It’s Up to Us
How we’re making SumUp a place where everyone feels safe and happy.
Kristina Kmieliauskaite is one of the driving forces behind ‘It’s Up to Us’, an initiative to ensure that SumUp is a safe, nurturing environment for every single person that works here. Kristina, who works in Talent Development, made a major contribution to SumUp’s culture earlier this year by organising our Berlin team’s LGBTQ+ Pride month celebrations. “It all started with a casual chat between myself and Andrea from our Talent Acquisition team. I really care about queer rights, and felt like we should be discussing this topic more at SumUp. I wanted to do something more substantial than throw a party or join a parade, so we arranged an awareness session. Our queer community put together an amazing presentation explaining the origins of Pride and why it’s so important. And it was a safe space for straight people to ask any questions they might have, without fear of judgement. The response was incredible. Around 100 people attended and the atmosphere was so positive and supportive.”
Shortly after this, Kristina was approached by Steven, who oversees Employee Experience, to help define and deliver a company code of conduct. “The idea was to start an open discussion about making SumUp a safe environment for everyone. Steven was already working on the code, and I approached other people to ensure we had diverse voices feeding into it. Initially, the main challenge was knowing where to start, because the topic is so sensitive and broad. It would be impossible to tackle every difficult situation that might arise at SumUp in one document. So we focused on a simple idea that we wanted to communicate–if your behaviour at work makes someone else feel uncomfortable, you’ve already crossed a line.”
When it came to rolling out this message, Kristina adapted the awareness session format that had proven so successful during Pride. “We arranged a lunchtime event in each of our 3 Berlin offices to have relaxed, friendly conversations about what it means to make someone feel uncomfortable. One of our immediate goals was to make people aware of how they’re behaving in social situations like company parties–any occasion where the line between professional and personal becomes blurred. My aim for the sessions was for people to become more mindful about how their behaviour may affect those around them. It’s not about imposing a long list of rules that everyone has to obey; it’s about developing a mindset of stopping and thinking whether your actions might have negative consequences.”
Our session began with a chat about behaviour that doesn’t have a place at SumUp. In small groups, we shared experiences from previous jobs and talked more broadly about discrimination, bullying and harassment.
Kristina then raised a crucial point for us all to reflect on. SumUp is made up of people from over 50 different countries, and our cultural heritage plays a major role in shaping our behaviour. As such, we’re all responsible for educating one another about our cultural differences, and for jointly defining a code of conduct that protects everyone.
Afterwards, our hosts introduced a set of tools for dealing with inappropriate behaviour at SumUp and explained how our People team can offer support. Finally, we played a game–various scenarios were described to the group, and we voted on whether the behaviour was acceptable or unacceptable. This proved very effective at kick-starting a nuanced discussion about grey areas and situational context.
Kristina is extremely happy with the initial response to the sessions. “I feel that we’re building a truly nurturing environment here. Everyone seemed comfortable talking openly and honestly about their experiences. It’s great that so many people wanted to take part, and that we managed to sustain a cosy atmosphere while discussing sensitive topics.”
As our conversation draws to a close, Kristina reflects on the opportunities she’s had at SumUp to pursue passion projects. “We aim to be a flat organisation with an agile mindset, and I think we’ve already achieved that in many ways. I feel totally free to test things out and learn from mistakes, and I’m constantly surprised by how helpful and approachable people are here. It’s a bit like building a sandcastle. You can start out making something without knowing how it’s going to turn out. And once you’ve got your foundation, you can expand it with help from others, or knock it down and start again if you’re not happy with the first attempt.”
Kristina would like to thank the following SumUppers for their contributions to ‘It’s Up to Us’: Steven Gilmore, Andrea Pereira, Kaspars Freibergs, Angus Fisher, Priyanka Nair, Anna Marie Allgaier, Cinzia Afuye, Shania Ko, Lili-Jane Giordano and Iris Tuil.
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