Freedom, Inc_ - Brian M. Carney [113]
Joronen had strong convictions as to how a company should be run that she had not been able to put into practice as a bank manager:
I had a dream of a company whose employees would be satisfied with themselves and their work, who could [have] influence on their own work and on their customer relations. I had a dream of a company without unnecessary rules and regulations, without unnecessary bosses and hierarchy that prevent people from doing good work. I deeply believe that people work well if they have the freedom to decide themselves many things concerning their work instead of their bosses [deciding for them.]5
It turned out that the family business presented obstacles to realizing her dream. Her father was an old-fashioned, domineering type who would “not give up” and was still around most of the time, despite having officially handed the reins to Joronen. To avoid full-blown familial civil war, Joronen’s father divided the kingdom. He offered Joronen the unprofitable cleaning and small waste-management activities, comprising one-fifth of the original company, while her brother and three sisters inherited the more robust laundry and linen-renting activities. Her father also told her and a key manager who followed her into the new company that both of them could return. “He was sure that it would never work. And we said, we will show ourselves, my father, and the rest of the world that we will succeed,” Joronen later remarked.
The new company had no money. Joronen was not even sure how many of its former employees would stay—all of them did in the end—but it needed a headquarters. The studio space was hardly a traditional office, but it provided a blank canvas for the creative transformation SOL’s new leader and employees immediately undertook. In their hands it soon started to look like no other company. In its audacity and bold colors, its interior design resembled the later offices of Google. Except at SOL, the interior design was conceived and carried out within five weeks by the people themselves.
From day one, Joronen organized the company according to her convictions, questioning traditional “how” practices: “Why should we have offices that look like offices? Why work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.?” The company’s two hundred employees were asked to brainstorm and propose ideas about the workplace that they would like to have, and they responded with 1,146 suggestions. They also proposed the company’s new name—SOL—with bright, sunny colors for the logo, symbolizing “positive spirit, happiness at work, creativity and courage.”
The interior of SOL’s headquarters.6
Proposed workplace changes included getting rid of assigned desks for everybody—including Joronen herself. At the bottom left in the picture are the bags people use to store their belongings after they’ve finished their work and cleaned up their desk. Two people, though, do have assigned desks: one at the entrance (in the far back in the picture) who is in charge of welcoming job applicants—and who still cleans up his desk for use by others when he’s not around—and the union representative, whose desk is on the first-floor balcony. It’s to this gallery that Joronen first brought us to tour the headquarters.
“It’s very quiet now,” observed Joronen, looking down. “There can be three hundred people here and sometimes it’s like a circus or an amusement park.”
We wanted to know what this depended on.
“It depends on the weather,” replied Joronen and, seeing our surprise, explained. “Yes, of course. In summertime it is empty because people prefer their summer cottages. And if it’s raining on Sunday evening, even Sunday afternoon, many people come here. And then on Thursdays…because we have free soup for everyone. They come for the soup and they arrange to have meetings that day. I always invite business partners or customers on Thursday because it is lively then and we have the soup.”
We couldn’t restrain ourselves from playing