Founded in 2000 in Norway, EcoOnline has grown into a global leader in Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) solutions. Over the past two decades, the company has strategically expanded through 14 mergers and acquisitions, scaling both its capabilities and international presence. But with growth came a new challenge: uniting people across borders into one cohesive culture. With 700 employees across multiple regions, EcoOnline’s mission extends beyond environmental impact—it’s also about nurturing a unified, values-driven culture. For CHRO, Saqi Sheikh, scaling successfully involved putting the right HCM system in place to support people development across borders. That’s where Bob comes in. With Bob, EcoOnline has evolved into a unified company by implementing scalable, automated processes—from talent management and compensation to time and attendance—while paving the way for smooth expansion into new markets. The result? A strong, aligned global team, ready for the next stage of growth.
Prioritizing culture after 14 M&As
When Saqi Sheikh joined EcoOnline as CHRO, she was the new CEO’s first hire, reflecting the value he places on EcoOnline’s people. Saqi was tasked with building a “One Eco culture,” a lofty goal following 14 M&As in seven years.
Following her onboarding, Saqi and Tom, the CEO, embarked on a whirlwind office tour, meeting people worldwide and listening to their feedback to resolve issues and create meaningful change. Saqi explains, “I’ve been very blessed in my journey in HR that I’ve had very good CEOs that I’ve worked with that have understood the importance of people. It means that when we’re talking about different areas of scalability, growth, development, and so on, people are always a part of that conversation.”
Saqi has introduced the Culture Code, a set of guiding principles embedded in EcoOnline’s people processes, including recruitment, performance reviews, and monthly All Hands meetings. She and her team have also established various reward and recognition programs, such as the Eco-Impact rewards, a peer recognition program where employees nominate one another for outstanding impact and share stories of how they demonstrate their values daily.
EcoOnline’s people use Bob to share these and other success stories across the organization. They love Bob’s badge feature—similar to Scouts’ badges—a way to show appreciation and recognize various milestones and achievements directly within Bob and collect new badges as they go. The people team has enjoyed seeing the competitive spirit displayed across the company, with team members on different sites striving to outdo their peers’ Shoutouts and Kudos, thereby fostering a culture of friendly competition and engagement.
Testing and perfecting new HR processes using Bob’s Sandbox
EcoOnline has implemented six Bob modules to help build a strong and scalable company, including: Core HR, Time and Attendance, Compensation, Talent, Sandbox, and Workforce Planning.
Before rolling out any new module or process, EcoOnline’s people team experiments with it in Bob’s Sandbox, a secure replica of their Bob platform that doesn’t impact their current environment. Jenna Kessing, EcoOnline’s People Projects Director, explains its impact, “Having the Sandbox environment to test things has been amazing. It enables us to move away from the active environment—which could potentially affect the employee experience—and have a safe zone to test and perfect before rolling out to the wider company.”
One of the modules that EcoOnline recently launched (after testing in the Sandbox) was the Compensation module. Previously, they ran their compensation events using spreadsheets, which were prone to duplication and error. Saqi describes the success of their first global compensation event: “It was a massive improvement from our old spreadsheet-based process with duplications and multiple versions. Our managers said, ‘Wow, is that it? Am I done?’ And the information was ready for payroll in a straightforward process.”
EcoOnline continues to invest in additional Bob modules. They are currently implementing Workforce Planning, which will enable them to incorporate headcount planning and budgeting for roles into Bob, their single source of truth, thereby creating a seamless process as they grow and enter new markets.
Main takeaways
- The unique relationship between EcoOnline’s CHRO and CEO drives culture-building at scale.
- Using Bob’s feed, EcoOnline can easily share their “One Eco” culture and values across 15 sites and 700 people.
- EcoOnline moved from spreadsheets to Bob’s compensation module, streamlining their global compensation process and creating a single source of truth.
- Using Bob’s Sandbox, EcoOnline’s people team safely tests new processes without impacting their current environment.
- Six Bob modules support EcoOnline’s growth strategy.
