Good workplace relations lead to business success

The smaller the team, the more important is the right selection of the team members. "We are a smaller company with a relatively short history, during which we have seen that a strong team is not about education or age, but about soft skills - adaptability, being eager to learn, open to change and creating friendly atmosphere. Anyone, regardless of age, can learn hard skills if they want to. However, one’s approach is much more difficult to change," argues Ondřej Svoboda, founder and owner of Simple Lift.

The company sells, rents and services handling equipment and is something of a new generation entrepreneur. Its founder, a graduate of Brno University of Technology with background in a family business and several years of experience in a startup environment, brought to the company a new management style, an emphasis on digital technologies, dynamism and a motivational approach to employees. The effects came soon. The first significant milestone in the short history of the Brno-based company came when they launched their own e-shop in the Czech Republic in 2016 and when they expanded their business to Slovakia in 2020. The customer community is getting bigger and comprises SMEs as well as large companies. After a few years, they all perceive Simple Lift as an established and reliable supplier.

A stable labour market is a thing of the past

When looking for employees, there is a massive ongoing change in generational priorities, assumptions and demands. "Therefore, we don’t see experience in the field or expected formal education as major factors. Good economic results always start with competent employees who can flexibly solve complex problems. Their greatest asset is the ability to combine knowledge of digital technologies with experience. That's why our ever-growing team consists mainly of people in their thirties and forties, but we also have a youthful seventy-year-old guy or a junior under thirty. I'm happy that we can keep their loyalty. Roughly a third of our people have been working for us for five years or more.

The greatest asset of our people is the ability to combine knowledge of digital technologies with experience.

It is important to us that employees show both professional and personal progress. We therefore regularly organize educational events within the company and also send people to external trainings in their field. We also set up a company library."

The logistics warehouse and delivery point are located in Brno

We don't catch applicants off guard. We seek potential

More than five years ago, Simple Lift set up contact with the HR consulting company Performia. Simple Lift is one of their VIP licensed clients, which speaks for the quality of the cooperation.

"The right selection and satisfaction of employees, which affects their performance, have always been very important to me. Together with our HR specialist, we gained know-how at seminars and consultations, which helps us against larger competitors to retain extremely motivated people who enjoy working with us and want to keep working on their expertise." Applicants sometimes they complain about the difficulty of our selection process. But that benefits both parties. Mutual openness and demanding selection are the best prerequisites for neither party to be disappointed later.

"As a trading company, we need people who, besides their professional competence, are also able to communicate with customers in a smooth and cultured manner. Our product portfolio comprises a wide range of innovative handling technology that meets the highest standards of safety and performance. The most requested machinery includes manual and electric pallet trucks, forklift trucks and front trucks," concludes Ondřej Svoboda.

Written by Věra Vortelová

Photo credits: Simple Lift