Hybrid works for Vattenfall
By Corona, working from home began as an ad hoc solution. Thanks to a unique partnership with Alvero, hybrid working has become a fixture in Vattenfall's corporate culture. In total, we have put away some 750 home-working spaces, a number that continues due to staff turnover. We facilitated the complete process around home workstations, with a special role for all the office chairs that had gone home from the office in the early stages of the pandemic. Although they were not Alvero chairs, we made sure that each office chair was returned to the office completely "spick and span. With each home office placed, we took the Vattenfall chair to our warehouse for cleaning and maintenance. You can read how we did that here.
First things first
Ryanne van Rijn, Facility Advisor at Vattenfall and member of the Real Estate and Facility Management (RE&FM) team NL/UK. This team is responsible for office services and manages the real estate portfolio. Ryanne drives (international) initiatives to improve services and advises management and the Executive Board in the areas of sustainability of the real estate portfolio, CO2 reduction and circularity. To contribute to Vattenfall's vision: fossil-free living within one generation.
Lisanne Noorlander, Facility Coordinator at Vattenfall through her employer Vebego Facility Solutions. With a team of 8 enthusiastic colleagues, consisting of Facility Managers, Facility Coordinators, employees manning the physical Facility Desk and Facility Hosts, Lisanne coordinates the entire operation within Vattenfall. One of her tasks is facilitating home office equipment, including the package offered through Alvero; a NEN standardized office chair and table, complemented by a desk lamp. "Employees can request their home office equipment through Alvero's special ordering portal," Lisanne said.
Ryanne van Rijn"I consider the cooperation with Alvero to be very nice, in which switching is easy and fast."
A flexible and responsible solution
April 2020. The corona pandemic has flattened all public life and everyone at Vattenfall is also working from home. Sitting at the kitchen table on an office desk chair. Not an ideal situation and not exactly according to the established ARBO standards. The challenge for Ryanne: "How are we going to do that when we come back to the office (in part)? After all, the office desk chair was at home, so what are we going to sit on? Nowhere was a home office responsibly set up," she adds.
"We immediately formed a project group with representatives from Health & Safety, HRM and RE&FM, including myself. We invited suppliers who could facilitate a home workplace that met NEN standards in the short term. Moreover, I had the desire not to buy this furniture, but to choose a sustainable solution that was also flexible. So that we could quickly respond to the situation that had arisen and be future-proof."
Purchasing furniture is not an option in times of resource scarcity. Renting fits into Vattenfall's sustainable vision.
"In the end, we also chose Alvero. Of course there was a discussion to buy the furniture, possibly second-hand, but that just doesn't fit within Vattenfall's vision and also not in the times we live in with a resource scarcity. When the furniture is no longer used by an employee because they leave the company, for example, Alvero picks it up again and after a thorough cleaning it is given its next destination. With us or elsewhere; the furniture remains the property of Alvero and we are not tied to anything. That makes us flexible and we have the freedom to scale up and down easily. Plus, we don't have to store it somewhere when it's not being used and furniture stays in use for as long as possible," Ryanne said.
Employees choose for themselves through the ordering portal
"Another important reason for choosing Alvero is the special ordering portal for our employees, with clear instructions for ordering home office equipment in a simple and fast way. Together with Alvero, we have put together a range of office furniture that an employee can choose from. This way every colleague gets a home office that fits their home situation in style and dimensions," Lisanne says.
Care
"It starts with a request from the employee, who is referred to an external independent workplace consultant who assesses whether this employee qualifies for a home office. Once approved, the employee receives an email including a link to Alvero's portal and they can place the order with Alvero. Here they can indicate where and when they prefer it to be delivered and installed. Alvero then handles it independently with the employee, without it costing us extra work and attention. All communication goes through the portal. For me, that is really unburdening", says Lisanne.
Lisanne Noorlander"Alvero was very thoughtful throughout the process. Really proud to look back on it together. "
The office desk chair was still at home
Within the partnership, we also arranged for the collection, cleaning, possible repair and return to the office of the borrowed Vattenfall office chairs. When placing an order, each employee could indicate whether there was still an office chair at home. Alvero took these away after the home office was installed. At our facility in Oosterhout we have both the facilities and the people to professionally clean and maintain large numbers of furniture. For Vattenfall, we brought back office chairs in bulk to the various branches with our own trucks. Where they came from.
We continue to work together
Hybrid working is also here to stay at Vattenfall. Many employees work one or more days from home. "It's great that a structural solution was chosen at the time. Moreover, it's a solution that we don't have to worry about at all," says Lisanne, looking contentedly into the beautiful stairwell of the building in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost.
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