In May, Spinnaker will be holding its 16th Annual Maritime People & Culture Conference. This year there will be a session hosted by Caroline Baumgaertner, VP People & Talent Development at NSB Group. She will be holding a session called ‘Moving Minds, Elevating skills: Sharing case studies of how to propel potential.’ This comes off the back of NSB Group receiving the “Top Job” seal for outstanding employer qualities. You can read more about this below.
We asked Caroline to give us a bit of a snippet of what we can expect from her session in May. If you haven’t already booked your tickets, there is still time. Book now by clicking here.
Why is this topic so important?
Elevating the skills of employees, bridging the gap between theory and practice, and mastering use cases and complex scenarios are essential steps for any thriving/growing environment.
NSB understands itself as a place of growth and connection. Sometimes, all it takes is a refresher to brush up on forgotten knowledge, while in other cases, providing context for a deeper understanding of ‘why we need to focus on’ becomes essential.
Why do you think this topic should be shared at the Spinnaker Maritime People & Culture Conference?
Context drives behaviour – a truth we at NSB value; we emphasise identifying with the company’s values, understanding the impact of the individual role, enabling the employees to be part of the journey with meaningful learnings, and shifting from compliance to commitment, from laissez-faire to a hands-on and smart working attitude. This is one of the future challenges that must be addressed and started to be tackled today, …. to be successful tomorrow.
Outstanding employer qualities at NSB GROUP
NSB GROUP received the “Top Job” seal for outstanding employer qualities. A corporate culture that puts the employees at the centre is honoured with this award.
Buxtehude – The employer analysis “Top Job” is tailored to the medium-sized parameters in company management. A scientifically based employee survey developed specifically for this purpose evaluates the culture of the participating companies. The feedback from the employees of the NSB GROUP was consistently positive. Qualities became apparent in the areas of diversity & sustainability as well as employee retention & talent management.
The employees particularly appreciate the offer of situational work and the various approaches to implementing sustainability. Here, the NSB GROUP can be measured against eight of the 17 UN SDGs. The high level of employee loyalty goes hand in hand with transparent talent management, which opens prospects for all interested employees. This includes coaching and mentoring offers.
NSB promotes creativity and innovation and encourages everyone to contribute new ideas and develop unusual solutions. The creative freedom is large and shows appreciation. The decisive factor is the personal attitude and an open mindset.
NSB as an organization assumes responsibility for better cooperation in the social environment of the employees: locally, for example, by running a kindergarten, by supporting the local handball club or generally through a feeling for social trends and the needs of the employees. Internationally, NSB is involved in ecological projects such as Eyesea, the reforestation of coral reefs or the supervision of master theses in the field of sustainability, e.g., seagrass as a CO2 sink.
NSB GROUP is aware that only all employees together can create a positive, inspiring environment in which people enjoy working, where they can develop personally and professionally and are proud to be part of the company.
For the organization with 152 employees in Buxtehude and Singapore, it is the first award as a “Top Job” employer – in addition to the TOP 100 seal in 2021 and 2023. For 20 years, the Center for Employer Attractiveness, zeag GmbH, has been awarding the quality seal to companies that make a remarkable effort to promote a healthy workplace culture.
“Employer attractiveness is a crucial strategic issue for any company that wants to be successful in the long term,” says former Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, patron of “Top Job”, affirming the award-winning companies in their actions.
“In times of changing employee expectations, economic activity shaped by AI and questions about the future of work, it was and remains NSB’s goal to attract people who will help shape the future of our company. I am therefore extremely pleased and motivated by the “Top Job” award. It is a seal of approval that we owe to our employees!” says Tim Ponath, Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
For Caroline Baumgärtner, VP People and Talent Development, bottom-up feedback is indispensable in a transformation process: “Any change in values is supported by everyone. An unbiased corporate culture supports this process and also provides answers to the questions of why and how. However, we are not resting on our laurels. With the help of the results from the “Top Job” analysis, we will expand our standards as an employer to remain innovative and inclusive at the same time. Working together to achieve excellent results for the maritime cluster is in our DNA.”
Researchers from the Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management at the University of St. Gallen, led by Prof. Dr. Heike Bruch, surveyed employees online and analysed the HR tools used. The decisive factor for the award is first and foremost the employee survey.
The award-winning companies may now carry the “Top Job” seal for the next two years. All award-winning employers can be found at www.topjob.de.
