To conclude the International Week of Happiness at Work held last week, focus on one of our committed partners: Framery.
Some companies start with a clear vision. However, this was not the case for the founders of Framery and it took them years to understand what they were actually doing. Today, Framery is now one of the fastest growing companies in Europe, and is positioned as the world leader in the acoustic booth market.
2010, Tampere (Finland)
« There were around a hundred employees working in the same open office space, two of us had enough of listening to our boss speaking constantly on his phone with a headset. It was basically impossible to concentrate on anything. We two soon came up with a less than polite proposal, that the boss goes elsewhere to make his calls. He was quick with a response: “Well, buy me a phone booth”. The problem being that there wasn’t one on the market so the only alternative was to make one.
Done.
The first booth was ugly and not particularly soundproof, but we had found our calling and realized that many workplaces suffer from the same problem with no solution available.
That day we gave up working for that software company and started to become experts on acoustics and, Framery was born.
After years of development and rigorous trial and error, our booth turned out to be super functional, a silent place to work with superb acoustics and silent ventilation.
After, Framery began to travel and soon companies such as Microsoft, SAP and Deloitte bought them and loved them. We sold them in their thousands.
Initially we thought we were selling silence – but we were wrong. Together with our customers we saw the bigger picture.
Noise in open offices is a major obstacle to workplace happiness, because of constant disruptions. It’s takes time to refocus, you become less productive, less creative and your potential is not fulfilled. You become less happy as a result.
This was our wake-up call. When we removed the noise problem, people quickly became happier. Happy people are more efficient, more creative and produce better work. Happiness then obviously and quickly became our purpose going forward, not only concerning our products but for everything we do.
But noise reduction is, and will be, just a part of the solution to workplace happiness.
With a strong focus and investment in research, and a commitment to practice what we preach inside our own company, we are determined to find the other parts of the happiness solution, and we intend to be happy while doing it. »
Samu Hällfors, CEO of Framery
Happiness must also be sustainable
As you can see, Framery takes happiness seriously, and that’s not just happiness today, it’s about happiness for future generations too.
Since 2018 Framery has been committed to the UN Global Compact corporate responsibility initiative and its principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
Moreover, acknowledging the serious environmental threats we are all facing including (climate change, resource scarcity and loss of biodiversity), Framerians strive on a daily basis to make the most responsible choices possible for the environment and climate. « We see that the shift towards a circular economy is critical. By converting business models to more circular operations, we aim to future-proof business while respecting environmental boundaries at the same time. For example we are participating in a research project with Circular Economy Integration in Nordic Industry (CIRCIt) for enhancing sustainability and competitiveness through the Circular Economy. »
The result: innovative solutions, allowing happiness at work.
You can find out more about their products here.
Source: https://www.frameryacoustics.com/en/company/our-story/
