People & Culture Transformation

Over the past ten years, Carnegie Fonder has experienced significant growth, both organically and through acquisitions. Revenue, profitability and headcount have increased, along with the complexity of the organisation. To support the company’s next stage of development, both as a business and as an employer, Carnegie Fonder sought to strengthen its HR function.

In 2017, Sweden HR Group joined as a fully outsourced HR partner. The assignment evolved from ongoing operational HR support into a multi-year strategic transformation in which People & Culture became an integral part of Carnegie Fonder’s business planning. The result was clearer structures, stronger leadership, broader cultural alignment and a marked improvement in eNPS.

The Challenge

Carnegie Fonder needed to secure its day-to-day HR delivery while also developing the organisation for the long term. People & Culture needed a clearer strategic role, a closer connection to the business and the ability to strengthen culture, leadership and employee engagement as the company continued to grow.

The Solution

Sweden HR Group established a team-based solution in which two consultants assumed the roles of Head of HR and HR Generalist, together forming Carnegie Fonder’s HR function. The delivery combined ongoing HR operations with strategic direction. This gave the organisation access to both operational capacity, including payroll administration, reporting and HR compliance, and senior strategic HR expertise, without having to build the entire function internally.

Sweden HR Group participated in the management team, acted as a close adviser to the CEO and led targeted organisational development initiatives, including the design and delivery of tailored leadership programmes.

When Carnegie Fonder reviewed its business plan in 2025, it became clear that People & Culture needed to play a more central role in the company’s continued development. The area was identified as one of five strategic workstreams and was therefore given a clear mandate within the business planning process. This laid the foundation for a more structured People & Culture transformation, with Sweden HR Group responsible for leading the work from analysis and strategic direction through alignment and practical implementation.

Implementation

1. People & Culture as a Strategic Worksteam

A central part of the assignment was to integrate People & Culture into Carnegie Fonder’s business planning. People & Culture was established as one of five main workstreams and thereby became a clear part of the company’s strategic agenda.

The work began with an in-depth cultural analysis and resulted in an integrated strategy for both People and Culture. The focus ranged from structures, processes and HR infrastructure to culture, values, behaviours and the ways of working that needed to be strengthened to create meaningful change.

2. Roadmap 2030 and the People & Culture House

As part of Carnegie Fonder’s business planning, Sweden HR Group developed a strategic roadmap through 2030. The roadmap was built around six priority areas within a People & Culture House, with each area translated into specific activities, responsibilities and priorities.

People: Compensation & Benefits, HR processes, administration and compliance, and human capital.

Culture: Employee engagement, Leadership and Management.

3. Broad Organisational Alignment and Practical Culture Work

During the business planning process, both an operational project group and a larger reference group were established to create broad alignment across the organisation. Values and ways of working were translated into concrete behaviours, with a clear distinction between existing strengths, or core values, and future ambitions, or aspirational values. This enabled the organisation to address its real cultural challenges in an open and action-oriented way.

4. Leadership Development from the Management Team to the Entire Organisation

The development work followed an inside-out principle. Together with the management team, the group’s purpose, mandate and ways of working were clarified. A leadership programme was then delivered for all managers, followed by a broader initiative in which the entire organisation was involved in defining and embedding employee engagement and accountability.

Three frameworks were developed to create shared direction and clarity across Carnegie Fonder: Way of Management Team, Way of Leadership and Way of Carnegie Fonder. Together, they formed both a cultural manifesto and a practical framework for how the management team, managers and employees should act, collaborate and move the company forward.

Results and Impact

The work created a clearer strategic direction for People & Culture at Carnegie Fonder and provided the organisation with shared structures for leadership, employee engagement and ways of working. Through a systematic approach to employee surveys and other information channels, insights were translated into concrete action plans and ongoing follow-up.

One of the clearest outcomes was the development of eNPS, which increased from -20 to +30 over a three-year period. Confidence in the management team also strengthened. This demonstrates a significant positive shift in the employee experience and reinforces the link between structured HR work, leadership development and cultural transformation.

A decisive success factor in Carnegie Fonder’s transformation was strong and genuine ownership from the CEO. By dedicating time and driving the agenda together with us over several years, the CEO helped create the momentum and organisational alignment required to succeed.

Another important prerequisite was the trust and mandate we were given to act as a fully integrated HR function for employees, managers and the management team. We were empowered to lead projects and drive changes and initiatives, while the work was continuously aligned with and followed up by the CEO.

“People & Culture is absolutely business-critical for Carnegie Fonder. Sweden HR Group has been a partner that has taken end-to-end responsibility and advanced our People & Culture agenda in a structured and business-focused way. With their support, we have been able to turn strategic initiatives into practical implementation. This has helped strengthen both our internal direction and our business.”

Andreas Uller, VD Carnegie Fonder

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