Jeanne Farina Gudrun Dunsche

Teresa García Muñoz

Who is Power Electronics?

Power Electronics SL is the global leader in energetic storage and the leading
manufacturer of solar inverters in Europe, Oceania, and America. It was the first company to
design and make a static ignitor in Spain, a device that takes energy and administers
progressively to a motor.
The enterprise was founded on 25th November 1987 by Don Abelardo Salvo
Babiloni, who previously worked in an Israeli electric company in Spain. After his arm had to
be amputated because of an electric shock at work, he had the idea to create a company that
started as a small warehouse in Valencia, Spain, with only three employees to help him. He
then moved to Cuba and Venezuela to distribute his Israeli electrical material in the oil sector,
which was not fully exploited at the time. Little by little, by investing profits, the company
grew into the multinational enterprise it is today, with 25 subsidies on all five continents and
60% of the market share in the USA. More than 2000 employees form part of this family
business, and the fast growth in the latest years has led to 500 people being hired just in the
first half of 2022.

In 2021, the company made 20,500,000 € in profits, and their total assets were worth
around 400 million €. From the products that they offer, we can distinguish four dimensions.
In the Solar division, Power Electronics' engineers partake in the entire procedure of
designing and manufacturing inventors and solar stations for photovoltaic plants. In the
Drives division, the company supplies savings and energy efficiency by incorporating
electronic starters and state-of-the-art speed drives into all industrial operations. In Storage,
they contribute to self-sufficient energy by manufacturing converters for battery-based energy
storage systems. And last but not least, in the E-mobility division, they help decarbonize the
planet and implement electric mobility in our cities by manufacturing poles and charging
stations for electric vehicles.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
The SDG are 17 interconnected global goals designed to be a blueprint for a better
and more sustainable future for all. We can see how nine of those seventeen goals are
achieved in Power Electronics. On the one hand, considering that this company helps provide
electricity from renewable energies, we can clearly see that it covers the goals of renewable
energy, climate action, and sustainable cities and communities. Furthermore, we had
mentioned before that they were the first company creating a static ignitor in Spain, and also
bearing in mind that they have 140 people in the R&D Department dedicated to developing
new products, the innovation and infrastructure goal is also reached. Moreover, the substantial
expansion in the past five years that the company has experienced can be linked to
contributing to economic growth and providing good jobs.
On the other hand, we will see later on, when looking at the company's principles and
benefits, that they also cover the following goals: good health, quality education, gender
equality, and reducing inequalities.

Employees' motivation within the company

Employee motivation in the company can be viewed from two perspectives: the
outside perspective, which is the information available for everybody online, and the inside
perspective that we have gathered by interviewing the CEO of the company, David Salvo, and
through surveys given to employees from different departments.

The outside perspective can be divided into the principles of the company and the
benefits they offer to its employees, both of which can be found on the company's website.
We can link to the different motivational theories four of Power Electronics's principles.
Firstly, they give much importance to the development of the human team, which can
be linked to three different motivational theories. In the first place, according to Herzberg's
Two Factors Theory, we can distinguish between motivation and hygiene factors. The
company continuously trains for the talent development of its employees, values the effort by
encouraging internal promotion (+50 promoted people), and gives the opportunity of
developing an international professional career thanks to the different subsidies; all of these
can be seen as motivators factors. In contrast, the company also offers private health
insurance, fresh local and seasonal food to obtain higher nutritional quality, and provides a
gym, childcare service, and charging of electric cars that employees can use for free; all of
these are hygiene factors.
Continuous Training can also be linked to the Hawthorne studies, which describe a
mechanism in which employees are motivated as soon as they feel valued by the company.
Since the company helps its employees improve professionally, they will feel like they matter
and be more motivated. Even the Job Characteristics Model evaluates Continuous Training as
an essential aspect because it leads to High Skill Variety due to Job Enlargement.
Secondly, another principle is that each employee is responsible for the Quality of his
or her work, which can be linked to three theories: First, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory as a
motivator factor. Second, it connected to Douglas McGregor's X & Y Theory because
responsibility leads to employees exercising self-direction and self-control, which is precisely
what Theory X describes. Furthermore, third, the Job Characteristics Model includes
Autonomy by Job Enrichment because the worker can control the execution of their work.
Thirdly, Power Electronics invites commitment by integrating each stakeholder to
collaborate with honesty and integrity to increase the employees' connection with the
company. Also, it offers a Master of Energy Transforms Power Electronics and the Power
Electronics Tgeener Program, in which 90% of the students are subsequently integrated into
the company. These opportunities will lead to higher Job Involvement since employees will
value them, and the company will be more present in their daily life.
Lastly, Power Electronics promotes diversity in the workplace by employing people
with over 20 nationalities who have more than 40 degrees. Diversity is positively correlated
with creativity and mind openness, which may positively impact performance. In addition,
the company was the first industrial company in Spain to equal paternity leave for 16 weeks,
creating equal opportunities. This may lead to people being more motivated because they may
feel that their input-output ratio explained in the Equity Theory is similar to the ones of their
colleagues.
Furthermore, from the outside perspective, the benefits offered by the company are:
first, a flexible spending plan with personalized benefits and a remuneration system called
Powerflex, which saves the employee's taxes and decreases their spending so that they have a
higher net income; second, the possibility for employees to work from anywhere, as long as
the characteristics of the position allow it. This alternate work arrangement can improve
motivation and be seen as a hygiene factor, such as Physical Working Conditions or Company
Policies. It can be seen as unfavorable because 100% teleworking can decrease creativity due
to a lack of communication with colleagues. It could also negatively influence the employee's
perception of the Quality of Supervision, which is also a Hygiene Factor in Herzberg's
Two-Factor Theory. Last, as another alternative work arrangement, Power Electronics'
Flextime can increase motivation because the employees feel they have autonomy as they
have the freedom to choose their work schedule. Employees enjoy one hour of flexibility
from Monday to Thursday because they can work between 8 am and 5 pm. On Fridays,
employees can work between 8 am and 3.15 pm, again enjoying one hour of flexibility.
During Summer and Christmas, employees are given two hours of flexibility to work between
7 am and 3 pm.

