JANUARY 25, 2023

Our view

In regards to an article in Aftonbladet, we would like to give our view on the matter. We take the events described very seriously, as this image does not correspond with the workplace we want to be.

Espresso House should be a good place to work for everyone, and we are therefore sorry to hear that not everyone has had the same good experience of working for us. However, we think it's important and good that this is issue is brought to light. We want feedback and we take our employees' experiences seriously. It helps us to improve the way we operate.

Over the past few years, we have introduced several improvements to our operations in order to make us a better place to work. We have for example:

  • Introduced an anonymous whistleblowing channel and developed our direct conversations with employees.
  • Introduced Workplace by Facebook as a communication channel where employees can share ideas, experiences and ask questions.
  • Developed our leadership program for our young leaders. We often give our employees leadership positions at relatively young ages, which is something we are proud of, but in turn also places demands and responsibilities on us as an employer.
  • Started an Advisory Board with senior management, where we discuss ideas from our employees together and turn them into concrete activities for the benefit of our guests and employees.
  • Introduced Barista Pulse, which provides direct feedback on how our employees experienced the day's work.
  • Introduced a focus group consisting of representatives from our operational organisation who discuss health and safety issues together with HR and occasionally trade unions.
  • Now in 2023, we will further educate our managers and ensure that they always have the opportunity to refresh or update their leadership skills and introduce a salary increase in addition to collective agreement increases in 2023.

Change takes time, and to some extent our work has been disrupted by the pandemic since a lot of experienced staff left due to the circumstances of the industry at the time. However, our annual employee survey shows that results are moving in the right direction and that we have improved our employee index since 2019.

We have 3000 employees in Sweden and we employ young people. Espresso House is often their first place of work and we are proud of that. Our employees stay with us for a short period of time, often working part-time in combination with studies, and then leaving for new challenges. We have a constant influx of new employees to staff our 270 coffee shops in Sweden. Our challenge is that experienced employees are leaving and that we simultaneously need to train and educate new employees. It's the nature of the business. It's an ongoing process and a job we always have to continue with. We can never, and will never, settle and that is our responsibility as an employer.

This year, we will invest 31 million SEK in salary increases for 2023. We do this to ensure our employees feel appreciated for the great work that they do and we see a clear correlation between employee satisfaction, quality for our guests and a sustainable long-term business. We will also start a program to look at how we can reduce the complexity in our shops. In other words, how can we simplify operations for our employees and work more sustainably.