Filipa Ledo, Head of Organisational Development @SISCOG | 3 min read
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November 2021, a sunny day in beautiful Lisbon. I’m currently working from our office at Campo Grande but I could be working from home, today and tomorrow, this whole week or the following one. And again.
Covid 19 brought us the possibility of reimagining how we work. These kinds of disruptive events happen once in a generation, if so, and we embrace them. New demands for autonomy and flexibility at work are high and we wanted to meet the expectations and go beyond.
Aware of talent trends and employees’ expectations, SISCOG decided to implement a flexible work policy that brings together the best of both worlds! Today any SISCOGuian can choose to work at home or at the office, any given day, several days in a row, one day here, and another day there. They decide.
Adaptability – ability to learn flexibly and efficiently and to apply that knowledge across situations.
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What international studies say
Worldwide studies and other data helped us to truly understand the needs of employers and employees in the pandemic and post-pandemic era.
While some companies’ management sees in the returning to the office the most likely scenario…
Source: McKinsey CxO Survey on Return to Workplace. May 2021.
… employees seem to think otherwise…
Source: McKinsey Reimagine Work: Employee Survey. January 2021.
What we say
We listen to our people.
Last April SISCOG conducted a survey that revealed that 76% of SISCOGuians would prefer a blended model, with 32% saying that they would like to work at the office one or two days a week.
And we recognize, as do 80% of Portuguese companies, the need to have a process in place to keep a trusting company culture intact as they shift to a blended work model. We know the risk, we know that this can hurt company culture and the sense of belonging, but nevertheless we went for it. If the past months have taught us anything it was that employees value, above all, the flexibility and the autonomy of choosing their own work model and, furthermore, that that choice didn’t impact our productivity or prevented us from achieving our goals. The world has changed and so have we.
SISCOG has Respect and Trust as values, therefore it isn´t surprising why it seemed obvious that we could on one hand address the desires of most employees, and on the other that it was 100% aligned with our strategy and purpose.
What we want to keep
Our culture. And our people.
SISCOG’s culture is like a glue that tightens us around the same objective and the same challenges and keeps us close to each other. Maybe in the next months we won’t have a lunch table with 15 people in our office kitchen, nor a full open space as we used to. But we will have smaller groups at the office, happy people at home, an even better work-life balance. And the opportunity to think outside the box and create unique “together” moments with the whole company more times a year and a sense of mission accomplished as we allow total flexibility no matter where people want to work.
SISCOG lives and thrives through its employees, values and products. And for that to happen we need to adjust and be bold. Innovation is in our DNA, so we keep on innovating.
Companies that adjust and adapt thrive.
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