24 November, 2023

VelocityEHS, based in Chicago Illinois is an Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Software Company employing over 500 employees in 7 locations worldwide. In May 2021 VelocityEHS acquired Onelook Systems, a Cork based enterprise software solutions company. At the time of the acquisition Onelook Systems employed 40 employees in the area of sales and marketing, customer success, and software development. Subsequently the company grew quickly, expanding its workforce to 55 and plan future expansion into Europe requiring an additional 15 employees. In line with their strong customer engagement, the company plans to hire Host Country Nationals (HCN’s) in European countries to provide the best customer service based on language, cultural fit and proximity. The company wanted to ensure that they understand the expectations of these new employees taking into consideration the different national cultures, as well as the challenge of socialisation and inclusion based on working remotely from a different country.

Since the Pandemic, the company had provided a Work-for-all programme where all employees can work in the office, remotely or hybrid. They were interested in understanding better the impact this might have on all workers, in terms of organisational culture, employee engagement, as well as leadership and change management challenges.

Both full-time and part-time HRM Masters students undertook a project to advise and support the company in their continued expansion and growth in Europe and their new Work-for-all policy. They investigated and recommended optimum models of remote, hybrid and in-office work giving consideration to the impact of the return-to-work choices on the organisation’s culture and the engagement of both existing and new employees across Europe. The students also considered the leadership styles and skills needed for managing remote and diverse employees as well as change management, transitions to new ways of working and changes to job design.

Key recommendations by students included developing a Candidate Journey Map for new employees taking into consideration cultural differences and needs across a diverse workforce; reinforcing culture with remote workers by creating proximity both real and perceived through a Communication, Collaboration and Connect strategy; availing of technology such as Programmatic Recruitment, Collaboration software as well as Analytics; and training for inclusive leadership for all line managers to support the transformation and growth of the company.

“It is immensely beneficial for our Masters’ in Human Resource Management programme to work with companies such as VelocityEHS, who are based locally but have a global presence. Our students developed their skillsets by working on real live situations and receiving authentic feedback on their results from VelocityEHS." - Jane Leonard, Lecturer, Department of Organisation and Professional Development.

If your company is interested in becoming more actively involved with MTU, contact MTU Extended Campus at extended.campusCork@mtu.ie