Getting the NP4552 certification - A natural step in a people-first organisation

Lately there has been a lot of talk about work-life balance and how a team’s well-being can improve its productivity and, ultimately, boost an organisation’s performance. At Untile however, this concern isn’t something that came up just recently but rather something that we have always valued. 

When asked about what we attribute our success to, we usually say that it’s all down to having the right team, and we say this because this is in our DNA. Untile has always invested, and continues to do so, in our team’s evolution both professionally and personally, and that is what we intend to do forever. 

It’s no surprise that we have also been looking for new ways of providing more benefits to the team and helping them achieve the best work-life balance possible. With this said, what does it mean to have a good work-life balance? For us, it comes down to having a fulfilling professional life, where your career development is valued and you are constantly learning and evolving, while still maintaining a healthy personal life, with enough time to spend with your family and to pursue your individual goals. People should be able to have it all, to strive both professionally and personally. 

In order to help our team achieve that balance, we have implemented a few benefits throughout the years to improve their life conditions and happiness, but sometimes it’s hard to know how to continue this process and what other tools we have at our disposal. 

To help us with this, we’ve decided to implement the NP4552 norm, as this allowed us to sit down and think about this topic in a more organised manner, while also providing us with the right documentation for the future.  

The NP4552 norm is, in sum, a management system that focuses on the conciliation of professional, family and personal lives. It includes a series of measures and best practices that organisations can follow when wanting to increase their team’s satisfaction, well–being and quality of life. 

In the words of our Head of Operations, Elisabete Duarte:

“This certification is the result of all the focus we put on our people. And yes, we like to treat those who work with us as "our" people. We are immensely proud to hear their feedback, more or less formal, and we pay attention to their happiness and well-being every day, always keeping in mind what we are going to provide them next, what we managed to implement, what is most important and that will have the most impact on their lives. We don't do it to get certifications, but because it's part of our DNA. We've been doing this for several years now.

The conciliation between professional, family and personal life goes far beyond the issue of financial remuneration, it is the "emotional" salary, it is the effective time that is gained to invest in what is most important to each one.”

When asked about how she feels about our culture, our Customer Service Manager Estefânia Gonçalves said: “Untile is a company that cares about its employees and the healthy relationship between personal and professional life and I can testify that this happens. In several situations of my day to day I was able to experience this availability. I am extremely proud to be part of a company that cares about people and works with the awareness that their well-being positively influences the well-being of the company.”

We feel honoured to know that the people who work with us feel valued and seen, and that was just another motivation to keep on improving. The NP4552 was the perfect opportunity to think about what more could we be doing better and what measures are working the best.

We had realised some time ago that most of the benefits we wanted to implement didn’t necessarily require a significant financial investment but rather the right time to define them, implement them, follow up and to evaluate their impact or how to improve them — and by having a clear structure on how to proceed, the process became a lot smoother than it would ever be without following this certification. 

It all came down to writing what we have always known we wanted for our team and coming up with a system for the future. In the same way that we have a 3-year strategic plan for the company with a set of specific goals that will help us improve our business, we now have a 3-year plan for this work-life balance conciliation with very specific measures to implement each year. 

Alongside that plan, we have also taken this opportunity to expand on our feedback policies  to guarantee that we received real and honest opinions. We already had some feedback systems implemented, but we decided to create a completely anonymous quiz to get the partners’ and team’s perspectives on topics such as work policies, personal and professional development, services and benefits. 

Additionally, during internal and external audits, performed by third parties, the contact with our team members is made directly and confidentially, meaning that it requires no participation from any of the integrated system’s managers. Lastly, we have also implemented a confidential form that allows any worker to report a situation that they have experienced and/or witnessed and that they consider less correct in terms of conciliation and good human resources practices. Ultimately, everything that unfolds around the conciliation norm is completely transparent: from what we do and why we do it to what we don't do and why we don't do it.

People were already Untile’s first priority and we did everything to ensure they felt safe and happy working here. Now, with this NP4552 certification, we are able to do so in an organised manner, with clear processes and straightforward goals.