Terms and conditions for certification and ranking

December 1st 2024

1      Eligibility requirements for certification

Each certification-eligible Service (Assess, Analyze, Accelerate) contains one (1) certification attempt. In order to complete the certification attempt, the following prerequisites must be met:

1.1       The customer must have 10 or more full-time and/or part-time employees based in Sweden (this does not therefore include consultants or others with temporary employment). Any reference to "employees" in this document shall refer to such full-time and/or part-time employees who are based in Sweden, and as employees defined according to section 2 in these conditions. 

1.2       The customer must ensure that the Trust Index survey©, which must be taken in order to complete the certification attempt, is available to all employees. If necessary, decisions can be made about a different number of employees in consultation with Great Place to Work.

1.3       If the total number of employees is 5000 or less, all employees must participate in the Trust Index Survey©. If the total number of employees is more than 5,000, as a general rule at least 5,000 employees (which [may/should] be a random sample of employees from across the country) must complete the Trust Index survey (however, this may vary depending on the details of the commissioned the Service (ie Assess, Analyze or Accelerate)).

1.4       The Customer must receive enough responses in the Trust Index Survey© to meet or exceed the current certification threshold meaning that there is less than a 10.5% margin of error at a 90% confidence level in the outcome of the survey.

1.5       Client shall submit a Culture Brief reflecting employee demographics and corporate programs at the time of survey distribution. Please note that different countries within GPTW have different requirements for the Culture Brief.

1.6       The Trust index survey© and Culture Brief must be carried out in and reflect the entire Customer's organisation and, if applicable, all group companies (including parent companies and subsidiaries), divisions and departments in Sweden. The Customer can be awarded Certification independently of its parent company, subsidiaries, etc. only if the Customer can demonstrate before entering into the Agreement that the Customer and its parent company, subsidiaries, etc. operate as completely separate entities under different brands and with different workplace cultures.

2      Policy for survey participants – Great Place to Work Sweden

Our goal is to ensure that your survey provides an accurate assessment of your workplace experience and workplace culture. Great Place to Work is committed to maintaining a fair process for all organizations that apply for certification and possible ranking of Sweden's best workplaces. We can only certify and rank organizations reliably and fairly when everyone follows the same guidelines regarding which employees should be included in the survey.

2.1       These must be invited to participate in the survey

2.1.1     All certification surveys must reflect employee feedback from across the organization, ie all business areas, locations, departments, roles, etc.

2.1.2    The general rule is to invite all employees in the organization.

2.1.3    If an organization has more than 5,000 employees, a random sample of at least 5,000 employees must be invited to participate in the survey. Contact your Customer Success Specialist or our support at support@gptw.se for help.

2.2      These are considered employees

2.2.1     Everyone who is legally employed and receives a salary directly from the organization, as well as who is classified as one of the following at the time of the start of the survey, is regarded as an employee within the organization:

a) All full-time and part-time employees, including seasonal and fixed-term employees
b) All job roles (including CEO)
c) All geographical locations (if the organization has offices/employees in different locations).
d) New employees (the recommendation for participation in the survey is that you must have worked for 3 months)
e) Employees who work remotely
f) Trainees who have an internship of at least 3 months

2.2.2   If you intentionally or accidentally do not invite any groups of your employees, it may result in disqualification from certification and ranking opportunities, regardless of list.

2.3     These shall not be invited to participate in the survey

2.3.1    Hired consultants: A consultant who is employed by another company or is self-employed shall not participate in the survey.

2.3.2    Layoffs: A layoff means that a group of employees temporarily stops working with the expectation that they will return to work for the employer in the future. Depending on the situation, furloughed employees may be unpaid, partially paid or paid by the state and benefits may then vary. During the time employees are furloughed, they remain employed. However, they cannot be expected to do any work during this time. Therefore, they should not participate in the survey.

2.3.3    Leave of absence: During the time that employees are on leave of absence, they remain employed. They cannot be expected to answer the survey during this time. Therefore, they should not participate in the survey.

2.3.4    Parental leave: During the time that employees are on parental leave, they remain employed. They cannot be expected to answer the survey during this time. Therefore, they should not participate in the survey.

2.3.5    Sick leave: During the time employees are on sick leave, they remain employed. They cannot be expected to answer the survey during this time. Therefore, they should not participate in the survey.

