The future of work is flexible: Working Models at NETCONOMY
We all know about the immense benefits that diversity – and the different perspectives that come along with it – brings to how we approach our work, our creativity, and the way we handle challenges. But this diversity also implies that we are all leading wildly different lives – with different ambitions, expectations, and priorities.
The truth is – these last two years have shown us just how important it is to make room for our personal needs and that we should work to live, not live to work. We would all rather spend that time with our loved ones. Or doing the small things that make us happy, that we never have the time to pursue – whether that’s preparing for that marathon you always wanted to run, volunteering at the local animal shelter, or just taking the time to recharge.
Whatever priorities each of us has, our flexible work models are designed to give everyone the freedom to find their own balance – according to their unique life situation.
Flexibility has always been a core topic for us. For a long time, our teams have had the liberty to work at the time of day that works for them, with only a small window when we should all be active together. As our teams continued to grow in locations that are spread across Europe, we focused on distributed collaboration methods and how best to implement them. Following our agile values, we put more emphasis on the results that our teams produce rather than the way they choose to work. Simultaneously, we established a trusting culture that asks people to take ownership of their work and be proactive – as well as a reliable set of tools that enables our teams to work efficiently from various locations.
As a result, it wasn’t much of a challenge for us to work fully remote when we had to introduce a home office only policy in 2020 as we were already collaborating from various locations.
However, something has changed for all of us: We realized that we could have a more flexible working environment that lets us align our private and working life according to our individual needs.
Knowing that some people work better in the office while others are more productive at home, we think the biggest value is to have the option to choose from where they want to work. Being aware of the unique benefits that each model brings with it, we were looking for a solution that would fit our idea of a truly flexible working environment. So, we introduced three different working models:
- Office-based
- Hybrid work
- Fully remote
To make sure we can meet future needs, we can choose a different model setup every six months.
Office-based
This model is for all those who feel more efficient when working in the office, draw energy from personal interactions with their colleagues or who like to make use of our office benefits – such as free drinks and snacks or modern chill-out lounges with pool tables and flippers. Those of us who work in this model have an assigned desk and work exclusively from one of our locations. However, our flexible approach also challenges us to be considerate of individual situations: If it is coordinated with the team, flexible home office days can be arranged and taken.
A few roles, like our front office team, require them to be on-site. Juniors also spend most of their first time with us in the office to make it easier to meet people and settle in but can switch models after a few months.
Julia, our HR Support, has chosen the office-based model:
Hybrid work
For those who want to switch between working from home and at the office, there is our hybrid working model. This is especially interesting for people who like to take advantage of both options or have a second residence that is not close to one of our locations. To offer the greatest possible flexibility, our hybrid model can either be:
- Majority Office: Colleagues spend three to four days in the office per week.
- Majority Home Office: Colleagues spend one to two days in the office per week.
Sandra, our Head of Marketing, decided to go with hybrid work:
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Fully remote
After the dissolution of our home office only policy, some of our colleagues decided to continue working from home as it made more sense for them. In the last two years, people have joined our team that don’t live close to one of our offices and don’t have any other option. This opened new doors and we launched our Work from Anywhere policy, which allows our colleagues to work remotely from countries where we do not have an office.
Max is one of our Software Engineers who loves to choose freely where to live and work. He opted for our fully remote model:
Nobody gets it right on the first try. This is why we are always looking to adjust our working models along the way and learn from each other in this exciting future. If you want to join us in this experience and live your life in a truly flexible way, take a look at the open positions we have available.
