- 89 percent of employees recommend Kiwigrid as an employer to others
- Only a small group qualifies for the kununu “Open Company” and “Top Company” seals: Kiwigrid has them both
- Further new hires are planned to take place by the end of 2018
Kiwigrid, the Dresden company for IoT-based energy services, counts as one of the most popular employers in Germany. This is shown by the current figures from kununu, the employer evaluation platform. Over the past 12 months, 71 percent of employees said they would recommend Kiwigrid as an employer to friends. Over the past six months, this figure even rose to 89 percent. This recommendation rate puts Kiwigrid GmbH ahead of many well-known employers, both in the region and throughout Germany.
While in 2017 employees on average ranked the overall image of their employer at 3.60, the figure rose to 3.99 in September 2018. In addition, Kiwigrid qualifies for the two kununu seals: “Top Company” and “Open Company.” Barely 4.2 percent or one percent of all companies evaluated on kununu bear these seals.
A pronounced feedback culture with a high degree of personal responsibility
To attain the kununu “Open Company” and “Top Company” seals, transparent cooperation (among other things) is required. “Open communication combined with a pronounced feedback culture helps us to move forward in achieving our vision. We cultivate and promote both of these aspects with internal formats such as ‘all-company meetings’ or ‘open spaces’ and are pleased that this is reflected on kununu,” says Matthias Hertel.
“Regular staff appraisals serve as contributors to a pronounced feedback culture. We challenge and encourage our employees to assume personal responsibility, and our managers also take their coaching role seriously in terms of the personal and professional development of their team members,” says Jana Blaseck, Head of Human Resources. An employee confirms this approach in how his superior behaves. He’s “always eager to push the colleagues forward.” “There’s no end to the amount of learning you can do here. And because the company is growing, there are also opportunities to climb up the career ladder,” states another employee on kununu.
Core values of “sustainability” and “courage” firmly anchored in the company
Kiwigrid aims to help energy suppliers, vehicle manufacturers, and manufacturers of decentralized energy generation systems master the energy transition. It’s a challenging working environment which, according to Managing Director Matthias Hertel, requires a lot of courage and provides just as much freedom to realize one’s own ideas. “We believe in a world that is completely powered by sustainable energy; a world where everyone can consume as much energy as they want without having to think about the environmental consequences,” says Matthias Hertel. “It is remarkable that the desire to change the existing energy world, together with the attitude to pursue a meaningful endeavor, is reflected at all levels of the company,” Matthias Hertel continues. At the beginning of 2018, the management, together with the employees, defined values for achieving its common vision: Sustainability and courage are among the most important factors for Kiwigrid employees.
Kiwigrid already had 140 employees in December 2016 and currently employs more than 160 people from 11 nations (e.g. Russia, New Zealand, Brazil and China) for the Cleantech company. Software developers and architects in the Cloud, Embedded, and Frontend Engineering development areas account for 40 percent of this total. The company plans to recruit further staff by the end of the year. “We are looking for the best applicants to tackle our software development. We know full well that we can inspire these applicants not only with nice jobs, but also with family-friendly working conditions and challenging customer projects,” continues Jana Blaseck. The goal is to recruit good IT specialists in Saxony and beyond state borders, and to create jobs in the region.
About Kiwigrid
Kiwigrid aims to help utilities, vehicle manufacturers, and manufacturers of distributed energy resources master the energy transition. Customers of the Dresden company use the energy service platform to open up new markets, diversify their products and services, and pull ahead of their competition. To make this possible, Kiwigrid offers them cutting edge IoT technology and energy services that help increase energy efficiency, optimize the use of renewable energies, pave the way for electric vehicles, and stabilize grids. Kiwigrid GmbH was founded in 2011 and now employs over 160 staff from various parts of the world. Since then, the company has built up a wealth of expertise in energy as it relates to the Internet of Things and intelligent energy management. Kiwigrid is one of the world’s leading technology companies in these areas and was once again included on the Global Cleantech 100 list in February 2018.
Press contact: Daniel Kühne, Head of Marketing, T +49 351 50 195 0121, daniel.kuehnekiwigrid.com