Where women lead the way.

7A offers office, meeting, and conference facilities in central Stockholm with a focus on personal interaction. The company was founded in 2006 by Fredrik Hultman and Bo Fuglsang at Strandvägen 7A — the facility is still located at this address, which is where the name 7A comes from. With its four locations, 7A is one of the larger players in the coworking industry.

Since its inception, corporate culture has been a vital component of the company, where first-class service combined with a personal approach has been fundamental for all employees. Susanne Lindqvist, current CEO, and Eva Bloch, HR Manager at 7A, view this culture as a central part of the company’s success.

“7A has a fantastic corporate culture that empowers many highly skilled individuals to embrace their abilities and grow — to take chances and seize new opportunities. This means that 7A, in turn, benefits from great expertise from colleagues who have chosen to stay and develop within their roles — or try new ones!”

Susanne continues to describe 7A’s corporate culture and how it has contributed to the company’s gender equality within the leadership team. Today, 7A stands out with over 80% women in its leadership group, a figure that sharply contrasts with the rest of Sweden — yet is not entirely unexpected within the industry.

“In a female-dominated industry, a female-led management team doesn’t raise many eyebrows. However, when looking at industries with female-majority workforces, many are actually not gender-equal or are almost entirely male-dominated once you reach managerial or executive levels. As a company, we must continue to set goals and be willing to evolve — nothing happens by itself.”

Room for Improvement in Swedish Leadership Roles – New Report Shows

Although Sweden has long been praised for its work on gender equality, a new report indicates there is room for improvement.

For years, Sweden has topped the charts on gender equality, but the report Recruitment Companies: The Gatekeepers of Business, published by Allbright — a politically independent and non-profit foundation — shows that Sweden needs to strengthen its equality efforts. The greatest focus should be on senior leadership roles and CEO positions.

“Sweden is also falling behind in gender equality on a global scale, according to Allbright. Five years ago, Swedish large companies were leading in gender-equal management teams. Today, France and the UK have overtaken Sweden, and Germany is expected to do so within a few years.” — Dagens Nyheter, 2024-02-05

So, how does 7A buck this trend?

A Winning Corporate Culture in a Reversing Trend

7A, which offers office, meeting, and conference facilities, has four locations in central Stockholm: 7A Posthuset, 7A Strandvägen, 7A Odenplan, and 7A Vasagatan. Many companies and tenants move through these coworking spaces daily. Since 7A organizes numerous networking events such as breakfasts, lectures, and elevator pitches, companies have the chance to meet, inspire, and develop together.

“7A’s main focus has always been to provide our tenants and visitors with an extraordinary experience. We want to contribute to developing the coworking and event industry into a networking meeting place.”

7A’s core values — professional, committed, personal, and vibrant — are not only applied internally but also extend to tenants and visitors, permeating the entire company. When Eva Bloch started at 7A, she was hired as Culture Manager — which, according to Eva, shows that 7A had a clear ambition to build a strong culture and that corporate culture is an inherent part of the company’s DNA.

“We strive for our corporate culture to be so strong that it rubs off on our guests. A wonderful example is the story about a room full of orchids, where the fantastic scent of the orchids lingers and follows you out. It stays in your clothes, hair, and skin — suddenly, you smell like the orchid room — spreading that amazing scent to others.”

“In a similar way, we aim to spread a positive feeling to our tenants and visitors — a feeling that stays with them and is passed on. We’re starting small with everyone at 7A saying hello to each other, and hopefully, eventually all of Stockholm will greet one another.”

With its encouraging culture, 7A has harnessed the expertise within the company and offered new opportunities to those with ambitions to grow. Both Susanne and Eva see the strong work on corporate culture as a major contributing factor to the high number of women in managerial and leadership positions at 7A. They agree that encouragement and new opportunities are a winning formula for empowering people to take more risks — a view shared by colleague Kitty Nyberg.

“I have worked at 7A for over seven years in several roles. I have progressed from being a Booking Manager to now working as a Revenue Manager — nothing has felt impossible, and I have always felt seen and heard.” — Kitty Nyberg, Revenue Manager

7A’s Future and Goals

Regarding 7A’s ongoing work on gender equality, CEO Susanne Lindqvist emphasizes the need to stay vigilant and set clear goals to reach the company’s objectives.

“Set clear goals based on what the company wants to achieve, because nothing happens by itself. At 7A, we believe in equality and balance. A mix of backgrounds, ages, and genders is a strength that drives us forward. Moving ahead, our focus is to continue broadening diversity among our employees — and in contrast to society at large, our greatest need is to attract more men into certain roles.”

“The biggest problem is that companies often don’t understand, or even recognize, the problem in front of them. We don’t see our own barriers, so it’s essential to actively work on such an important topic.”

The Allbright report serves as a reminder that corporate gender equality work should never be taken for granted and highlights the importance of setting clear goals to actively pursue it. With its long-standing efforts, 7A has shown that a strong and inclusive corporate culture benefits both internal aspects, such as inclusive leadership teams, and external relations with tenants and visitors. Through dedication to first-class service and a personal approach, they have created an atmosphere where employees thrive and develop, which in turn delivers an extraordinary experience to customers. By setting clear goals and continuing to promote equality and diversity, 7A aims to remain a leader in the industry.

Welcome to 7A — with office, meeting, and conference facilities, we create the meeting places of the future. We create spaces where people can connect and develop, and where companies can grow. Get in touch to learn more!