Liferay is delighted to announce that we have been officially recognised as one of the Best Workplaces in Ireland in 2021 for our 2nd consecutive year. This award is assessed through Great Place to Work’s robust ‘Trust Index©’ employee survey and a thorough ‘Culture Audit©’ assessment of their policies and practices. This year, we were recognised as the 10th Best Small Workplace in Ireland 2021. We share this award with not only our people in Ireland but all over the world. Throughout the past year, we successfully came together as One Liferay. During a time of both major change, and social and economic challenges, working towards our mission and values remained to be at the forefront in everything we do as an organisation. The past year has not only been a testing one, but also a humbling experience in witnessing the tenacity and resilience of our people at both a company and individual level. With our strong dedication to building our leaders to serve from the front, while also serving alongside their teams, we have successfully maintained an engaged and high-performance culture at Liferay.
“In a year where the concept of ‘place’ was unexpectedly ripped apart from the concept of ‘work’, these organisations have shown the strength and resilience that underlies the Great Place to Work ethos. Having developed a deep sense of trust within and across their teams, they have proved that anywhere – from a manufacturing facility to a spare bedroom – can be a Great Place to Work. What matters are the fundamentals: treating your employees with fairness and respect, and keeping them up to speed with relevant, authentic, and honest communication.” said Cathal Divilly, CEO at Great Place to Work® Ireland.
“Reaching the criteria to appear on this list of Best Workplaces in Ireland is a massive achievement in any year, and all the more so in a year where disruptions to the workplace that would have taken decades were instead implemented practically overnight. Employees across Ireland have shown great levels of adaptability and flexibility to these circumstances – and they’ve also shown that left to their own devices, they can deliver high levels of performance from anywhere. There’ll be plenty for us all to learn as we come out of this unprecedented time: but what’s already becoming clear is that top-quality talent will be drawn to workplaces that trust them to do their best work wherever they are. The organisations that we recognise this year have spent years developing high-trust relationships with their teams, and have spent this year continuing to strengthen and sustain those bonds. On behalf of all the team at Great Place to Work Ireland, I’d like to take the time to say congratulations to all of Ireland’s Best Workplaces 2021!”
Liferay Response to COVID-19
What was most important to Liferay, was to encourage our people to take care of themselves and their families as a priority. Unprecedentedly, at a global level, we moved to a fully remote workforce in the midst of a worldwide pandemic in March 2020, with the assurance that no employee would be required to attend a Liferay office for the coming months ahead. With this, our leaders and HR team worked vigorously; which required a very swift response in ensuring that our people could be set up for success at their homes and in a remote work setting. We are fortunate at Liferay to have high-performing solutions and platforms which allowed us to make an even more seamless transition. We ensured that the programs and practices that we established provided for a safe place to both connect and disconnect at work, while continuously supporting each other from all levels of the organisation.
Flexibility for Family Care
Many of Liferay's employees have kids which meant that many were forced to be at home and unable to attend a school or have family members that were in need of greater care than usual. We recognised that this was a totally new and challenging situation for everyone. Liferay wanted to be as flexible as possible to accommodate the unique challenges we were facing as we grew accustomed to our new remote workaround for family care situations. We encouraged that every employee took whatever time was needed to care for their family, without the need to use any vacation, holiday, or paid time off to cover this while this gave our employees the space to get settled into their temporary working situation.
Employee Volunteer Program for COVID-19 Help
At Liferay, we offer each employee 5 paid days off per year to volunteer to a charity of their choice, plus a €500 donation. We saw an opportunity during this crisis to be helpful to people around us. We, therefore, expanded our Employee Volunteer Program to allow all Liferay employees to use employee volunteer hours to help non-family members specifically impacted by COVID-19. In many Liferay entities, it also allowed it to be possible to use a portion of the Liferay grant money to directly help others.
Setting Goals
Many employees have had objectives that they had set for themselves in collaboration with their managers. In most cases, those objectives were set before we knew there would be a worldwide pandemic. Liferay recognised that the reality of the pandemic may require a shift in some of those priorities. We developed resources that allowed us to guide and help develop some tangible goals during this time.
"Building and maintaining a great culture is an effort that never ends and requires a great level of commitment. This recognition is a testament to the quality of work that the team has put in this year in navigating through complexity while continuing to empower people to achieve results." - Veronica Rodriguez Cabezas, Director of Global Sales Operations & Managing Director, Liferay International
In addition, we are also thrilled that Megan Kelly, HR Generalist at Liferay, has been recognised by Great Place to Work as HR Rising Star for 2021. This special award recognises an outstanding achiever within one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces. For any organisation to function well, all functions and levels need to work in concert with each other, and as we know, HR teams have conducted crucial work this year by leading the change and working tirelessly to look after the employee experience. Megan has been recognised as such a professional, who underpins the ethos of this work.
“At Liferay as part of our mission, we continue to build a vibrant business that makes it possible for people to reach their full potential to serve others. As part of our core value “Grow and Get Better” we thrive to be an organization brave enough to challenge ourselves and our peers to take leaps of faith needed to grow. Megan being recognised under this award is a true reflection of the work we continue to press forward for at Liferay. This award reflects the ongoing and exceptional growth opportunities at Liferay such as increased levels of leadership, responsibility, and the chance to make a real impact towards our business goals and the communities around us.” Leanne Stone, International HR Manager
About Great Place to Work® and the Assessment Process
Great Place to Work Ireland is part of a global network of culture consultants, with offices in 48 countries using an established methodology to publish lists at country, regional, and global levels. The best known of these is the Fortune 100 list of Best Companies to Work For in the United States. Our media partner in Ireland is The Irish Times, which develop the annual Best Workplaces Special Report.
The key defining feature of a great workplace is the level of trust that exists within it. From an employee’s viewpoint, the definition of a great workplace is one where you trust the people you work with, you have great pride in what you do, and you enjoy the people you work with. The Great Place to Work Institute assesses the policies and practices in place in organisations under nine key areas: Inspiring, Speaking, Listening, Caring, Developing, Thanking, Hiring, Celebrating, and Sharing. They then benchmark these practices against other organisations in that country. The second key component of the assessment is an anonymous Trust Index survey that gathers the perceptions of employees under five dimensions: Credibility, Respect, Fairness, Pride, and Camaraderie. Finally, there is an in-depth qualitative analysis of open-ended comments from employees.
The full 2021 lists of organisations and award winners, as well as rankings from previous years, are available at www.greatplacetowork.ie.