We interviewed Didier Demange from Temenos after the company has been ranked first Best Workplace Luxembourg in the Large Companies category.

The quality you need to become and remain a Best Workplace:

We’ve always believed that an open mindset keeps us abreast of our landscape; our success is built on constant innovation and evolution through the search for excellence.

We like to keep an “open door” policy throughout the company and encourage collaboration at all levels – we always strive to make Temenos a place where we value everyone’s ideas and where people are treated equally.

Everyone comes from a different background and brings something different to the table; whether it comes from gender diversity, difference in generations or cultures, people will likely look at things differently. The combination of those differences is extremely powerful when keeping an open mind.

Your flagship HR practice:

Diversity and Inclusion are embedded in our DNA.

Our 5,000+ employees are based around the world in 40 different countries where they work alongside people of different gender, culture, race, and sexual orientation. All together, we represent 89 different nationalities and we all share Temenos’ values: Customer Core, Inspire Better, See Different, People Power and Operate Responsibly.

In each of our offices, you could meet individuals from different countries, with a mix of backgrounds, united by the desire to achieve greatness. More than ever, we believe that Temenos’ strength lies in its global and diverse workforce. Wherever we are, we share a passion for innovation, a common sense of purpose to transform the banking industry and are committed to making Temenos – and the people who connect with Temenos – successful.

Your definition of “well-being at work”:

We spend an enormous amount of time and effort to ensure that all Temenosians are able to fit into our culture, survive, thrive and ultimately enjoy what they do. We have characterized our environment as the “TEMENOS WAY”.

The time of the year that gathers your co-workers:

The Temenos anniversary is always an amazing time of year for all Temenosians.

This year in particular was a great opportunity to celebrate, as we marked 25 years of seeing things differently (click on the image to see the video).

The method to retain your co-workers:

By fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration, and by investing in our people’s development, we are able to attract and retain the best talent and ensure we continue to deliver unrivalled customer success.

We are constantly investing in our talented people, which enables us to maintain a truly satisfied workforce. The vision, commitment, and ambition of our people is key to our success.

The quality to be a good manager:

Open communication is the baseline for all great leaders. In Temenos, the two-way dialogue that is encouraged at all levels of the organization is key to building trust and strong working relationships amid a fast growing and geographically dispersed workforce.

We are proud of our culture that promotes transparent communication as well as easy access to all employees at all levels – anyone can easily approach, email, call, skype call any member of the senior management team and vice versa. The management team regularly travels around the world to meet with employees and communicate the corporate plans and objectives. They also actively participate in company events and activities.

It is this type of open dialogue commitment that strengthens our teams and truly helps leaders to connect with their employees.

The value that represents the best your corporate culture:

People Power is at the core of our values.

What we create and achieve is a result of the aspirations and goals of the 5000+ unique individuals that make up Temenos today.

Our people drive real change and working together as a team is what got us to where we are today. We believe that challenges present opportunities for growth. Ideas become reality when you stay determined and are not afraid to take risks!

From the moment George Koukis founded Temenos 25 years ago, he made it a priority to recognize and celebrate employees’ merits, and embed the Temenos values into our everyday activities, whether that’s through tenure recognition, performance related compensation, competences based promotion or career progression. This was continued by our Chairman, Andreas Andreades, our CEO, Max Chuard, and passed on to our executive committee and ultimately to all Temenos managers.

The next HR best practice you would like to implement:

Bridging the gender gap is top of mind on our HR agenda.

Although we have an impressive 34% female presence at all levels throughout the company (significantly higher than the 28% that work in the US tech industry overall according to Forbes), we still have a long journey ahead, as the challenge to attract more women is constant with all IT companies.

Nevertheless, Temenos has managed to attract more and more women over the years and we want our company to play an even more active role in helping women enter and remain in the technology field.

Here are 25 ways that we ‘see things differently’, as described by Temenos employees for our anniversary.