Digital Engineering Partner, Lamia, is one of the fastest growing companies in Finland. Founders Lauri Järvenpää and Henri Halmelahti know that commitment is key. Therefore, recruitment is one of the crucial elements of the success strategy.
Järvenpää and Halmelahti started Lamia in 2012 and the business has been self-sufficient ever since. This is not a coincidence as Lamia has created clever procedures and knows how to treat employees. Recruitment is seen as a precondition for business growth."
We are very thorough when it comes to our recruitment processes. We're looking for people that have the drive to develop their skills and, most importantly, develop the processes around him or her", Järvenpää ponders.
No employee has wanted to leave
Currently Lamia has somewhat over forty employees and they have a magical situation. No employee has ever wanted to leave the company.
"Many employers promise future employees this and that but when the reality hits, nothing is happening. We believe that no company can afford empty promises if it wants to grow fast", Head of Talent Acquisition, Jarmo Krohns states.
At Lamia it's clear that employee commitment is never an automation. Through careful recruitment it's possible to find the right talent but, in addition, one must make sure that the every employee has a clear career path ahead.
"We don't bribe candidates with money or beer taps as expertise should always be top priority of recruitment. It isn't about not wanting to provide our talents with the latest technological devices and stuff but we just don't want material to be the reason to work with us", Järvenpää describes the Lamian mentality.
Lamia is fully aware that other companies would love to fight for its employees. Thus, Lamia has created a compensation model, through which employees get ownership.
True leadership doesn't require a CEO
The successful recruitment and the level of commitment at Lamia has created a work culture that is a classic example of bottom-up leadership. Unnecessary bureaucracy is avoided so that all processes can be ideally agile.
"We wouldn't have come this far with a two-man orchestra. Our goal is to hire the best talent from each field and give them the genuine possibility to grow and take more responsibility. It's our job to create a safe enough atmosphere which allows people to blossom", says Halmelahti.
A special feature of the company culture is that CEO has never seen as needed.
”Many of our clients are likely to have no idea about us being founders of Lamia. I guess we could name either of us CEO but it wouldn't change a thing anyway. I think that most of the times I just introduce myself as being a Project Specialist", Halmelahti grins.