Annamarie Velic: Most Importantly – Don't Devalue People

It has been more than two years since the company ‘Swedspan Girių bizonas', manufacturer of wood shaving panels, has been operating as part of the concern Swedspan that belongs to the IKEA corporate group. This is why Annamarie Velic, Corporate Environment, Health and Safety Manager at ‘Swedspan', has turned into a frequent visitor of Kazlų Rūda in recent years. Who, if not the representative of the concern with considerable experience of solving the issues of work and safety and ecology, is able to notice changes in the company and in the surroundings of its closest neighbour – town? Ms. Velic has kindly agreed to tell our newspaper all about it.

If you looked back and recalled your first visit in ‘Swedspan Girių bizonas' two years ago: what impression did the plant leave you with and is there something that has changed so far?

If compared the first visit and today's situation, the distinction is more than obvious. Well, here is a real case – logs were stored simply on the ground. Autumn, rain, muddy employees' gumboots, etc. Have a look now – timber is stockpiled, the sites are blacktopped, and everything is arranged orderly.The enormous gap between the management and employees, lack of trust as well as scant attention to work and safety immediately caught our sight. The worst thing was that everybody was not dismayed and lived comfortably with it. The IKEA position on this issue is rigorous: employees' work and safety is considered to be one of the top priorities in the company so we have put a swift effort to remedy the situation. We are happy to report our endeavour has borne fruit – everything has considerably changed in recent years, and to the better.
The employees themselves are seemingly pleased with these changes – let's say, new work outfit. Now everyone has special clothing, footwear, and we also invest into technologies dealing with employees' work and safety. Much has been done so far – we are very pleased to see it, for well-being and safety of people is taken care of.Now back to the lack of trust, unfortunately, one could sense it not only inside the factory but also outside – the community's negative approach simply lingered on the air. And it was our closest neighbour we tried to build better and genuine relations with! I was shocked to find out what people's concerns were – as if the plant poisoned water and increased the risk of developing cancer.
Consequently, a working group consisting of representatives from the community of Kazlų Rūda and employees from the factory was set up. I can verify it is still an active group, not a formal meeting. People ask questions and discuss.

The Concern ‘Swedspan' executes the Green Agenda. What is it?

It is a scheme for a harmonious corporate activity, which sets out how work should be organised, successfully operating in business and concurrently making no adverse impact on the environment and town community. Our Green Agenda defines internal standards for our activity, and they are more stringent than national ones.Undoubtedly, one cannot utterly avoid feeling the presence of the company – it stands and will not vanish, and there will always be those who will look askew at us. However, the adverse impact can surely be limited to the minimum so that people would not feel or hear anything. Supposedly, it is the noise issue. By replacing and technologically modifying the equipment, the level of noise can be reduced. A new wood crusher can illustrate it best.
The same can be applied to emissions. Yes, there is no way to stop generating them but an effective management of the processes can produce optimum results and potentially minimal emissions into the atmosphere.This is the core of the Green Agenda – awareness that the company will willy-nilly make an influence to the environment, and efforts should be made to reduce the negative impact.

Taking the company's progress of recent years into consideration, can we claim we will live to see ‘green' future, as set in the agenda?

I am sure everything is possible! Human thinking and good leadership can be the key. If a company purposefully goes for these objectives and openly communicates with people about the causes for the actions to be taken, then it is on the path to success.In my opinion, one of the key preconditions to success – people working here. We can simply be happy because the majority of them are long-term employees who know what to do and are fond of their job. And it gives so much.

One of the items in the Green Agenda is public relations. What should they be like from your point of view?

I think we should yearn for new and mutually relevant forms of communication every year. It is highly important to take the community's intentions into consideration – to learn what are the requests and misgivings of the citizens and search for mutually useful solutions.We work a lot in order to implement constant and active processes of communication to enable mutual awareness and benevolence. We plan numerous educational projects, organise events of reforesting and tree planting in the town. Although the factory uses timber only from the forests with the certificates for tree replanting, there will never be too many green areas, will there?
People in Kazlų Rūda are sharp-witted and educated so they are aware of our activity. Information on any issue should be supported by facts. So if the company speaks up openly and attempts to implement this exponent mission, everything will be fine – the citizens will not be so much concerned with its activities and they will know what is going on. In no way should we devalue people and think they will not follow and judge information available!

This rule is likely to be applied for people who work in the company who at the same time are part of Kazlų Rūda?

Without any doubt, a lot of members of the town community work in this factory, and we wish them to be proud of their workplace! People should return home and proudly say they work for the company that belongs to the IKEA Group, for the company that operates under the ‘green' principles and takes responsibility for nature, its employees, and pays much attention to their work and safety and gives the tools for the job to be done. Our employees should take pride in their workplace, and work here not because of financial stimulus.

To end the interview, one personal question: what are your hobbies and interests? Tell us more about yourself?

I enjoy sports – skiing, horse riding, volleyball, etc. In fact, the sports also depends on the children's choice. I have twelve-year old twins so when I wish to spend more time with them I follow them wherever they go. My daughter rides a horse – here I go next to her. My son is interested in badminton so I play together with him.Speaking about my professional interests, the first thing I want to say is that the ‘Swedspan' plant here, in Kazlų Rūda, is one of my favourite. I enjoy working in the area of ecology very much – how wonderful is it to have a job that can affect people's lives and improve the quality of their living! And these are not merely talks. I go where I can achieve it: let's say when we look for solutions of pollution prevention and reduction of noise from the plant, etc.
I previously worked for a US company that owned 42 plants globally and I was responsible for Europe and Asia. I had to pay more attention to the issues of work and safety – Americans are enormously meticulous in this area! Europeans, on the other hand, find the issues of environment protection and ecology more relevant. And it seems to me this is my field of expertise so I can be useful for people.

Thank you for the interview!

The interview was published in regional newspaper "Kazlu Rudos laikrastis"