5 minute read
Working from anywhere with new views
from VEFF magazine 2 2022
by Veff
In recent years, working life has changed, with more home offices and a shortage of labor. There have been many new terms and here are some terms that are good to know.
NINA IVARSEN, CHAIR VEFF
BOOMERANG EMPLOYMENT
A boomerang employment is when an employee returns to work for a company they have previously worked for. This can be positive for employers, who then get back employees who already know the culture, but who have also learned new skills. In some cases, it may also be about returning after having clarified one's own life situation, for example a temporary move due to the cohabiting partner's work situation or extraordinarily large care tasks. Additional reasons why employees return may be seasonal work or that you have tried your hand at being an entrepreneur or selfemployed for a period.
CROSS BOARDING
In the case of internal mobility, where an employee change role in the organization, there is a need for preparations and a plan for the employee to succeed in his new assignment. This is usually called cross-boarding and is a variant of onboarding. The difference is that the new employee is already employed by the employer, knows the company culture, and has a social network at work. Many of the characteristics of a good cross boarding process are taken from the more established processes of onboarding and offboarding. Like onboarding, cross-boarding is about removing moments of anxiety, creating clear expectations, communicating knowledge, and preparing the employee so that he or she can succeed in his or her new role. And as with offboarding, cross boarding should help the employee who changes role to get a good end to their current role, as it contributes to a smooth start for the replacement.
EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
In Norwegian we can say the employee journey, and the term covers the experience employees have during their employment. From the time a person chooses to apply for a job until
the person announces their resignation, there will be many moments that determine their experience with and of the employer. It can be measured in several different ways, ranging from how the candidate experienced the recruitment and onboarding to pulse measurements to map the employee's view of events in the organization. If you succeed in maintaining a good relationship with your employees, the Employer Experience will also be better.
REMOTE WORK
Work that is carried out at a place other than the usual place of work. Remote work can follow directly from an employment contract. For example, work "remote" from home, such as work abroad or employees on assignments in Norway. If teleworking is not regulated by an employment contract, the employer cannot unilaterally decide on teleworking, and the employee cannot demand it. Remote work in a country other than the one to which the employment relationship is linked and can have consequences for membership in social security schemes, tax, and insurance.
HOME OFFICE
Work that is carried out in the employees' homes, and a form of remote work. If the home office is used more than briefly and sporadically, the home office regulations apply. The employer decides whether the home should be workplace no. 2 and the individual employee chooses whether to make use of the opportunity. If the employee wishes so, an additional agreement must be entered. A home office abroad could have consequences for membership of the National Insurance Scheme, and together with issues such as tax and insurance, this should be clarified in advance.
HYBRID WORK
Hybrid working is a model that allows employees to combine work in the office with work from home or elsewhere.
REBOARDING
Reboarding is about reintegrating employees who, for one reason or another, have been absent from work for a period. The goal of the process is that the employee should get into the work as quickly as possible, both in terms of the position and work tasks, but also get into social contexts and build relationships with colleagues. Reboarding is likely to become more common when organizations look at hybrid solutions with a combination of work in the office and further away, where, for example, in a reboarding phase, the amount of remote work can be reduced compared to a normal situation.
RESKILL
While upskilling is about learning new skills within the same field of work, reskilling is about taking in knowledge and skills in a completely new area, among other things to be able to do other work.
UPSKILL
Upskill is about ensuring that employees develop their skills through the education and further training that is needed within the organization to reach new heights. The idea is that it should lead to a narrowing of the gap between the employees' skills and the organization’s needs. With upskilling, you gain new experience and knowledge within your established field of work. See also reskill.
To determine the return on investment (ROI) of the hybrid work model, one must view it from the organization’s perspective
Through the lens of a company and its business measures, a hybrid remote work environment improves retention, productivity, quality of the work produced, and reduces office expenses, absenteeism, and labor costs.
Qualitative business measures such as work-life balance, employee engagement, and job satisfaction cannot be converted into numbers, yet they form an important part of a hybrid workplace ROI.
To calculate the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of hybrid working, one must isolate the impact of flexible remote work in monetary terms and determine the program benefits and program costs.
BCR = Program Benefits - Program Costs
The rate of investments then becomes,
ROI (%) = {(Program Benefits - Program Costs) ÷ Program Costs} × 100
WORK FROM ANYWHERE
Working from home became very common during the pandemic, but "work from anywhere" (in English: WFA) is an expression that the new working life has some work where it does not matter where the employee is located.
WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION
Work-life integration is about creating more synergies between different parts of life such as work, home/family, community, personal well-being, and health. This means that work and private life are brought closer together. During the pandemic, this was particularly natural. Laundry was done in video meetings, and several children showed up to work because schools were closed. Work-life integration is about allowing employees to be flexible and have the opportunity to coordinate private errands with professional ones, which can result in more satisfied and less stressed employees.
VEFF
WE VALUE FLEXIBILITY AND WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION A WIN WIN FOR ALL!
