Zühlke triples number of employees in three years

The group, which has 17 offices in ten countries, started in Porto with less than 20 people in February 2021, and in the space of three years has already created around 90 jobs. It was "accelerated growth", recognizes Mariana Salvaterra, CEO of Zühlke in Portugal, "but conscious". The Swiss group's satisfaction with the performance of the Portuguese team led to increased investment. Last year, it opened a new office, with an innovative and inclusive design, and opened its doors to more hires, offering a range of benefits to ensure the attraction of talent. This opening "has allowed Zühlke to consolidate its position as a leading employer in the city and as a hub for projects of excellence for international clients," says the manager. Four million euros were spent, also looking to the future.

One of the focuses of this investment was to create a workplace accessible to all. As Mariana Salvaterra explains, the new office was designed with care to mitigate obstacles to mobility. "All the spaces are spacious to make it easier for employees with motor difficulties to move around, we've also created an accessible meeting room for this purpose, we've reinforced the lighting in the spaces and we've put up adapted signage so that blind employees can move around in all conditions," she describes. The aim is to have "the best people at Zühlke and this cannot be limited by any degree of disability or other personal characteristic", she stresses.

Zühlke currently has a blind software developer. According to Mariana Salvaterra, the recruitment of this employee was "an apprenticeship for us to improve the tools used at this stage, ensuring that the whole process is as inclusive and equitable as possible, so that all professionals have access to the same opportunities, regardless of their characteristics". The programmer "has physical and digital tools at his disposal that make his day-to-day life easier, so that he can work without any obstacles" - just like his other colleagues.

In Porto, Zühlke is also a multicultural center, where people of 14 nationalities work, having come from all over the world - from Russia to Brazil, via Egypt, Serbia and India. These professionals make up almost 40% of the workforce. The small Babel is only possible because the group has a policy of mobility between offices, which allows it to offer a cross-border experience, promoting the exchange of knowledge and learning from specialists in different areas, she points out. There are also foreign professionals who were already in Portugal and have been integrated into the Porto team and, at the same time, Zühlke has supported some candidate relocation processes.

The Porto team is focused on developing software and devices for different projects, essentially for the telecommunications and health sectors. All the work is aimed at international clients. According to Mariana Salvaterra, the group is still in the process of recruiting and in order to stand out in a city with qualified and highly sought-after talent, it has a policy of benefits, such as a four-day working week, flexibility in managing working hours and location, mobility between offices, as well as competitive salaries.