Nokia Corp. is providing flexible working solutions for its employees consequent to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Effective 1 January 2022, all Nokia employees will have the flexibility to work up to three days a week remotely.
They will also get increased support for flexible working hours and fully virtual working.
The majority of the Finnish telecom, IT, and consumer electronics company's employees have worked remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company's existing Covid-19 work from home policy remains in effect globally until the end of 2021.
The updated guidelines followed a company-wide survey in which around 26,000 employees responded about their remote working experience during, and working preferences after, the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Nokia had approximately 92,000 employees in 130 countries.
Productivity increased
In the survey, conducted at the end of 2020, 91% of respondents felt that they had retained or increased their productivity during their work-from-home time.
They said they want to work two to three days per week remotely, on average, up from an average of two days before the pandemic.
Among the respondents, 81% still prefer to come to the office for at least some of the time during their working week to connect with colleagues.
In a statement, the company said the flexible working practices reflect its open, fearless, and empowered cultural essentials and support inclusion and equal opportunity, while retaining productivity.
Nokia also plans to rethink and redesign office spaces to better reflect post-Covid working arrangements and support collaboration.
Many sites will see up to 70% of office space allocated to teamwork and meetings.
Offices reconfigured
The company plans to reserve less space for concentrative workspaces.
The company already reconfigured some pilot sites, including offices in Dallas, Singapore and Budapest, in 2021, with further sites expected to be completed by the end of the year.
By the end of 2021, Nokia also plans to launch a smart office solution, allowing employees to book workspaces and office amenities, as well as toolkits and guides.
The planned changes to a new hybrid model and refurbishments of offices will proceed on a country-by-country basis.
Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO of Nokia, said, "The pandemic forced organizations to change. Technology gave people the tools to innovate. In many cases, the results have been too good to go back to the old way of doing things."
