A Certificate About Trust That Nobody Could Verify: How Great Place To Work Fixed the Contradiction

TL;DR: Great Place To Work certifies organisations on the strength of what their own employees say. Until recently the proof of that was a PDF, designed by hand, typed by hand and emailed, with no way of knowing whether it ever arrived. The certification is a statement about trust, and it could not itself be checked. Close to a thousand certifications have now been issued through TRUE, and they have been viewed well over a hundred thousand times. That is more than a hundred views for every single certificate.

What does the certification actually say?

That the people who work there say so. Great Place To Work certifies organisations based on one of the most widely used employee surveys in the world, which means the organisation does not hand itself the result. Its own staff do.

That is what makes the certificate worth something, and it is also what makes it worth faking. A badge earned by a survey looks identical to a badge nobody earned, once both are a picture in an email.

Emma N Stara is CMO at Great Place To Work.

“We work with trust every day, both in what we measure and in how we deliver results. That includes the certificates. They have to be secure, easy to verify, and reflect the quality of our brand.”

What did the old process cost?

Time first. Every certificate meant design work, data entry, and an email with a PDF attached.

Then something less obvious. There was no way to tell whether a certificate had been received, opened or used at all. An organisation that measures things for a living was sending out its most visible product and measuring nothing about it.

What changed?

The certificate stopped being a file and became an address. Each one is branded, verifiable online in seconds, and easy for a certified company to share with its own market.

“Now we can deliver certificates with a much more professional feel. It saves us time, and we know our clients appreciate the added value.”

Internally the platform sits inside the existing process, which is why distribution got smoother and support requests went down. Nobody at Great Place To Work is copying names between systems.

What did it do for the certified companies?

This is where the numbers stop being about administration. Close to a thousand certifications have been issued this way, and they have been viewed well over a hundred thousand times.

More than a hundred views per certificate. A certified company does not file the proof, it publishes it, and every time it does the name of the organisation that certified them travels with it. The certificate became a distribution channel for the certifier, which is not what anyone set out to build.

Why does a trust certification have to be verifiable?

Because otherwise the document contradicts itself. A certificate whose entire message is that this organisation can be trusted, and which the reader has no way to check, is asking to be taken on trust. That is the one thing a trust certification cannot afford to ask for.

An employer brand claim is checked by exactly the people most likely to look closely: candidates deciding where to work, and journalists deciding whether to repeat it.

Emma's advice to others

“If your organisation's brand is built on trust and quality, just like ours, TrueOriginal is a great match. It is simple, secure, and modern.”

Where to read more

Great Place To Work describes its certification and its lists at greatplacetowork.se. Another organisation whose whole product is a credible award: Universum. On what a certificate does once it is shared, see the certificate as a marketing channel.

Frequently asked questions

What does a Great Place To Work certification actually measure?

The employees. Certification is based on one of the most widely used employee surveys in the world, so the organisation does not award itself the result, its own people do.

What did issuing the certificates involve before TRUE?

Significant manual work: design, data entry, and sending PDFs by email. There was also no way to tell whether a certificate had been received, opened or used.

What can Great Place To Work see now?

Whether a certificate was opened, where it was shared, and how much attention it drew. Close to a thousand certifications have been issued and viewed well over a hundred thousand times.

Why does a trust certification need to be verifiable?

Because the claim and the proof have to hold to the same standard. A certificate that says an organisation can be trusted, which nobody can check, asks the reader to take it on trust.

What is Emma N Stara's advice to other organisations?

That if a brand is built on trust and quality, TRUE is a good match, because it is simple, secure and modern.