Social sustainability

Decent working conditions and a safe and secure working environment are important focus areas for Cell Impact. This area is essential as a positive force for sustainable economic growth and as a contribution to a sound business climate with a human perspective. Cell Impact implemented staff reductions due to its financial situation in 2023 and 2024.

This has been demanding for the company’s employees and has affected their well-being and perceived job security. At the same time, the changes have had some positive effects. The internal flow of information is perceived as better, and new customers and exciting product development projects have provided opportunities for innovation and skills development.

Sickness absence and rehabilitation

During the year, Cell Impact had an average sickness absence of 5.2 percent, a marked improvement compared to last year’s 8.4 percent. Those employed under a collective agreement had a higher rate of sickness absence than the company’s salaried employees.

To manage sickness absence, the company has had rehabilitation meetings and support from occupational health services and has received rehabilitation support from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). Internally, during the year, Cell Impact developed clearer procedures for reporting sickness and better, more frequent rehabilitation meetings.

Diversity

During the expansive years of 2021 and 2022, Cell Impact made a conscious, strategic and competency-based effort to attract talent to the company. Until the redundancies in 2023, this contributed to diversity among employees in terms of gender, age, ethnicity and religion as well as educational and industry backgrounds.

As a consequence of the redundancies in 2023 and 2024, however, diversity has decreased significantly. Despite this, the company has managed to maintain an even gender distribution with 49 percent women working in production, which is high compared with the manufacturing industry as a whole.

Expertise and training

Cell Impact operates in a changing industry. With its unique and extensive experience in manufacturing flow plates, Cell Impact is a center of knowledge in the industry. Expertise and training are therefore crucial, and skills development is a key strategic issue. To be successful, it is crucial for Cell Impact to have employees who are constantly learning and developing in their work.

Through periodic employee surveys, Cell Impact continuously monitors how employees perceive their learning experience. Since the end of 2023, the number of employees who stated that they learn and develop continuously in their work has increased from 63 percent to 87 percent. This represents a marked increase of 24 percentage points from the 2023 low as well as the highest result in a positive trend over two turbulent years. This positive development reflects a sharper focus on new customers and exciting product development projects, which have provided opportunities for innovation and skills development.

At Cell Impact, employees are frequently engaged in cross-functional projects and support and assist with tasks beyond their regular roles. This is often perceived as stimulating and helps employees learn from each other. Cell Impact also ensures that the right information is delivered to the right person at the right time and conducts individual checkins where knowledge, skills and learning are on the agenda.

Onboarding programs, internal training and competency matrices are other crucial elements in the company’s learning culture. Cell Impact uses these to monitor development and ensure that both new and experienced employees have the right conditions to grow in their roles.

Accidents and incidents

Cell Impact’s efforts to ensure a good work environment lay the foundation for a safe, health and developmental workplace for all employees. It is therefore important for the company to work systematically, always report incidents, identify risks and address areas of concern. Through safety rounds and an occupational health and safety committee, Cell Impact conducts analyses and follows up on accidents and incidents, especially within production where the risk of accidents and incidents is greatest.

Preventive initiatives involve systematic occupational health and safety initiatives where Cell Impact considers occupational health and safety aspects in all significant decisions related to the company’s operations. Cell Impact conducts risk assessments, for example, during the installation of new machinery, changes in processes and tasks or changes in personal conditions, leading to safer ways of working.

Through periodic employee surveys, all employees are engaged in occupational health and safety issues. In these, employees’ responses are transparent and can be reviewed in real-time by everyone within an anonymity threshold of three responses. The data is used to prioritize safety efforts and it also creates awareness among everyone regarding occupational health and safety issues.

A period of staff reductions

Unfortunately, the difficulties of 2023 were followed by further challenges in 2024. The past year was a challenging and uncertain one, with previously agreed savings programs leading to a reduction in the number of employees – some at the company’s initiative and others voluntarily. As a result, roles, responsibilities and the organization have been adjusted on several occasions. The focus has consistently been on securing expertise and enabling sustainable and profitable operations.

Quarterly meetings were held with all employees and internal communication was transparent and open, thus strengthening the sense of cohesion and commitment within the company.