Planet Farms: Engaging talent with Thrive

As a multicultural and fast-paced company, Planet Farms aims to attract talent that fits its company values and can thrive in this type of environment in the long term.

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Using Thrive, the company was able to design an assessment that uncovered role and culture fit, while cultivating the growth of the current employees.

Who is Planet Farms?

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Planet Farms is dedicated to developing sustainable, scalable, and accessible forms of controlled environment agriculture.

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Through its innovative process and technology, Planet Farms strives to minimise the environmental impact of agriculture, adapt to ever growing global challenges, and ensure the availability of healthy and safe agricultural produce for the current and future generations.

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Planet Farms first started using Thrive in December 2020.

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What did they want to achieve?

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Hire the right candidates while maintaining their values.

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What were their challenges?

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Planet Farms managed to create a work culture that was diverse and inclusive, built on strong values. However, they were finding that the best candidates on paper were not always the right candidates for the company, which meant that they would often spend time and money onboarding people who didn’t fit in with their unique corporate culture.

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“We’re shifting the mindset.”

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Born in Milan with offices in Italy, UK, the Netherlands, and Portugal, the company was already working in a unique way, but not without challenges. According to Luca Corso, HR Recruiter and Business Partner at Planet Farms, “in Italy, no one evaluates work by results. Most people are judged by their presence in the office. It’s a big challenge for us because we’re shifting the mindset.” With such a unique and well-established culture, it became a challenge for Planet Farms to hire good workers who’d also fit the specific values and working environment the organisation offers.

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Solution: Thrive’s market-leading assessments

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Planet Farms decided to sign up to Thrive. “I always use Thrive before the interview stage,” Luca elaborated. “We also send the feedback to candidates every time, so that we can discuss the results together and understand whether they are aligned with the idea they have of themselves. Different teams use Thrive in different ways, but overall, the response to Thrive has been positive.”

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“I recommend Thrive, especially for companies that have never used a tool like this before — it’s so user-friendly!”

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Even though Luca studied psychology at university, he was looking for a simple tool that even laymen can use. “I recommend Thrive especially for companies that have never used a tool like this before — it’s so user-friendly!” he added. Beyond candidate assessments, Planet Farms has also been using the development tools that come with the Thrive platform.

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The results

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“Thrive hits a perfect balance between speed, efficiency, and user-friendliness.”

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Hired the right candidate, every time

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As a relatively small company, it’s particularly vital for Planet Farms to consistently hire the right person. In order to do that, Luca thoughtfully considered what persona fit the vibrant nature of Planet Farms, and using Thrive, he was able to implement it into the organisation’s recruitment process. “We have a unique set of values that are important to us, so we use the Thrive assessments to gather information about whether a candidate shares those values,” he summed up.

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“I use Thrive to help me decide which candidate is right,” Luca added. “I go deeper than just the results, though. A score of 40 would be better than 80 for certain roles, for example, but I also use the assessment to inform my interviews and all aspects of feedback.”

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“Thrive is a great support during the interview stage.”

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The assessments provide another data point that can help make a final, informed decision. “If I have some doubt in an interview, Thrive can confirm or refute it,” Luca said. “Sometimes, in the interview stage, you can talk to someone and there’ll be some alerts going off in your head. With Thrive, I can go deeper. I use the suggested questions to better understand the character of the candidate. It’s a great support during the interview stage.”

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Beyond the results themselves, Luca confessed that the approach to the assessment in and of itself shows him something significant about an applicant: “you can see the difference between a candidate who wants to understand the results, get feedback, improve and expand their knowledge, and one who doesn’t.”

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Increased engagement with development tools

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Shifting the Italian paradigm, Planet Farms wanted not only to make sure they’re hiring the right people, but also that they can retain them. “As a scale-up, development is key for us,” Luca shared. “So far, we managed to build a great culture, and we want to continue to improve it.”

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“Using Thrive’s development tools, we are now able to increase our engagement and retention.”

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“Thrive has been absolutely useful for our development,” he continued. “We had feedback meetings after the assessments, and everyone involved agreed with the Thrive results, and people have enjoyed using the tool.”

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“Using the development tools, we are now able to increase our engagement and retention,” Luca added. “Our next step will be to use the assessments to build a development journey for our employees for this year.”

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Maintained a diverse and inclusive culture

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Planet Farms wanted to ensure the employees they hire can work in a diverse environment. “Planet Farms has always been an international company, so when I prepare the assessment for candidates, I’m looking for that mindset,” Luca explained.

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“Thrive hits a perfect balance between speed, efficiency, and user-friendliness,” he added, “getting the information about soft skills has been extremely useful for interviews, another touch point or a lens to understand the interview.”

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“Thrive helps me make sure that we made the right decision, not because of some bias, but because we understood the candidate.”

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But it’s more than just a simple touch point — it’s an assessment free of prejudice or human error. “Thrive helps me make sure that we made the right decision, not because of some bias, but because we understood the candidate,” Luca proudly said. “It’s also extremely user-friendly, even if you don’t have a psychological background. This helps me easily explain the results to a manager without technical knowledge.”

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Interested to hear how Thrive can help you produce similar results? Book a demo with us today.

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