2.4      This applies if you have employees that live in a country other than Sweden

2.4.1     If there are fewer than 10 employees in a country outside of Sweden, you can, if you wish, invite them to participate in the Swedish certification survey. Otherwise, you invite them to the survey without including them in Sweden's certification.

2.4.2     If there are 10 or more employees in a country outside of Sweden, these will participate in the certification process for that country. This requires the Accelerate package.

2.4.3     If 10 or more employees are based in another country, there are enough employees to create its own culture and employee experience. It is important to understand the experience of this group of employees outside of Sweden and it provides an additional opportunity to be certified and ranked in that country.

2.5       This applies to staffing companies

2.5.1     If you define your organization as a staffing company, i.e. you have employees who are hired out to client companies for work under the control and management of the client company, different rules for participation apply.

2.5.2    Those who should take the survey must be people who are actually employed and are part of the workplace culture. Those who are hired on assignments usually become part of the workplace culture of the organization they are hired to.

2.5.3    Due to Sweden's legislation on staffing companies, Great Place to Work Sweden makes an exception and allows certification and possible ranking for part of staffing companies in Sweden. For example, surveying only the head quarters and excluding the leased staff from the survey. For these certifications, it needs to be clearly stated that it is a part of the company that is being surveyed, e.g. "Company HQ". However, this exception does not apply to rankings in other international lists, such as Europe's Best Workplaces.

2.6 Certification for parts of a company
2.6.1     Great Place to Work Sweden permits certification and potential ranking for specific parts of a company in Sweden. For example, it is possible to measure only a particular function or region while excluding the rest of the organization from the survey. In such cases, it must be clearly stated that only a part of the company is being measured, such as "Company Stockholm Region" or "Company Customer Service." However, this exception does not apply to rankings on other international lists, such as Europe’s Best Workplaces.

2.6.2     To certify a part of a company in countries outside of Sweden, an agreement must be established between the company and the relevant Great Place to Work licensees.

3      Certification, profiles and ranking of best workplaces

3.1       When the Customer has completed all necessary steps and all the above conditions and any other conditions in the Agreement have been met, the Customer will (if applicable) be awarded the designation of Great Place To Work certified™ and a Great Place To Work certification®®®™ , and to be included in the current Great Place To Work ranking list of best workplaces. The primary determinant of whether companies place on a Great Place To Work Best Workplaces ranking list is their employees' responses to the Great Place To Work Trust Index survey, which is an employee survey developed by Great Place To Work®. The specific criteria and methods for selecting which workplaces to place on the Best Places to Work list are managed and selected by Great Place To Work at its sole discretion and are subject to change.

3.2       The certification is valid for 12 months from the date it is awarded to the Customer ("Certification Period"). Customer awarded Certification may use the country-specific Certification Brand, royalty-free, during the Certification Period in accordance with the guidelines found here: Certification Brand Usage Guidelines https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certification-brand-guide.

3.3       The Customer will, if it has received certification, be considered during the Certification Period to be ranked as Best Workplace if the Customer meets [the requirements for this in force at any time]. In order to be considered for the Great Place To Work ranking of Best workplace, the conditions are as follows:

3.3.1   The Customer must receive enough survey responses to meet or exceed the thresholds applicable to the Best Places to Work List meaning that there will be less than a 5.5% margin of error at a 95% confidence level in the outcome of the survey.

3.3.2  Completed Culture Audit (text describing how your culture distinguishes/stands out compared to the cultures of other organisations). For organisations that exist only in Sweden, it is mandatory to complete a Culture Audit when more than 250 employees per organisation. For organisations with employees in multiple countries, the requirement threshold varies depending on each country.

3.3.3   The Customer must be Great Place To Work certified at the time of establishment of a Great Place To Work list and meet certain other specific criteria applied by GPTW from time to time. Times and criteria are subject to change.

3.3.4  The customer must have at least 20 employees to be eligible for ranking.  

3.3.5 The Customer must have a published Great Place To Work profile. The Great Place To Work profile is published online by Great Place To Work and may highlight company facts and particularly positive results from the survey [which the Customer wishes to be published].

