Tο have an employee who desires to work for a specific company and feels happy during the performance of his daily tasks, the company and its management must convey confidence in him/her, appreciate him/her, respect his/her rights and keep its promises, beyond the obvious, i.e. being consistent in terms of payments, insurance and working hours.

In addition, investing in knowledge and allocating the necessary time to employees for social life, upgrade not only the quality of employees lives but also the quality of the work climate in the company.

Another key building block is optimism. It is important that the company and its employees are optimistic. I remember the psychiatrist George Vitsas, who played an important role in my view of optimism, mentioning that: first, “our goal should always be to become ‘champions plus 10%” and second, “to have always positive thinking, but also to associate with people who have positive thinking, because it is very difficult to avoid the negative influence of people with a negative way of thinking”.

Another amazing person I have met, namely Peter Economides, inspired us with his pioneering ideas, claiming that “There is no such thing as “it is not possible” – all great champions believe in this and that is how they succeed in their careers”.

All the above must last over time; they must not be random coincidences. However, it is mainly the Values and the Ethos of a company that make it stand out in the eyes of the employees and which lay the foundations for a healthy work environment.

All companies must have ethos and values ​​that do not deviate over time.
I will tell you about my personal story. I remember when I first started in Athens, in 1992, the pastry shop could provide employment for two persons. I called three girls and told them that, for me, they are all suitable and amazing. I gave them money to go out for dinner, to get to know one another and to decide by themselves which two of them would be hired. The next day, they came back and proposed all three of them to be hired, because they were all in need, sharing by three the sum of two salaries. After this proposal on their part, I decided that all three would stay and get fully paid. I am moved every time I remember this incident. God helped me and all three of them were finally needed.

This is how we went about in our lives, embracing the values ​​that our parents, coming from Asia Minor, instilled in us, and this is how we move forward even now. Some people will say: “Honesty is the best policy? How is that possible?”. But it turned out, over the years, that only with “honesty as your best policy” you can reach the top.

Just as you cannot make confectionery with low quality ingredients, so you cannot do business with low quality human resources. It is not acceptable for the employees and your partners to have low self-esteem, not to be sincere, not try to help, discreetly, when a colleague is in need or to lack principles and values in their lives.

I believe in quality work and in teamwork. Nothing can be achieved by one employee alone. Mutual assistance, kindness and lack of selfishness reduces problems and brings people closer- the same goes for the employees of a company.

All the above values ​​are summarized in my motto: “When you light 15-20 candles from your candle, the flame does not decrease, it multiplies“. Sο does love and kindness. They multiply. Let’s give, every day, love and kindness to all our people.