Kindred United is a group of employees volunteering in various events and activities that support employee engagement and Kindred’s ambitions to give back to the communities we operate in. In this interview series, we speak to our Kindred United group leaders in different locations to learn how they have allocated time and resources this year.
Micha Abad Olsson is the group leader of Kindred United Stockholm. Micha is our HR Operations Analyst and has been working with Kindred for 2.5 years.
Hey Micha, can you tell us about the Kindred United group in your location?
Currently, we are seven members strong, but we are hoping that the more exposure we get, the more people we can attract to join us! It has not been easy to get volunteers during the pandemic, but now we are back in the office, I hope we can recruit some new members.
Can you talk us through the activities you’ve arranged this year? What has been successful and has there been any big challenges?
- Nolla Utanförskapet: Second time we are doing this! A great CSR activity where we help young people from socio-economically vulnerable areas of Stockholm get relevant tech skills and teach them programming and code. Our CEO Henrik Tjärnström is particularly fond of this initiative!
- We started the year with an online lecture called 'Hack your Brain' and invited all the other offices to join.
- We organised the delivery of easter eggs to all employees working in our Stockholm Office.
- We helped pack the Euro2020 gift boxes that were delivered to all Kindred employees in preparation for the tournament. We treated everyone who helped with the packing with pizzas and drinks.
- We started a monthly newsletter to get more exposure on what we do and what’s coming up.
- We used some of our CSR days and participated in the World Cleanup Day and made Stockholm a little bit cleaner by picking up litter.
- We had a spooktacular Halloween After Work.
- We started a Monthly Activity with some of our fellow co-workers. So far, we have played badminton and gone bowling together. By popular demand, Padel will be added next year and After Work Karaoke is starting end of November!
What type of feedback have you received about your initiatives? From employees, and from the organisations you’ve supported.
Since many of our employees joined Kindred during the pandemic, it’s been challenging for them to fully immerse in ‘the Kindred Spirit’. We can see that new starters really appreciate the events we organise. They take pictures to send to their family and friends to show what it’s like in the office. These are also great opportunities to get to know your colleagues from other departments than your own.
Our collaboration with Nolla Utanförskapet (NU) is highly appreciated by both our employees and the young adults we are helping. We are the first company to work together with NU to develop a programming course for young adults and it is completely in line with our Sustainability Framework.
What's in store for Kindred United Stockholm next year?
Our plan for next year is to expand and get new members to join the group. As we are all volunteers, some extra strength, new ideas, inputs, and suggestions are always welcome. This way we can keep developing the way we contribute towards our community and colleagues. Personally, I’ll be starting my maternity leave, but cannot wait to return in time for the next Christmas Party!
