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We all know that the driving force of any successful company is its enthusiastic and hard-working employees. At Girteka, we have a large and young talent pool comprising of multiple nationalities. Each person that works for us brings to the table not only their cultural experience but also their unique set of knowledge, ideas, and expertise allowing the company to grow and evolve. As Girteka continues on its path to expansion, the benefits, and possibilities of development for our employees also grow. So what does it feel like working inside a truly international and muticultural company? And how did we get here?
Logistics company of the future
Just last year, Girteka, the largest asset-based road transportation company in Europe, celebrated its 25th anniversary. To ensure that the business continues to grow even bigger and stronger, on the occasion, the company announced a new strategic dream: to be amongst the top 10 largest logistics companies in Europe by 2026, as purely a road freight transport provider. The goal is no doubt an ambitious one, however, with help of the highest level of professionals working throughout all levels of the company, the goal should be achieved.
In fact, attracting and developing talents in critical positions is one of the key factors indicated in the company’s strategy. „Girteka is on its way to becoming one of the TOP 10 logistics companies in Europe. The goal itself is demanding and requires a huge effort from all of us. Therefore, we need employees engaged in our company’s purpose as well as their work. And we are striving for it across the organization – from drivers to the team leaders in the administration,” says Lesley Tull, Head of Talent Acquisition and Organization Development, Girteka Group.
In 2022, Girteka introduced its new positioning – Responsible Logistics. The company has long been focused on more than just commercial aspects of its business activities. From responsibility to customers, by providing highest quality of reliable logistics services and long-term partnership; through colleagues and communities, making a meaningful impact together on road safety, environment protection, and community well-being; up to shareholders and partners, securing sustainable collaboration and mutual benefit with profitable growth.
Today Girteka is a leading asset-based logistics company in Europe, employing over 23,000 people, with over 3,300 working in administration. We have grown from 600 trucks back in 2010, to more than 9,000 currently in our fleet. The company delivers almost 1 milion full truck loads (FTL) annually across Europe, Great Britain, and Scandinavia allowing us to operate both international and domestic routes. But the road to becoming a truly international company was a demanding one.
Expanding across borders
Far from its current scale and ambition, the company came from very humble beginnings. Girteka began its history in 1996, with a single truck and three employees in a very small office in Vilnius, Lithuania. Steadily growing over the years, Girteka developed into a more international company, providing services in more than 15 European countries.
To satisfy the growth, a 22,000 sq. m. facility was purchased in 2021, based in Sady, near Poznań in Poland. This new facility is now one of the main places for drivers training and resting and for providing more and more logistics services to Western Europe, as well as maintenance to the growing fleet of trucks. The facility supports and helps up to 8,200 drivers, employing 450 mechanics, and servicing up to 4,000 trucks at once.
In order to continue expanding its international reach, in 2022, Girteka also opened an office in Tbilisi, Georgia, for the newly established Global Business Services (GBS) unit. Creating over 300 jobs over the next two years, with 50 new positions this year alone, the company plans to expand its operations in the country, to recruit more talent to satisfy its growth needs and strengthen its position in the logistics market.
“Our goal is to create something that many leading Fortune 500 companies have – an excellent business services company. This time, Girteka’s expertise will be the cherry on top of the Global Business Services (GBS) cake, which will allow us to bring additional talent and another worldview into the group,” commented Martynas Sarapinas, the Chief Information Officer at Girteka.
Developing a multicultural organisation
At Girteka, we understand that bringing people together from diverse cultural backgrounds is our strength and opportunity. Diverse experiences facilitate the generation of different views and new ideas. A large talent pool means we can build a whole community with common goals. The company prides itself in having young (average age of employees is 32 yr. old) and driven people in its administrative positions. In fact, 49% of those positions are occupied by women, meaning that the workforce is quite balanced in terms of gender.
Currently, people of 20 different nationalities work at Girteka, including from countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Ukraine, to name a few. Although our official language is English, one can hear people speaking Polish, Italian, Danish, Russian, Lithuanian, etc. across the office space, creating a truly multicultural environment and proving that logistics has no borders.
One of the foreigners working for Girteka is Elena Kazaryan, who is a SAP Trainer at the company’s new head office in Georgia. Having received an offer on LinkedIn and after searching for more information about the company, Elena says she was impressed with what she found and decided to join the company.
