Activity-based working is at the heart of hybrid working. The activities you carry out on a specific day determine where and when you work. In the past, we have not asked ourselves enough questions about the best time and place to do our various work activities. The nine-to-five grind spent at the office was the norm – we hardly gave it a second thought. This meant that we were stuck in traffic jams en masse and we sat at the same workstation all day, no matter which work activities we were doing. The coronavirus crisis has taught us that we can do this a lot smarter and that we can work from home very effectively.
A personal bank in the digital era – that is the ambition we want to translate into our way of working. Digitalisation and video banking are important elements of our new service model. If you use it in client contact, use it in your own work as well. Practice what you preach: live and experience it yourself, just like we believe in it for our clients.
Hybrid working also gives our current and future colleagues the flexibility to fulfil the various roles they play in their lives: as colleagues, parents, carers, etc. It will become an essential part of our 'people value proposition': at ABN AMRO, you have the freedom to organise your own work activities, wherever and whenever you want. In close consultation with your team and colleagues, of course – and let's not forget our purpose and sustainability targets. Fewer journeys will help us achieve our sustainability targets. Because we believe there's a world to be won.
The essence of hybrid working is that you decide which workstation you need to use based on the specific activity. As a general rule, we therefore assume that colleagues work roughly two to three days at home or remotely per week on average. We also factor in colleagues who are not always able or willing to work from home, since the wellbeing and care of our colleagues is our top priority. Our surveys show that colleagues miss personal contact at the office, but they have also discovered the advantages of remote working. Both form part of the new situation.
It's important to set up a safe and healthy home workstation. Don't have a good desk, office chair or monitor? ABN AMRO employees can order ergonomic home workstations. We also give our employees regular inspiration, such as tips on how to work from home. These include:
