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SVP of Group HR Mirja Becker knows a thing or two about dormakaba company culture. No surprise there – she joined Dorma, which later merged with Kaba to become dormakaba, more than a decade ago. In this interview, she delivers a wide range of insights into the company culture, how dormakaba handles employee development, and the best methods for building a trusting environment.

What do you think is the most important task of the Human Resources function?

We work with human beings, with our employees, our colleagues – and our main task is to create an environment in which they can deploy their strengths and develop their competencies. Having the right people in the right role is key in order to best address our customers´ needs.

What does a corporate culture look like that promotes personal growth and success?

dormakaba is a young company. Starting with the merger of Dorma and Kaba in 2015, we were aware that the corporate culture of the new company was crucial to our success. Central to our joint culture and our daily life at dormakaba are our corporate values, especially our core value Trust. Trust is the basis for an open and honest work environment, and it is essential for fostering curiosity, courage, and eventually superior performance with our customers.

How do you build this trusting working environment? What measures do you rely on?

Trust is not built by implementing certain measures, it is built by our daily interactions and by how much we let trust inform our behavior. Every employee has their role in acting according to our principles: Can we rely on each other? Do we listen to each other? Do we treat each other fairly? Do we value the good work of our colleagues? Do we give each other honest and constructive feedback? These are key aspects of how we live trust, and I personally think we succeed at this at dormakaba. This is backed up by the results of our recent global employee survey which showed that 81% of our employees agree that their managers act according to the dormakaba values.

What role do managers play in this?

85% of our employees agree that their managers trust them to make the right decisions in their day-to-day work – another finding of our 2020 employee engagement survey. At dormakaba, we strive for an open performance and feedback culture. We value managers who see open and honest feedback as an opportunity to grow and who trust their employees’ expertise. Our managers are committed to personal exchange, giving room to good ideas and promoting the development of their employees.

How do you promote the development of your employees specifically?

Overall, we are following a strength-based approach. As much as possible, our employees are assigned tasks based on their personal strengths. We promote people individually and from day one. In the UK, for example, new service technicians are greeted with a comprehensive onboarding program containing specific training modules and development plans. This program is later on continued by annual appraisals among other ongoing processes and support.

To ensure that our employees have the relevant long-term skills, we continue to invest in their vocational development and in enhancing their talents. We are continuously broadening the scope of our offerings for on the job and off the job learning.

dormakaba is a global company. What role does that play in individual development opportunities?

Working at an international company can be challenging and at the same time offers many opportunities. Depending on their role, our employees get in contact with colleagues from all over the world. We are constantly learning from another, and our cultural diversity is one of our strengths, as it mirrors our global customer base.

For the right candidate, it could also become possible to temporarily or permanently relocate and take up a position at one of our international locations. For example, there is cross-segmental collaboration between our Segments Access Solutions DACH and Access Solutions APAC, where we develop talents through cross-location on-the-job experience between the two Segments. As we put emphasis on our corporate culture and making sure candidates have the right “cultural fit”, you can expect the same value-based attitude across dormakaba. This makes working in international teams seamless and constructive.

What benefits does dormakaba offer?

Benefits are both recognition and motivation. That is why we offer a wide range of attractive benefits, which vary across the globe to reflect our embedding in the locations we operate in as well as our ambition to position our company as an attractive employer. Our offering ranges from the above-mentioned learning and development opportunities over health care and pension benefits to work-life balance programs such as subsidies for the gym, while elsewhere, for example, free drinks and fruit baskets are available.

As new trends like digitization, individualization and demographic change emerge, we rethink the way we work to continuously adapt to the requirements of the modern working environment and embed our values by e.g. making the work time and place more flexible.

Do you have special programs for early-career staff?

In the DACH region, we provide many opportunities on entry level. We train in various professions and offer apprenticeships. During their training, junior staff may pass through different departments at our company in order to gain as much practical insight as possible. Student internships, working student activities or writing a bachelor’s or master’s thesis are also offered. (See what Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have to offer). Access Solutions Americas provides excellent opportunities for early career associates and interns. We offer unique and exciting learning experiences to participate in cross-functional and global project teams working on complex business challenges. (See here what they have to offer).

What do you expect from (potential) employees?

We welcome new colleagues who share our values, are willing to give their best, appreciate challenges, and want to grow with us. In addition, people who are curious, open-minded, and have a sense of humor will easily find a place in our global team.

Do you have any advice for people who would like to apply at dormakaba?

We are happy to receive authentic applications that show the applicant´s personality. We appreciate if you “come as you are” because we really want to get to know the applicants and how they can contribute to our joint success.