„I was lucky that I had the opportunity to travel to Lithuania for the second week of the onboarding process and even take part in the Girteka Gathering event. I am happy to work in a company and with people who received me with warmth and support,” Elena remembers. „What I like most about Girteka is that it is an ambitious company with a clear vision of what it wants to achieve,” she remarks.
Stefano Morlini joined the company almost two years ago after experiencing two tough lockdowns in Italy and needing a change in his life. He now works as a Business Developer for the company’s Western European business unit.
„What made me feel that Girteka was the right place for me, was that my team daily asaichi and other meetings were in English from day one when I joined. And I honestly found a very cool team,” says Stefano. When asked what he likes the most about his workplace, he comments: „What I liked and what I felt was different from my previous job experience is the fact that management gives regular updates to everybody on how and where the company is moving. It helps to create a “team” feeling,” Stefano adds.
Another Girteka employee, Aliya Khutova came to Lithuania six years ago from the North Caucasus region to study for a master’s degree and to fulfil her career goals. After hearing positive views about Girteka from some of her acquaintances, she decided to try her luck and apply for a job at the company. Aliya now holds the position of Marketing Project Manager at Girteka Europe West.
“I like that in Girteka people are not afraid of challenges and hard work, and although it is a very large organization with a fairly large scope of tasks, there is a cosy atmosphere here and you can meet people with very different backgrounds, interests and hobbies. This allows you to draw inspiration and interesting ideas,” says Aliya.
Employee benefits
During the pandemic induced lockdowns, the company had enough time to confirm that remote work can be done effectively. Hence, Girteka now offers its office employees to work in a more convenient and flexible way by applying a hybrid working model. Employees are also able to take „workations” – to work from any country in the EU one month per year, allowing to split it up into shorter periods. All of this gives an opportunity to combine work and free time in Lithuania or abroad. Additional days off are also offered on the occasion of a birthday or a wedding.
“Today, we see among our employees a willingness to help and act to improve living conditions and care for the society. Hence, we give employees the opportunity to participate in various types of voluntary initiatives, providing them a paid day off for this,” says Jens Hovgaard Jensen, Chief People Officer at Girteka. “Business is more effective with people fulfilled with their own needs, that are corresponding to challenges and opportunities we have as company. This is one of the core elements of our Responsible Logistics strategy,” he adds.
Additional and free health insurance for administrative employees is the latest employee benefit in Girteka. The company’s health insurance covers the financing of outpatient and inpatient treatment in hospitals, treatment of serious diseases, preventive examinations, ophthalmic and dental examinations, and treatment, as well as all basic medical procedures.
Digital support
Another area in which the company aims to assist its employees is with digital support. In 2020, Girteka embarked on a journey towards digital transformation. Today the company facilitates digital processes in all areas of business. Understanding that digitalization and innovative solutions not only benefit the customers, but also the employees, whose workload is not only alleviated but also made more efficient, the company continues to invest in the latest digital solutions.
For instance, software robots are a massive help for employees in their daily operations. The company uses robotic process automation that allows to mimic human actions in various business scenarios of standardized, repeatable, rules-driven, and system-based activities. A software robot can execute tasks very fast, accurately, and 24/7, allowing employees to rather focus on work that requires more decision-making and creativity.
Another new innovation that will be put into action in the first quarter in 2023 and make processes more efficient for all colleagues is the COMPASS project, which aims to implement a new analytics platform – SAP Business Intelligence (BI). The tool will allow employees to access real-time data, enabling them to make just-in-time and intelligent business decisions. Every administration member will be able to order, access, and use analytical reports, dashboards, and KPIs provided by the SAP BI for their needs, whether finding information about their or their company’s performance or to perform data analysis and gather insights.
Developing an innovation culture inside the company with digital landscape that supports the employees’ work is therefore key. With a large scope of interesting and innovative digital projects that Girteka employees can get their hands on, it allows them to feel like they are working in more than just a logistics company. Coupled with other aforementioned benefits and a nurturing, ambitious, and multicultural environment, employees at Girteka can grow and develop both personally and professionally, to become leaders and make a real change internally and externally, for customers, partners, and communities.
