More than ten years after opening its office in Costa Rica, Atmos International (Atmos) continues to grow and develop new ways to improve its products and services. Now, Atmos has achieved an important certification, the "essential Costa Rica" country brand awarded by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER).
This certification guarantees that Atmos’ products and services represent the Costa Rican values of the country brand which are excellence, sustainability, innovation, social progress and Costa Rican origin. These values are also the assessment subjects that need to be passed in order to get the certification.
Opened in 2009, the Costa Rican office employed just 4 people. Today, in 2020, housed in a state-of-the-art modern office, Atmos employs more than 30 people. With this growth, it was important to involve Costa Rican values and culture in the operation.
essential Costa Rica evaluated Atmos in the following aspects:
Excellence
This value investigates the most basic aspects of the organization such as the mission, vision and organizational values, as well as processes, value chain, relationship with suppliers and customers. Atmos is also ISO 9001 certified so this helped achieve a high rating.
Oscar Flores , who coordinates quality management for Atmos in Costa Rica, comments “the ISO 9001 certification guaranteed us many of the items evaluated. During the evaluation, the auditor recognized that we have exceptionally good quality processes. It also gave us the opportunity to look at how we can continuously improve our standards and keep our high rating.”
Among the aspects that stood out the most were the recently renewed organizational values, the processes for evaluating nonconformities and corrective actions.
Sustainability
Costa Rica is characterized by being a country with strict environmental policies and being at the forefront of renewable energy. Therefore, this must be reflected in certified organizations as well. In addition, the commercial and financial sustainability of the organization is also evaluated.
Here environmental culture, management of resources and waste generated, as well as the relationship with the community were evaluated. In the organizational aspect, financial stability and commercial management was observed; including sales projection, investment and marketing plan among others.
Daniela Garro has been with the company more than five years in the financial team and was surprised by the rigorous evaluation "the certification showed that we did things well, it is reassuring to know that Atmos is not only excelling in its products and services, but that we stand out for more than just state-of-the-art engineering. It is great to know that we are part of a good organization, but also that we are creating a positive impact”.
Among the new measures, an energy management plan was chosen, where natural light is increased in the office and thus reducing the need for artificial light during the day. In addition, annual electricity consumption goals were established, they are kept in writing and each employee must accept them. This to promote these measures and that they last in the long term.
Social progress
The value of social progress consists of two foundations: job security and growth opportunities. The first part of the evaluation seeks that all employees have a contract and are in accordance with Costa Rican labor laws. The country brand with this seeks to avoid exploitation conditions, forced labor or other irregular conditions. Then the opportunities that collaborators have available to grow professionally and personally are evaluated.
Atmos obtained an excellent rating in the aspects evaluated. Not only because all legal provisions are complied with, but also for going beyond the expected. Atmos stood out for its organizations policies to avoid discrimination and workplace harassment, as well as for policies that seek the well-being of employees. Before the evaluation, Atmos already had an Employee Action Team (EAT) and a Social Responsibility Committee (SRC) group that seeks to promote group leisure activities and environmental and social level volunteers, respectively.
To get a perfect rating on the evaluation, Atmos undertook two changes. A new article in the employee handbook, against discrimination of any kind. This is an aspect that was already promoted in Atmos worldwide, but it was added to the employee manual in Costa Rica, thus promoting the adoption and acceptance of this rule. A declaration of respect for human rights was also generated, where Atmos declares to respect international agreements and local legislation related to work.
Innovation
essential Costa Rica requires organizations to generate processes where innovation is a key driver. Innovation is central to everything we do at Atmos and we make continued investments in research and development, as a result of our actions we also passed this evaluation successfully. For this value, innovation is evaluated comprehensively. From the planning and strategy to innovate, objectives, to the tools, methods and processes to apply. Promotion to innovate and management support are also evaluated.
The auditor managed to verify that innovation in Atmos occurs at all levels, from our headquarters in Manchester, UK, to reports that are made to clients in each office around the world. At this point, the customer service that Atmos delivers stood out. It was evident how Atmos must configure each system according to the specifications of each client, so that each project represents new conditions and engineers ought to find new solutions.
Origin
This category evaluates the origin of the resources that the organization has. To obtain approval, you must have a minimum of 75% of Costa Rican collaborators or have 51% of national capital. Atmos more than achieved this standard with over 90% of nationals working fulltime in the office.
Rafael Cascante, who played a key role in achieving this certification, comments “essential Costa Rica shows why Atmos chose Costa Rica for its Latin American office, it is a combination of culture, environment and people. I think it also shows the positive impact we generate, from relationships with our customers to the community around us. I like to think that we are now introducing a little bit of Costa Rica to Atmos.” He also added "Atmos is a global organization, I feel that gives more value to this certification, it allows us to show how we do things in Costa Rica while we all continue working towards the same goal."
In 2019, Atmos redefined its values. The exercise involved all employees, so everyone had an opinion and thus a part in the updated core values. Fresh thinking, being brilliant together and maximizing our potential where chosen. These values were tested during the evaluation and demonstrated how they support the entire organization.