3.3.6   If the Customer will be selected for a Best Places to Work list, the Customer is entitled to use the country-specific list badge, royalty-free, according to the guidelines found here: https://www.greatplacetowork.com/national-list-badge- guide

3.3.7 Special requirements for other lists from Great Place to Work Sweden

a) In order to participate in the ranking of Skåne's Best Workplaces, in addition to the regular requirements, you need to clearly state in the Culture Brief that you have headquarters in Skåne as a region, or alternatively include questions in the survey or your employee data file where it is clear that there are employees from Skåne. 

b) In order to participate in the ranking of Best Workplaces in IT, in addition to the regular requirements, you need to specify "Informaton Technology" as the industry in the Culture Brief. 

c) To participate in these lists, the same requirements apply as for the ranking of Sweden's Best Workplaces according to 3.3.1. 

d) The minimum number of employees for these lists is 20.

4      The integrity of our selection process

4.1       Great Place To Work does not take personal relationships, gifts or other influence (or attempted influence) into account when certifying the Customer and/or when selecting which workplaces to include on the current list of best workplaces. The purchase of Services from Great Place To Work® (eg consulting) does not help the Customer to obtain certification or be included on the current list of best places to work.

5      Confidentiality: Data, materials and other customer information

5.1       Great Place To Work will only provide Customer Data to approved partners who have contracted with Great Place To Work to develop and publish a list and/or related results. The data shared with such partners may include selected data points collected in the Culture Audit, specific Trust Index survey results and employee comments.

5.2       In addition to publishing Best Places To Work lists and Great Place To Work profiles, Great Place To Work may use Aggregated Data in connection with the publication of reports, articles, research or books.

5.3       Great Place To Work may provide examples of the Customer's best practices for creating a good workplace culture in presentations, interviews, articles and other communications, but only in accordance with the positive recognition guidelines set out below.

6      Guidelines for positive recognition

6.1       GPTW may publicly give the customer positive recognition, which is distributed by GPTW, our suppliers and media partners. Customer will not be negatively criticized for its efforts, policies, programs or practices.

6.2       Great Place To Work has the right to publish the Customer's outcome of the Services without first obtaining the Customer's approval, provided that the publication is in accordance with these guidelines.

6.3       The Customer hereby grants Great Place To Work Institute, Sweden AB, the right to use data, information and other material that the Customer and/or its employees provide as part of its use of the Services as well as any Certification and ranking (together the "Material"), in the way that Great Place To Work Institute, Sweden AB wishes for the purpose of producing, developing and publishing lists of best workplaces or related results.

6.4       The Materials may contain selected data points collected in the Culture Audit, specific results from Trust Index© surveys and employee comments. The customer agrees not to review and/or approve such material prior to Great Place To Work Institute, Sweden AB's use of it and further grants Great Place To Work Institute, Sweden AB a right to during and after the term of the Agreement (in whole or in part) copy, edit, revise, adapt, modify or otherwise change and use the Material for the purpose of creating, developing and publishing Best Workplaces lists or related results.

6.5       The customer waives all legal claims for compensation of any kind for the rights it grants to Great Place To Work Institute, Sweden AB through this clause.

6.6       The Customer consents to Great Place to Work publishing the Great Place To Work Mark and, where applicable, any information, Customer logos or trademarks, or photographs or anything else that the Customer or its employees have sent to Great Place To Work in order for Great Place to To Work must be able to implement the Services and evaluate the Customer and/or produce a Great Place To Work brand for the Customer.

6.7       From time to time, Great Place To Work may enter into agreements with third parties to produce the Great Place To Work brand in print and other forms of media, and the Customer consents to the use of such subcontractors.

7      Privacy

7.1       Terms regarding security and confidentiality can be found in the General Terms and Conditions which are available here: https://www.greatplacetowork.com/external-security-policy.

8      Suspension

8.1       The Customer also commits to in no way try to influence how the Customer’s employees respond to the study, and to point out the importance for the employees that they shall not try to influence the study. The communication before and during the Trust Index survey shall be neutral in both speech and text. This applies to all communications and all individuals who communicate regarding the survey of the employees.

The Trust Index survey is a tool to evaluate the workplace experience in an honest and straightforward way and, in the event of influence on responses, Great Place to Work cannot deliver a reliable report.

8.2       If the Customer violates this appendix and Great Place To Work reasonably believes that the Customer's violation may affect or otherwise entail any risk to GPTW's intellectual property rights, Great Place To Work reserves the right to immediately suspend the Customer's access to the Service. Great Place To Work will contact the Customer to assess whether the Customer can remedy such breach within thirty (30) days in a manner satisfactory to Great Place to Work.

8.3       If such breach cannot be remedied) within thirty (30) days, Great Place to Work may terminate the Company's eligibility.