CUSTOMER STORY 
See risks before they materialize – Anfra responded to silent signals in time
In growing infrastructure and industrial construction, employee experience is directly connected to leadership, retention and customer experience. Anfra has built its HR management systematically on data — and the results show.
CUSTOMER STORY
See risks before they materialize – Anfra responded to silent signals in time
In growing infrastructure and industrial construction, employee experience is not just an HR matter. It is directly connected to leadership, work fluency, retention and ultimately customer experience too. Anfra, a Finnish company working in critical infrastructure, industrial and energy construction, has built its HR management systematically on data. When employee surveys were wanted to be easy to answer, targeted at exactly the right themes and used systematically in decision-making, ZEF became the established choice.
Anfra operates in a demanding environment where projects are large, some engagements are confidential and the business is growing rapidly in Sweden too. At the same time, the workforce already numbers around 250. Tuomo Hilliaho, Anfra's HR Director, sees collecting employee data as a necessary part of modern management.
"If we're talking about leadership in the 2020s and leading people, I don't really see any alternative to conducting an employee survey."
— Tuomo Hilliaho, HR Director, Anfra
At Anfra, employees are already heard frequently in many ways: salaried staff have weekly one-to-one conversations, and on the worker side, mood and workload are tracked weekly. In addition, a common, comparable and management-level broad view of what is really happening in the organization was needed. It has been especially important to obtain data that is practically unavailable from elsewhere — such as feedback on management work on a large scale.
At Anfra, ZEF's greatest benefits relate to three things:
1. Surveys can be built precisely to their own needs
Instead of ready-made templates, Anfra wants to measure the things that are relevant for their organization.
2. Higher response rates
When responding is easy for the employee and reminders work smoothly, surveys yield significantly more comprehensive data.
3. Comparable information is retained year after year
At Anfra it has been considered important not to change metrics without good reason. When the same things are measured consistently, development can truly be tracked.
"One added value of ZEF is that you can measure what you yourself want, not just what the platform's creators thought you'd want to measure.
Anfra conducts employee surveys twice a year. Alongside the surveys, ZEF's AI interview feature has also begun to be used, enabling deeper understanding of open responses, themes and silent signals behind the numerical data. According to Hilliaho, this has been an important step forward:
"The AI interview makes employees' genuine experience and the feeling between the lines much more visible."
The results obtained from ZEF don't just stay in reports. At Anfra, employee survey results are handled in the management team and also brought to the board twice a year. This way employee data is directly tied to leadership, development actions and strategic decisions.
One of the most concrete benefits has been an extremely high response activity. Anfra's employee surveys have had response rates ranging from 80–98%. High response rates don't happen by chance, but through a combination of easy responding, effective reminders and active internal communications.
Another significant result concerns management work. The manager NPS of site workers in March 2024 was −2. The result was identified as a critical signal, based on which Anfra launched a broad management training for foremen and project managers. Results appeared quickly:
March 2024: −2
March 2025: +29
September 2025: +37
"Without that information this development project would not have happened. And without those actions, employee turnover would certainly have increased."
At Anfra, employee surveys are not seen merely as mood measurement, but as a tool for detecting changes in time.
In one unit, the forecast for the year ahead deviated clearly from other groups, even though the manager NPS was high. A closer look revealed that many employees' job descriptions had changed more than had been noticed due to the company's growth, internationalization and increasing project sizes.
It was a classic silent signal: employees were still in the same roles, but the work no longer matched what they had originally committed to. When the information was received in time, the situation was addressed — and there has been no turnover in that department.
Anfra's growth strategy is ambitious. That is why the significance of employee data is not limited to workplace wellbeing. When a company grows quickly, both attractiveness and retention are needed. Employee surveys help track both. According to Hilliaho, employee experience inevitably reflects on customers too:
"When people feel good, they radiate that around them. It certainly affects customer satisfaction too."
The Anfra example shows that an employee survey is not just for collecting feedback. Used correctly, it is a management tool that helps identify risks in time, strengthen strengths, direct actions appropriately and make better decisions for the benefit of the entire organization.
