SUMMER 2021 INTERVIEW
“WE FEEL THAT WITH THIS MODEL, WE GET THE BEST OF TWO WORLDS.” >
candidates frequently ask about in interviews. “Thanks to our strong company culture, which revolves around helping each other and taking pride in what we do, we have managed to make the transition from working at the office to working from home much smoother.”
Mrs Nordin explains that the company acknowledged the exceptional circumstances and challenges that employees were facing beyond the transition to working from home. “I believe it’s important to be conscious of this whenever we talk about working from home. Some of the effects we saw were influenced by factors other than working remotely – such as lockdowns, not being able to see family and friends, and general feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and loss,” she says.
Indeed, from the start, the company focused on supporting its employees in this new and unprecedented scenario and, equally important, upholding the company culture. “We moved employee activities that previously took place on site to online, making most of them global at the same time,” says Mrs Nordin. “This meant that every week, there was an occasion for employees to gather around – poker tournaments, quizzes, puzzles, photo competitions, and much more to help keep spirits high.”
“We even had our own global song contest where all Betssonites could vote for their favourite Betsson singer. Since we entered many new markets during this period, we continued to recruit and onboard new members, therefore employee activities were also important to introduce new employees to our culture at Betsson,” the Chief HR Officer explains. The company also developed e-learnings on how to work and lead remotely, shared messages from the CEO on how the company was doing, and held digital ‘All Hands Meetings’ where employees could ask questions. Through their own internal surveys assessing how employees felt about the situation, it was found that 96 per cent of Betssonites found working from home easy or relatively easy. “These are just a few things that we did to facilitate the transition and keep spirits – as well as the quality of work – high. What I think was important was that we acted immediately and continuously, and that we stayed true to our culture and values.”
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“With that in mind, what we at Betsson noted was that productivity – and quality of work – did not suffer from the shift to remote work and that many employees found it beneficial to be able to skip the commute and work from home in a focused and concentrated manner. But we also saw that there was a slight drop in team spirit and that some found it more difficult to communicate with colleagues while working from home.” All these factors were weighed and considered ahead of the company’s decision to introduce its new model, termed the Hybrid WFH model. Mrs Nordin explains that the company listened to its employees, looked at what other companies were doing and analysed scientific studies. “We took everything into account and came up with our hybrid model. It is comprised of two days working from the office and three days working from home if they wish. To support this, Betsson will also be offering a work from home allowance to aid our Betssonites in having the best possible set-up for their home office. Betssonites also have the possibility to work 10 days from locations other than their place of employment within the EU.” >