Oslo, 3. Juni 2020. Sigve Brekke, CEO des norwegischen Telekomkonzerns Telenor, hat seinen fast 20.000 Mitarbeitern in einer E-mail mitgeteilt, dass sie ab sofort selbst entscheiden können, wo sie arbeiten. Die Erfahrungen mit der Arbeit im Home Office in den vergangenen Wochen in allen Telenor-Märkten von den nordischen Ländern bis nach Asien sei so positiv gewesen, dass das Unternehmen mit dieser Entscheidung eine neue Äre für die Arbeitsweise einleitet. 

„Ungefähr 90 Prozent unserer insgesamt 20.000 Mitarbeiter in neun Ländern wurden vor fast zwei Monaten fast über Nacht nach Hause geschickt. Da sind sie seitdem. Und es hat viel besser funktioniert, als ich gedacht hatte“, sagt Brekke gegenüber DN.

Die gemeinsamen Erfahrungen sollen nun zu einem Arbeitstag der nächsten Generation mit mehr Flexibilität führen. Wie das Unternehmen mitteilt, basiert diese Entscheidung auch auf den flexiblen Arbeitsansatz des neuesten Mitglieds der Telenor-Familie, der finnischen Telco DNA. Dort konnten die Mitarbeiter bereits vor dem durch die Corona-Krise erzwungenen Home Office über ihren Arbeitsort entscheiden.

Allerdings glaubt Brekke nicht, dass die Mitarbeiter in Zukunft nur noch im Home Office bleiben werden. Er geht davon aus, dass viele dreimal pro Woche im Büro sein und vielleicht zwei Tage von zu Hause aus arbeiten werden. „Wir sind uns völlig bewusst, dass das Soziale am Arbeitsplatz eine wichtige Rolle spielt, aber wir möchten die Arbeitsbereiche von Telenor anders gestalten als zuvor. Anstelle von regulären offenen Landschaften werden die Standorte in Zonen unterteilt, die sich besser für die Projektarbeit und eine bessere Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Abteilungen eignen“, erklärte der CEO im Gespräch mit DN.

In dem Anschreiben an das Telenor-Team stellt Brekke auch fest, dass die Arbeitsweise zwar für alle Unternehmen gilt, jedoch je nach Land an die Unterschiede angepasst wird. „Dies ist eine globale Kultur“, schreibt er, „aber wir werden lokale Wege finden, um sie umzusetzen.“

Bei der Bekanntgabe der Neuigkeiten nannte der CEO vier Bereiche, die den Arbeitstag der nächsten Generation definieren werden:
– Verfügbarkeit unabhängig von der physischen Präsenz;
– Offene Büros für Besprechungsräume und soziale Zonen;
– Vertrauens- und leistungsorientiertes Management;
– Veränderung im Reiseverhalten.

Lesen Sie hier das Schreiben von Sigve Brekke:

Dear colleagues,

It is an old saying that new challenges bring new opportunities. Considering the dramatic shift we have experienced in the way we work over the last few months, I dare say that this phrase has become more relevant than ever for Telenor.

With digital solutions, trust in each other, and a fantastic work spirit, we have managed to adjust to a new normal with most of us working from home. I am proud to say that during these last months, we have actually improved. We have taken quantum leaps in digitalisation, and embraced new working models. Results from our internal Pulse-survey also reflects that most of us are coping well with working from home, noting that we feel more motivated and have found the conditions to make us productive.

The sum of our shared experiences is now leading us to take a new step. A step towards the next generation workday: Flexibility.

We want to move on to the future and bring along the best of our new experience as we now find more flexible ways of work.

The strength of Telenor is the culture we have built across our nine Business Units. It is a culture where we explore, create together, keep promises, are respectful, and with this demonstrate excellent performance. This is a global culture, but we have found local ways to implement it. 

So, when we now further develop our culture and new ways of work, the BUs will drive the implementation. We have cultural differences in our nine markets and therefore we need implementation plans adapted to local conditions and markets. In addition, all our employees need to discuss how to do this in the best way with their leaders. 

Our newest family member DNA has been progressive in this area for several years, with good experiences and delivering good financial results.  In DNA, employees on average have spent 35 percent of their working time from home.

The past couple of months have proved to us that we are a forward leaning, technology driven, connectivity based company, and I truly believe that this flexibility will give you motivation for the important journey we as a company have in front of us.

This flexibility and facilitating for the next generation workday will be important at least in four ways:

1.Availability regardless of physical presence

The flexibility means different things in different countries. In DNA our employees are working from home a couple of days a week, where in other BUs we will find other solutions. The overall ambition is to find the right balance, continue to be people focused, and also continue our performance excellence. No matter what, employees will have to be available and actively participate in all meetings and discussions regardless of where they are. Working remote, or from home, does still mean that you are actively conducting your work, and participating in your teams activities.

2. From open offices to meeting rooms and social zones

We have to re-think how we design our office space: More meeting rooms, more social zones. Employees will come to the office for work meetings, brainstorming and social inspiration, but they will not necessarily sit behind a desk and work as often as before. We also need to further explore digital tools to ensure efficient digital meetings and workshops.

3. Trust and performance-based management

We will continue our performance-based leadership culture with focus on how we deliver results and achieve pre-defined goals. There will be fewer hierarchical levels, and seamless work instead of silos. A more flexible working culture also requires frequent communication, engagement and collaboration between manager and employees, and clear guidance on goals and expectations. This will require more from our leaders, to set clear direction and goals, and to encourage empowerment, but at the same time, systematic follow-up.  We will integrate this way of work in our local plans and follow-up on a continuous basis. In short, we will have greater clarity and direction, empowerment, and more frequent and engaging communication across our organisation.

4. Travel will not be the same again

With more virtual meetings, there will be less need to meet physically. This is good for work life balance and for reduction of climate emissions. As our need to socialise and meet still will be important, we will also in the future meet across countries, markets and projects, but we will do so less frequently than before.

To sum up, we do this because:

• It gives us more flexibility and creates new opportunities
• We believe flexibility can be combined with increased efficiency
• We adapt to the future way of work, with trust, responsibility, performance based leadership, fewer silos and better communication
• We build on successful experiences and results from DNA since 2012 and from the entire company over the last couple of months
• We will spend less time commuting and travelling, i.e. more time on what matters most to us
• We will combine trust and responsibility; we will balance the need for being available and accessible with the need to distinguish between working life and private life

I look forward to starting this new journey for Telenor with all of you. We will learn from our experience as we go, and we will constantly improve and adapt to the model that in the best way can combine flexibility and efficiency. And, we will never lose sight of our overall aim, to connect our customers to what matters most to them.

Sigve