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This article was published in the Career & Employment Guide 2023, our special annual publication focused on the labour market, human resources and education.
What most employees in Slovakia can only dream of has become a reality for staff at the NN Slovakia insurance and asset management company: a four-day working week.What most employees in Slovakia can only dream of has become a reality for staff at the NN Slovakia insurance and asset management company: a four-day working week.
The firm’s project ‘Our NNew way of working. At NN you can choose to work four or five days a week.’ came about after a thorough analysis of data. The company launched the pilot amid the coronavirus pandemic, in January 2021. It hoped that it would somewhat contribute to reducing the stress of its staff and encourage employees to pursue a more balanced and healthier lifestyle.
“A good work-life balance for our employees is one of the most crucial things that we’re interested in as an employer,” said NN Slovakia spokesperson Daniela Tomášková. “With better balance, employees feel rested and have more time to enjoy their families and personal growth.”
The four-day week has not been imposed on everyone, and workers can still choose if they prefer this setting. However, a project of this scale could not have been implemented without strong working relationships.
The introduction of the four-day working week was preceded by a reduction in the working week to 38.75 hours. The working week is then recalculated between four or five working days with no reduction in pay.
Those employees that have chosen to work four days a week are divided into two teams with their own agenda to be accomplished in those four days. All days are covered in a way that clients will not experience any difference. The first team works from Monday to Thursday, the other takes over the Tuesday-Friday period. If a worker decides to switch back to a five-day working week, they are able to do so. They can make this change at the start of January or July.
The four-day week has helped NN Slovakia tackle several challenges, noted Tomášková. One of them is employees’ engagement, in addition to making work more flexible. Improvements have been achieved at the leadership level as well. Team leaders and their team members have become used to the hybrid model of work and embraced the concept of team consensus.
NN Slovakia’s efforts to enhance employees’ work-life balance have not gone unnoticed. In 2022, the company scored the most votes by HR professionals and won an HR Inspiration Award for its innovative approach. The competition is organised by the HRcomm platform.
Turning all your staff into recruiters
The platform also awarded FPT Slovakia, a Košice-based IT outsourcing company, for its ‘IT Calls Home’ project. In this case, a panel of CEOs chose the winner. FPT Slovakia’s initiative was a response to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, when the firm’s workforce was running out of enthusiasm and ability to engage. At the same time, FPT Slovakia found itself under pressure due to an increased and urgent demand for IT services and the need to hire more IT specialists.
The firm launched the project in April 2021.
In the view of Lucia Tomková, who works as HR manager for FPT Slovakia, the project has changed the firm’s views about hiring new workers. The company could have continued browsing through thousands of CVs in 2021, but that would not have been an efficient approach, and would not have helped meet the high demand right away. Instead, they decided to engage their entire staff of 300 people.
Motivated by financial and non-financial bonuses, their task was to also become recruiters.
“By coming together, our colleagues managed to spread positive information about our company,” said Tomková. FPT Slovakia received nine times more recommendations and a 250-percent increase in the number of CVs received. Compared to previous periods, twice as many new colleagues were hired.
But it was not just the employee-recruiters who helped their company. FPT Slovakia’s HR novel approach towards hiring more workers also included the Polopate (Put Simply) concept. This aimed to explain open positions and current projects in the easiest way possible. The quantity of CVs received that met the necessary requirements for positions allowed the company to hold some in reserve for future waves of high demand for IT services, FPT Slovakia wrote.
Furthermore, the overall atmosphere within FPT Slovakia has changed, the company says. Employees are more engaged and more interested in their work.