"Real-time information and good analyses, easy to use."
Hilliaho recommends ZEF to organizations that want to centralize all surveys — both internal and external — into one clear and manageable whole.
What you cannot see, you cannot manage – a shared truth was needed
Anfra operates in a demanding environment where projects are large, some engagements are confidential and the business is growing rapidly in Sweden too. At the same time, the workforce already numbers around 250. Tuomo Hilliaho, Anfra's HR Director, sees collecting employee data as a necessary part of modern management.
"If we're talking about leadership in the 2020s and leading people, I don't really see any alternative to conducting an employee survey."
— Tuomo Hilliaho, HR Director, Anfra
At Anfra, employees are already heard frequently in many ways: salaried staff have weekly one-to-one conversations, and on the worker side, mood and workload are tracked weekly. In addition, a common, comparable and management-level broad view of what is really happening in the organization was needed. It has been especially important to obtain data that is practically unavailable from elsewhere — such as feedback on management work on a large scale.
Three reasons why Anfra chose ZEF
At Anfra, ZEF's greatest benefits relate to three things:
1. Surveys can be built precisely to their own needs
Instead of ready-made templates, Anfra wants to measure the things that are relevant for their organization.
2. Higher response rates
When responding is easy for the employee and reminders work smoothly, surveys yield significantly more comprehensive data.
3. Comparable information is retained year after year
At Anfra it has been considered important not to change metrics without good reason. When the same things are measured consistently, development can truly be tracked.
"One added value of ZEF is that you can measure what you yourself want, not just what the platform's creators thought you'd want to measure.
Employee surveys as a management tool: making genuine employee experience visible
Anfra conducts employee surveys twice a year. Alongside the surveys, ZEF's AI interview feature has also begun to be used, enabling deeper understanding of open responses, themes and silent signals behind the numerical data. According to Hilliaho, this has been an important step forward:
"The AI interview makes employees' genuine experience and the feeling between the lines much more visible."
The results obtained from ZEF don't just stay in reports. At Anfra, employee survey results are handled in the management team and also brought to the board twice a year. This way employee data is directly tied to leadership, development actions and strategic decisions.
When data turns into actions, results follow
One of the most concrete benefits has been an extremely high response activity. Anfra's employee surveys have had response rates ranging from 80–98%. High response rates don't happen by chance, but through a combination of easy responding, effective reminders and active internal communications.
Another significant result concerns management work. The manager NPS of site workers in March 2024 was −2. The result was identified as a critical signal, based on which Anfra launched a broad management training for foremen and project managers. Results appeared quickly:
March 2024: −2
March 2025: +29
September 2025: +37
"Without that information this development project would not have happened. And without those actions, employee turnover would certainly have increased."
Making silent signals visible before they become problems
At Anfra, employee surveys are not seen merely as mood measurement, but as a tool for detecting changes in time.
In one unit, the forecast for the year ahead deviated clearly from other groups, even though the manager NPS was high. A closer look revealed that many employees' job descriptions had changed more than had been noticed due to the company's growth, internationalization and increasing project sizes.
It was a classic silent signal: employees were still in the same roles, but the work no longer matched what they had originally committed to. When the information was received in time, the situation was addressed — and there has been no turnover in that department.
Employee data also supports growth and customer experience
Anfra's growth strategy is ambitious. That is why the significance of employee data is not limited to workplace wellbeing. When a company grows quickly, both attractiveness and retention are needed. Employee surveys help track both. According to Hilliaho, employee experience inevitably reflects on customers too:
"When people feel good, they radiate that around them. It certainly affects customer satisfaction too."
Summary
The Anfra example shows that an employee survey is not just for collecting feedback. Used correctly, it is a management tool that helps identify risks in time, strengthen strengths, direct actions appropriately and make better decisions for the benefit of the entire organization.
"Real-time information and good analyses, easy to use."
Hilliaho recommends ZEF to organizations that want to centralize all surveys — both internal and external — into one clear and manageable whole.
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