Trust and flexible forms of working – At Palkeet, the purpose of hybrid work is to make the production of services and the day-to-day life of employees easier

The Finnish Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR, Palkeet, has offices in Joensuu, Helsinki, Hämeenlinna, Mikkeli and Pori, so we were used to working with various remote working tools even before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a multi-location organisation, we consider it especially important to be able to continue offering versatile options for organising work. We also apply flexible forms of work to ensure the implementation of our basic duty, smooth production of financial and HR services, regardless of our location.

As an employer, we want to promote multi-location work and as flexible working as possible, while making sure that Palkeet will continue to have the best possible experts in its service. The long period of exceptional circumstances and our previous experiences with remote working have shown that we can also work well remotely. During the pandemic and the extensively applied remote working period, our job satisfaction increased, the work of immediate supervisors was still rated very highly, and our customer satisfaction remained at a good level. 

"We trust in each other and believe that everyone is the best expert in their own work and in how to achieve their goals."

We also still work in the office to ensure good team spirit and occupational wellbeing. Workers are always welcome at the office, and must come in to work on at least four days a month. We strive to develop our work facilities further to better support mutual encounters at the office. We also have a practice whereby workers agree in teams or with their supervisor on which assignments are best done at the office, how we can organise our work and shared meetings and when everyone can freely choose their work location.

Working longer days is easier when working remotely; days can become much longer even without noticing it when the flow of work pulls you in. From the perspective of occupational wellbeing and working capacity, it is important to remember to stop even interesting assignments on time and also give time to family and hobbies. The number of remote meetings can be quite staggering for experts, and we have tried to solve this challenge by agreeing on shared meeting practices that state that Friday afternoons are meeting-free working time, for example.

Our personnel have welcomed hybrid work with open arms, as it brings flexibility to daily life, saves time on commutes and offers a better chance of coordinating various errands and family life with work.

Read also: Palkeet at Valtiolle.fi.