Planning the work after pandemic – launching the ‘Hybrid Work’ model

Just over 25 percent of TietoEVRY’s 24,000 employees would like to work from home full-time or be in the office less than one day a week, 65 percent wish to work from home at least three days a week and only 10 percent wish to be in the office every day. This is the finding of a recent survey, which was answered by around 8,000 employees of the company. They were asked questions about their experience of working from home and how they would like to work when the restrictions are lifted. Using the results of the survey as well as internal forums to ensure co-creation, TietoEVRY has now formulated a new policy on office and remote work, called ‘Hybrid Work’.

“During the pandemic, remote working has become an integral part of the everyday lives of our employees and has meant more flexible working life for many, as well as increased efficiency and less travel. However, our offices continue to be an important meeting place for collaboration, innovation, and inspiration. We have been trying to find a healthy and appealing balance between working at the office and co-working spaces, and working remotely and from home,” Patrik Wåhlin, Head of HR at TietoEVRY Sweden, says.

Based on its own experience and research TietoEVRY has compiled six tips to take into account when preparing for hybrid work:

1. Establish clear guidelines for hybrid work: What is expected from employees in a hybrid work model? How should working time be reported? How and where to store and share documents? When clear guidelines are in place, everyone knows what is expected from them and both managers and employees can trust that the work is being done regardless of the place.
2. Management training: Hybrid work sets challenges for leaders when everyone can choose their own workplace. How to maintain the sense of belonging and motivation? How to make sure that everyone gets involved in the meeting when part of the team attends virtually? Psychological security is important between both, the team members, and the leader.
3. Go digital with employee trainings: All training materials need to be available there where the employees are. Offer trainings and personal development materials for every employee, not only to managers. This helps to support motivation and spirit.
4. Adapt offices to new ways of working: New ways of working require new office solutions. Many come to the office for social reasons which requires social zones and meeting rooms. At the same time, there must be room to concentrate. You can get inspiration about quiet zones at libraries and trains, for example.
5. Provide good collaboration tools and tools to book meetings: Good collaboration tools are really important in project management. This requires both meeting platforms and tools that make necessary documents easily accessible. Video conferencing can be exhausting, so a good flow of information is extremely important.
6. Guidelines for hybrid workplace including equipment: What do employees need to do their job without stress and injuries?

The company’s new global working guidelines are based on a flexible hybrid model that offers employees greater freedom of choice. The exact amount of each employee’s remote working is to be determined in consensus with each employee’s line manager, team and customer. This will mean, among other things, greater investment in digital tools and a restructuring of the offices, which are to be designed in a way that focuses on social interaction, innovation and culture building among colleagues.

“We know that social interaction is important for the culture of the company; our offices should inspire and encourage this. However, developing a universal solution applicable to all of our 24,000 employees is basically impossible. Therefore, we have chosen to adapt the way of working as much as possible according to employees’ various individual requirements and preferences. Our employees will be able to continue working from home as long as this does not affect our customer relations, deliveries, safety regulations, and does not breach authorities’ guidelines,” says Patrik Wåhlin.

Continuation of reduced travel – a sustainability success story

TietoEVRY is also in the process of formulating a new policy on travel, whereby business travelling should only be made in exceptional cases. Between 2019 and 2020, the company’s carbon dioxide emissions from travel alone decreased by a massive 14,000 tonnes.

“Less travel means less consumption of nature’s resources, so we are going to continue with a restrictive approach to travel in the future. The carbon dioxide savings we measure can be seen as a major success within the context of our sustainability work. In-person meetings are still important, but many interactions can be replaced with digital alternatives, which also means more people can attend,” Patrik Wåhlin says.

TietoEVRY also considers the new hybrid way of working to be an important component in the fight for new skills and employees on the job market. TietoEVRY is one of the Nordic region's largest employers within IT and tech, so recruitment is a key factor in keeping the company strong.

Learn more about our way of working and career opportunities here: https://www.tietoevry.com/careers