Who are you? Tell us something about yourself 

“My name is Sara Gabrielsson and I work in the HR & Payroll department at Axelent AB. I have two children, a partner, a dog and live just outside Värnamo.” 

Can you tell us about your educational background and the reason why you chose that path? 

“After high school, I studied the Marketing Economics program at Jönköping School of Business. Since then, I have worked for more than 10 years with different kind of sales, everything from customer coordinator to focus more on relationship-building sales.  I have always wanted to work with people and relationships, preferably in combination with numbers. A friend of mine saw an education to become a payroll consultant and said that it would suit me perfectly and it sort of went from there. In December 2021 I graduated as a payroll consultant.” 

How did you get in touch with Axelent and how and when did your journey here begin? 

“During the last semester of my education, we had a period of job internship and I applied to Axelent. I worked part-time during the autumn until I finished my education and from the beginning of the new year, I became a part of the Axelent team.  

Axelent as a workplace was very attractive for me. An international company and still family owned by people we meet every week and who live and work here. I also saw that Axelent was very visible on social media and one of the bigger things that stood out was that a traditional manufacturing industry had a young woman as CEO, which I think stands out as a modern and competent company.” 

What is your role? 

“I’m an HR-/Payroll specialist and part of the HR team together with my closest colleague (with the same role) and our HR manager.  We are responsible for payroll management and HR issues for Axelent in Sweden. My closest colleague has a long experience of payroll work, and my focus now is to learn as much I can from her and to translate theory from my education to practical work.  
At the same time, we have slightly different orientations, where I have more focus on our intranet and management around recruitment. I see that part of work as enormously rewarding, and it gives me a chance to develop my interests around employer branding.” 

What are the benefits about working at a company like Axelent? 

“The owners are involved with personal commitments and there is a constant focus on the company and the employees. The culture is to be responsive and to dare to be brave and bold and not to fall back into old habits.  

It is a family atmosphere and the culture is genuine, which is grateful because soft values are the most difficult to fix from an HR perspective if we don’t act as we learn. If you want to develop, you have all the possibilities to do so. I also do not experience any hierarchy which I have witnessed in other companies and the decision paths are short.” 

Your profession includes being involved in the work to find people for our different employments. What would you like to pass on to those who are curious about Axelent and the different professions that exist here? 

“If you join the Axelent group, no matter which company, we have colleagues who will welcome and help you with everything. From finding the coffee machine the first day to inviting you to a paddle tournament or just getting involved in your new professional role from day one.  

The genuine concern in the family culture, together with the professionalism and the fantastic journey that Axelent has made gives you possibilities to grow and develop with the company. A company in little Sweden but at the same time so extremely international in the way of thinking ahead.  

Surveys show that soft values ​​are becoming increasingly important in the workplace and here you get consideration, care and safety in your employment, regardless of what role or department you work in. 

You can work in the warehouse with packaging or as a product developer, at customer support or as a CNC-operator, as a mechanical designer consultant or an installer. The areas are endless and since we are constantly growing, we have continuous applications out there. But we are also happy to accept spontaneous applications!” 

What gives you energy and inspiration at work? 

“An inviting social climate with open communication and humor with warmth. Colleagues who care about each other both in the workplace and in life in general.  

I get energy from feeling that you do something important every day by supporting people, but at the same time I’m part of a business that together creates a synergy effect. I think that everyone can recognize themselves no matter what department you are in or what role you have within Axelent.” 

Some quick questions to get to know you better:

Baking or cooking?  

Baking 

Spinning or padel?  

Difficult choice but I choose spinning (I had never answered that before I started on Axelent) 

Summer or winter?  

Summer 

Movie or series?  

Series 

Morning or evening person?  

Evening