This joint interview features two engineers talking about a topic they love – innovation. Andreas and Mihai go deep on what it takes to create an environment that fosters innovation, and everything is going digital. They talk about the technology of yesterday, today, and, perhaps most excitingly, what lies ahead. Intrigued? Read on. Or better yet, join the team!

What does innovation mean for dormakaba?

Andreas Häberli: At dormakaba, innovation is at the heart of our mission: We want to make access in life smart and secure. We stay true to that by striving to improve every day. Innovation is driven by courage and curiosity, which are two of our company values. For us, innovation means creating space to experiment and provide access to the newest technology. We continue to invest more in innovation than our competitors, reflecting the importance of innovation at our company. We are proud that dormakaba has a longstanding history of setting standards in the industry, even well before the merger of the two companies Dorma and Kaba. One of them is the reversible key patented by Kaba in 1934, and a more recent milestone is our Mobile Access solution.

Mihai Barbulescu: Responding to a rapidly changing global environment with vastly different needs compared to 20 or even 10 years ago and new digital opportunities requires innovation. We are quite aware of our position in the market and understand that many competitors and start-ups are looking to challenge it which motivates us to always innovate and stay ahead. Our products are aimed to improve people’s daily lives, so the focus is always to come up with a brilliant solution and continuously redefining access.

What does innovation mean to you personally?

Andreas Häberli: Innovation requires a flexible mindset, imagination and an inquisitive nature. I believe that it is also crucial to have a willingness to be wrong – your experiments will fail. There is no way around it, it is part of the process. If you embrace the problem and are motivated to try again and again, you can work your way towards a solution. Innovation for me also means teamwork: It is not a solitary exercise. You need to have a diverse group of people around you working towards the same goal.

Mihai Barbulescu: For me, innovation has to do with play and curiosity. It is tremendously exciting to try new things, to find out what works, and to imagine what role it could play in two or five years. At my work, I get the freedom to explore and try out new approaches. Every once in a while a true innovation revolutionizes how our customers use our products. When this happens, it is a really special moment to feel the impact it has on changing people’s lives and behaviors.

What kind of environment do you need to be innovative?

Mihai Barbulescu: Having the time and space to creatively try things out without the pressure of having to deliver a certain product at a certain time helps me a lot. I am pleased that at dormakaba I have the freedom to experiment and grow – I was able to experience many exciting technology shifts while also evolving my career based on my interests and change job titles four times during the last seven years.

It is also valuable to exchange ideas openly with my colleagues. This interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge always inspires new ideas. It is important for innovation to have different perspectives from different cultures. At dormakaba, you have access to a network of innovators across the globe to exchange and test your ideas faster. The barriers to reach out to colleagues are low: we share information openly and work as a team.

Andreas Häberli: I agree, our global teamwork is something I value. Besides leveraging our interconnectedness, we also make organizational changes to provide the right environment. In order to prioritize innovation and digitization, we established a new organizational unit: "dormakaba digital". Our digital transformation experts develop digital services and products and act as strategic advisors and "sparring partners" for our customers.

What is the innovation work like at dormakaba?

Andreas Häberli: First of all, we constantly question our business, our products, and processes. After all, in order to develop innovations efficiently, you first have to start with yourself and set up your working methods in the best possible way. A simple example: As a global group, it is important that we speak a common "innovation language". When we speak of "Decision Point B", for example, everyone should know what is meant. This sounds trivial, but it's important that we work hand in hand to develop innovations.

Mihai Barbulescu: We have two balanced views on innovation. The first is to look at technology trends and select those that are most promising for our company. We explore with these technologies and attempt to embed them within our products to see what is possible which could not have been imagined before. Equally crucial is the question: What do customers want? What challenges do they face? This can also happen in the course of a development process. That is why we have to think and work agile.

Andreas Häberli: Right. We address customer needs in a targeted manner: with intensive research and development and, again, we invest here significantly more than our competitors.

You just mentioned customer needs and new technology trends. What developments and challenges do you currently see? What is your outlook for the upcoming years?

Andreas Häberli: Touchless access, or touchless economy, will be crucial for the years to come. Think about improving mobile access – a development that dormakaba spearheaded – that allows distribution of personalized access rights without meeting in person. Other solutions are “sense on approach” technologies, either based on video analytics or based on a new wireless technology (Ultra-Wideband, aka UWB) which we pioneered jointly with a start-up company in the last few years. It can be paired with automatic doors, or optical door “buttons” that trigger door opening without touching. Naturally, we cannot give any specific details – you will have to come work with us to know what we are developing. However, an example as to how we were informed by both customer needs as well as new technology, would be the self-boarding gates at airports. dormakaba is the world’s leading supplier of self-boarding gates, which significantly reduce boarding times while simultaneously improving service and security.

