It is also a quirky firm that, even while the European economy staggers, has in place unwavering policies of taking employees on exotic trips as part of its management strategy. After Fjord employees have been at the company for two years, they are required to travel to Scandinavia to visit real fjords to understand why the company is named as such. ("Fjords are examples of elegant simplicity," Schybergson says, also referring to the firm's guiding design principle.) And each year, every single staff member, from CEO to receptionist, is swept away to places like Crete and Mallorca to bond. Each trip is commemorated proudly with a photo of employees beaming, usually poolside, in shorts and sandals as if on Spring Break. The expense is justified, according to Schybergson, for team-building.
Fjord's work environment and innovation philosophies are obviously more touchy-feely than those of the more buttoned-up, bank behemoths that hire the design firm. And this might just be its strength in a sector whose image is suffering in the era of Occupy. "Fjord knows nothing about banking. And I mean that as the highest compliment," says Uguina of BBVA, with a laugh. "But they know about great experiences. Typically, banks want to just hire lots of people with knowledge of financial institutions when they want to remake themselves. But they usually can't think out of the box."
