At DB Schenker Technology Center Warsaw, we have implemented a new, post-pandemic way of doing our job. We worked out this solution based on our colleagues’ ideas and opinions, considering the specifics of particular teams and the company’s capabilities. This is how the Smart Workplace was created – a model where everyone can find their balance between the office and home.
Solution co-created with employees
We wanted to work out a model that would suit our team and, on the other hand, enable us to achieve our business goals. Instead of wondering what our employees need, we decided to ask them and discovered that their expectations are very diverse. Some of our colleagues strongly prefer to work at home. Others appreciate the comfort and technical infrastructure at the office and choose to come to the company’s premises every day. But what is common, is that they all want to have a choice, and the Smart Workplace is our answer.
We give flexible choice
Within Smart Workplace, every employee can now decide on one of three possible ways of working – Smart Remote, Smart Hybrid, and Smart Office combining different proportions of the remote and office work.
Smart Remote is meant for those who value remote work and are masters of self-organization. Employees’ home becomes their workplace, and they visit the office only for important occasions like team meetings or training.
For those who cannot live without other people’s company or the company’s premises’ comfort, we created the Smart Office. Our employees spend most of their working time onsite in this work mode, but they can still work remotely from time to time.
In the last model, the Smart Hybrid, employees can divide their working time between home and office and benefit from both solutions equally. It enables them a flexible planning of their work and life commitments.
The final choice needs to be aligned with the manager to ensure that all team members will be able to deliver their tasks in their chosen way of working. For us, nothing is carved in the stone, so it means that team members can change their working mode when they need it.
Challenges of the hybrid team? Managed!
The management of teams working in a hybrid way with part of the team at the office and the other working remotely is a huge challenge. To make it easier for team members and leaders, we have adjusted most of the company’s processes – from IT equipment and support management, IT Security and GDPR requirements, desks management at the office, and communication and collaboration practices in the company. For leaders who are on the front line of the hybrid work, we have created a Leaders’ Network community to share ideas, discuss problems, and seek solutions that work well in other teams.
Author: Marika Marcinkowska, HR Manager, DB Schenker Technology Center Warsaw
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