Moments That Matter - Our Value-based Approach to Hybrid Working

Do you remember what it was like working pre-pandemic? I hardly do. It was only a couple of years ago, but the changes we have undergone since then fast forwarded us in so many ways. At the time I worked in a large global corporation, and we talked a lot about the “new normal” and how we thought things would be once we could return to the office.

At the time I also worked crazy hours and the home office set-up did not help. The lack of boundaries between work and private life made the workload almost impossible to handle. 

I have also reflected about how we connected during that period of time in the workplace. Everyone was so dedicated to check-in regularly, to facilitate digital coffee chats and afterworks, and even if we were all in back-to-back online calls, we were still available, multitasking. Given the focus and dedication to connect, I think I grew a closer relationship with my team during this period than I would have in the office, because we were all in the same situation, all very eager to connect with other people, craving human connections. 

I have followed the debate closely about hybrid working models and different types of implementations ranging from “work from anywhere and everywhere” to “go back to office or quit” and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall listening to the debate leading up to these decisions.

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Accedo is a value based company, and  our values Aspiration, Courage and Trust, are the starting point for our discussions and guide us when we make decisions. We aspire to actively share knowledge and work together to grow as individuals, as a team and as a company. We feel courage to voice our opinions and suggest improvements, valuing the greater good for Accedo and we trust each other to be honest and transparent in the way we work.

This led us to an approach in our hybrid work model to consider all aspects of a company and business operation; individual, team and company. Our hybrid model caters around two main concepts “Moments that matter” and “Anchor days”.

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"Moments that matter" are professional or personal moments that have an impact on how we experience Accedo, influencing productivity, culture, and well being.

They could be moments important to you as  

• an individual, collecting your child from school or maintaining an exercise routing, or limiting commuting time
• a team, the importance of meeting in person for project meetings or moments you can’t plan for together with other colleagues, or 
• an organization, a moment that matters might be a town hall or a celebration.

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"Anchor days" are days that a team decides to meet in the office which steers the planning for office events. Agreeing together on this as a team gives everyone the opportunity to plan individually, but it also creates responsibility for team activities, increasing the sense that meeting as a team is equally important. 

We have also reviewed the purpose of the office, based on the concept of “Moments that matter”. It entails the 4C’s, Connect, Collaborate, Create and Celebrate.

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Connect with your manager, peers and team for 1-on-1 check ins, team meetings, town halls, client meetings, weekly stand-ups, interviews

Collaborate with your team in retrospectives, brainstorming, lunch and learns, in-person mentorship, client meetings, team building events

Create, together with your colleagues in project kick-off meetings, hack-a-thons, design sprints, creative problem solving

Celebrate together as a company for recognition moments, values awards, social milestone events, new hires welcome lunches, promotions, team lunches

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What I really like about our approach is that we ask our employees to view hybrid working from different perspectives; as individuals as well as with the team and wider organization in mind. Our goal is to provide flexibility to suit the needs of everyone, and our engagement survey tells us that our employees have a good work life balance. At the same time, our goal is to be effective in our delivery of high-quality projects and products and for that we need to meet in person from time to time. And finally, our goal is to balance the needs of Accedo as a company with enabling us to continue to grow a  healthy work culture that allows every employee to thrive  at work, wherever that is.

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