to Ett Arla,” says Deputy Managing Director Andreas Lundby. “The positive results, therefore, are very encouraging. It’s particularly remarkable that the Danish employees came up with these positive responses in November when Arla Foods was at the centre of a media storm.”

85% of the workforce in Denmark, Sweden and Germany completed the Barometer questionnaire, i.e. a rise of 3% on 82% in 2002.

The most obvious improvement is a 17% increase in the number of employees who have had performance reviews with their line managers. Equally, the workforce’s evaluation of the group’s management shows an approval increase of 7%.

37% of the staff believe that the Barometer survey has resulted in improvements to daily working procedures.

”The Barometer shows that if you are pro-active, things will happen,” said Andreas Lundby. ”It’s not enough to talk about improvements – managers have to make sure that action is taken.”

The result for 2003 is, however, not all plain sailing. Barometer reveals some dissatisfaction with the physical working environment, which can be cold, strenuous and noisy.

31% of respondents regard the working environment as unsatisfactory – although this in itself is an improvement of 13% compared to 2002. Stress levels are also high in that 26% feel “stressed” or “very stressed” due to work pressure.

Andreas Lundby promises that measures will be taken to remedy the deficiencies. Last year’s main issue, bullying, will also continue to be addressed.

Despite the modest fall in the number of employees who feel bullied, from 5.4% in 2002 to 4.9% in 2003, Andreas Lundby emphasises that incidents of bullying are entirely unacceptable at Arla’s plants and departments.

Group Management have identified several areas for further focus:

Areas to be maintained and strengthened: Result-oriented leadership, customer focus and quality awareness. Commitment as the foundation for current as well as future operations. Performance reviews are important elements in the company’s as well as the workforce’s development. The capacity and the will to develop our workplace.

Areas requiring an extra effort: Focus on the prevention of bullying to be maintained on the basis of the recent year’s work. Stress handling and prevention. Feedback and dialogue between staff and managers to be improved. Greater pride in working for Arla Foods.

Group Management urges the individual sites to work with these focus areas and to select areas that are specific to the site and its staff on the basis of the Barometer result.