Interview: David Köröndi
Interview
By: Ludvig Sandell • 3 minAttorney and boxer, with a special love for menswear, hats, and tattoos. David Köröndi's profile might not be the first one that pops into your head when you picture someone working with HR and company values but then again - Eton is not your ordinary shirt brand. We sat down with David, Eton’s General Counsel and newly-appointed Head of HR to talk about company values and why it's so important to work with them.
“Our company values is inherent in everything we do. We are One Eton, which means that we’re one team, facing challenges together and celebrating wins together. To further exemplify the latter, we’ve just implemented a companywide bonus program, “which is a part of our continuous work to be more inclusive.”
David has been with Eton for five years. He started out as Head of Legal, but soon started to get more and more involved in HR-related issues, as part of an internal group working with the company values and how they should be incorporated in the daily work. His role has gradually changed, though, and now he’s in charge of the value program at Eton.
“We don’t just talk about our values; we make sure that our actions are based on them. They are the foundation of the decisions we make as a company.”
To make the values a natural and central part of the life at Eton, David and the HR-group have appointed internal value ambassadors – one for each team. The value ambassadors are asked to lead different teams in value-workshops, where they work with the values and discuss how it affects their everyday work. At least a couple of times a year, they also make sure that the values are on the agenda for their own team.
“We also make sure that the values are a central part of the onboarding of any new employee. We’ve been growing rapidly the last couple of years and, to give everyone the same onboarding, we’ve developed an online based tool where you as a new “Etonian” go through different onboarding steps. It could be anything from code of conduct, Eton’s history, to our values. This is in addition to the onboarding you get for your specific role.”
“But before the onboarding even takes place, the values are present in the recruitment of new people. Personally, I think values are equally important – or maybe even more important – than the candidates skill set. I mean, anyone can learn skills but not everyone can adopt to who we are as a company.”
Right now, David is preparing for a special value workshop that will stretch for a whole day and engage the whole company at the annual kickoff Eton 360 – two days when everyone at Eton comes together and celebrates the company’s achievements.
The value day at Eton 360 goes hand in hand with the company’s overall focus on how to work with feedback. “We need to strengthen and develop our feedback culture: to do this we’re focusing on our managers and helping them build strong and trusting relationships. All managers – and eventually all employees – are coached in feedback. We’re also aiming for a common leadership language at Eton with a new management training program,” David concludes.