Mihai Barbulescu: There are several aspects that I find especially interesting. Facial recognition, for instance, is a game-changer for access control. Instead of relying on objects (card, phone, key, etc.) for access control, you are yourself the method of access. User experience is much improved, but there are obstacles in the data and security implications. It is exciting to think of solutions to these issues.

Also, analyzing anonymized access control data could provide a lot of information about traffic flow and security issues. Making decisions based on such data can improve the product operation significantly. Like Andreas said, come to work with us to be the first to know which exciting developments lay ahead!

When it comes to sustainability, how does dormakaba set itself apart from the rest? Lea is here to explain. She built her career with dormakaba from the beginning, earning her bachelor's degree through a dormakaba work-study program. While continuing to work full-time with us, she also completed her master's degree. Now she's laser-focused on making our entire supply chain sustainable. Read all about her daily work life and all the doors that have opened for her right here.

"Sustainability is my mission"

Sustainability often starts with small changes until it permeates everything. This was the case with dormakaba. Today, sustainability is the foundation of our actions within all areas of the company.

I did a dual study program at dormakaba and was offered a job after I got my degree. Sustainability in the building sector became more and more important at that time, for example topics such as product declarations or environmentally friendly materials. What sets our company apart is that dormakaba recognized these developments early on, and sustainability has become the foundation of dormakaba’s strategy. It was exciting that I helped shape the sustainability strategy of dormakaba.

Teamwork helps to achieve goals

I started and keep on building my career here. Over the years, I have been able to gather expert knowledge in the field of sustainability and therefore I received more and more responsibility. I work mainly project-related which means that my range of tasks is always changing and it never gets monotonous. Working on projects also means I can regularly celebrate successes when we achieved our goal. A big advantage is that I rarely work alone, as I cooperate with many different, often international, stakeholders across the company. Those change from project to project. Working in different teams helps to change perspectives and to learn new things. This has deepened my knowledge about project management, to just give one example.

If I have the project lead for the development of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), my job is to set up meetings, organize project responsibilities, and to draw up the EPD report. By providing EPDs based on international standards, dormakaba shares comprehensive information on the environmental impact of its products with regard to the entire product life cycle. Thus, dormakaba offers experts from the construction industry, such as planners, architects, and building owners, detailed ecological information with reliable facts and figures on the environmental impact of building products. To measure our successes and to ensure lasting changes and constant progress, we have regular follow-up meetings.

Sustainability ambassador

Being an ambassador of sustainability is another important part of my work. I give presentations about the topic and publish articles on the intranet as well as on our website. With this, I try to make sustainability a decision criterion in the daily work of everyone at dormakaba and even beyond. If you want to read one of my articles, click here! It makes me proud that we aim for our entire supply chain to be sustainable. I am deeply convinced that sustainability is crucial for future success. It is motivating to be a part of this organizational change and to see the impact of my contribution.

The commitment to sustainability at dormakaba is also recognized outside. dormakaba has recently been awarded a Gold Medal for its sustainability management by the assessment firm EcoVadis, placing the company in the top 5% of all assessed companies worldwide. Sustainability is my mission – and much more than a job. I try to live this in my private life as well. I experienced at work that each small step can have a lasting impact.

Get to know Lea Kullmann

What is the best thing you learned from a coworker?

How office pranks can improve the team spirit and lead to a creative environment.

What is your proudest achievement?

I was working full-time while getting my master’s degree when I was doing my dual study at dormakaba.

What was your best dormakaba moment?

It was wonderful to experience the diversity at our company when meeting the faces of dormakaba.

What did you learn at dormakaba that had a big impact on you professionally?

Teams with different backgrounds, experiences and views are producing the best results.

Meet David, a dormakaba service technician. That means you'll find him on the ground and on the go, working face-to-face with customers, solving problems and always learning. What are his days like? Read on to find out why he loves his job.

What is it like working for dormakaba?

For me, it’s all about the team. I really enjoy working with my colleagues, and they always have my back. As a Service Technician, I’m out and about all the time, and the flexibility and the freedom suit me – it does feel a bit like I’m my own boss. In addition, my tasks are really versatile and interesting.

What motivates you most in your work?

I think it is the way we work together as a team. I know I can rely on my colleagues even though we do not sit in an office together but are on the road a lot. And I’m proud that dormakaba trusts me to do my job right. Plus they give me the time to learn and to evolve; you are not being blamed in case something isn’t perfect. It’s just another opportunity to improve.

What makes dormakaba special?

dormakaba always strives to get better and develop further. The company has grown a lot ever since I started, and the fact that it is well prepared for future challenges gives me a sense of security. I think where I live, this job really is one of a kind.