From the inside perspective, we can compare the CEO's and the employees' opinions
and perceptions of motivation within the company. We interviewed the CEO, David Salvo,
and asked employees in different positions, such as Management, Technicians,
Commercials, etc., to participate in a survey that included 11 questions about motivation in
the company. This section is structured, taking into account the different motivational
theories.
Firstly, related to Mc Gregor's X and Y Theory and the Autonomy Core dimension of
the Job Characteristic Model, David Salvo states that the company tries to recruit passionate
people about their jobs. In a poll, about 80% of employees said they feel they have autonomy
in their position. The more passionate an employee is about their job, the more autonomy can
be given to the person. Douglas McGregor's X and Y Theory describes how Type Y people,
who view work as something natural, will exercise self-direction and self-control if
committed to goals. We asked employees with very different positions in the company, so it is
possible that some experience more autonomy than their colleagues, because someone that
works in production can be given less autonomy than a commercial. The CEO also mentions
that the company allows employees to telework which was implemented because of the
Covid-19 pandemic. Only the production department has this possibility. Another important
aspect is that in the departments of administration, R&D, applications, offers, IT, tax, legal,
purchasing, human resources, and other non-production departments, employees have flexible
working hours, which have been explained previously. In addition, these employees can work
from home one day a week. Workers in the production department have their work shifts, and
each worker, in agreement with his or her manager, can adjust it. All of this can explain the
autonomy experienced by the workers.
Furthermore, looking again at the Job Characteristics Model, 85.7% of employees
think they are given enough feedback to work productively. However, only 42.9% feel they
are given enough recognition for their work, which lowers their motivation, making
recognition the most important way to increase this sentiment. However, the CEO explains
how each employee has an individual interview every year with their responsibility for their
department to talk about their recent performance, which needs to be revised. Another way to
make employees feel recognized is by merit-based pay, which varies among employees
according to their performance and is proposed by the manager based on the annual
individual productivity interviews.
Additionally, related to Skill Variety (JCM), David Salvo indicates that the company's
"Power Academy "offers training videos and courses carried out online and taken by
employees individually and at the time of their choice. Online tests evaluate how successful
people learn from videos and courses. In addition, Job Rotation can be requested by the
workers themselves, and it is often asked for in the yearly personal interviews with their
department managers. Power Electronics tries to ensure that the employee finds the job that
best suits his or her abilities once he or she works in the company. 100% of employees voted
"yes "or "mostly "when asked if they think their jobs include job variety.
Employees were also asked if they felt their jobs have influenced others' lives or jobs,
and 100% of them answered "yes." We can attribute this to the fact that the company helps
provide electricity, a primary good, from renewable energies, helping the environment. Also,
64.3% of employees feel like their jobs involve the whole process of an activity, which is a
low percentage. We can explain this, as Power Electronics is a multinational with many
departments, and work is divided between them and very specific to each.
Another critical factor for employee motivation is the employee's involvement in
decision-making processes. Meanwhile , the CEO thinks that employees are involved in a
participatory way. Communication starts between one employee and his or her manager, and
continuos when the issue is passed on to his or her superiors. Depending on the issue's
importance, it ends up in the management committee. Most of the employees who
participated in the survey disagree, with 71.4% voting for "no "and 14.3% voting for "not
frequently. " Again, we can observe how communication in the company is a problem that
Power Electronics is facing due to the rapid growth in the past years.
The last one is related to the Goal Setting Theory used in Management by Objectives;
David Salvo states that the goals given to employees are specific but challenging, and the
workers seem to agree, with 42.9% voting for "yes "and 57.1% voting for "mainly. "
Finally, we ask the company's CEO if motivation is essential in Power Electronics
and, if so, how they implement it. Moreover, we contrasted this information with the
employees' survey. On the other hand, David Salvo states that employees' motivations are the
company's main objective. He also emphasizes that the way to increase it in the company is
based on physical factors, such as free gym, electric vehicle free charging, and services
provided, such as chiropractic massages, private health care, and more. In contrast, in the
survey, we can observe that they are motivated, not so much because of the company, but
because of intrinsic reasons. Moreover, after reading some comments made by the employees
on how the company can improve this aspect, we can conclude that they value the physical
factors and services, but more is needed to increase their motivation. The thing that needs to
be added in the equation is simply recognizing their work and having closer communication.
And as we have seen, this is a consequence of the rapid growth experienced by Power
Electronics.