Modern working is actually very simple.
An office? We don't have one. Fixed working hours? We don't need them. Productivity? Excellent!
Here are our rules at Die Schwedin:
* Everyone decides for themselves where the best place is for them to work on any given day. There are many reasons for this - the time of day you are most productive, childcare arrangements, you need peace and quiet or want some company, working holidays, etc.
* We have a group membership at P15 - a co-working, meeting and event space in Biel. This is where most of our meetings take place.
* Apart from the co-working space, some of our favourite places to work are: at home or in a café, at a fellow team member's dining table, a brother's place in Holland, a surf camp in the Dominican Republic, or a family home in Germany.
* Our team may add periods of reduced workload to their holidays. For example, someone might stay in Thailand for an extra two weeks and reduce their workload by 20% during this time.
All these rules have been in place since the company was founded. This is because it is ideal for me as a mother of three, as well as for the numerous parents and globetrotters in our team.
Due to the little time we were able to spend together during the pandemic, (despite plenty of team video calls) we have just introduced a new lunch format. We talk shop over lunch on current topics that are agreed in advance and prepared by one person. The aim is to have lunch together as a group once a fortnight and encourage us to engage with each other. Meetings are automatically arranged around this date, and it effectively becomes an office day.
My conclusion as the boss is that both employee satisfaction and productivity are very high in our company. If there is an issue with performance (usually for personal reasons), the person comes to me, and we discuss solutions. Much freedom is rewarded with much commitment - but you have to be careful when hiring to get people on board who can handle this kind of freedom and are highly self-motivated.
Cheers to my wonderful team of Schwedinnen! <3
This post first appeared on Barbara Schwede's LinkedIn profile. Follow her there for interesting updates from our boss!
