A policy for flexible working arrangements (FWA) has existed at the UN Secretariat since 2003. However, while many staff were working remotely, there was no consistent approach to authorising and using different FWA options. There was bias and resistance among some managers and staff due to a lack of understanding of available choices, trust vis-à-vis teleworking colleagues, or understanding of how to manage staff working from home. Some managers may also not have known how to provide equitable access to FWA among team members, while ensuring that team’s effectiveness and dynamics were not negatively impacted.

To effectively deliver on our mandate in the changing work environment, we needed to adapt the way we conceived our work and the workplace. To address negative perceptions of teleworking and other FWA options, UNOG and the #NewWork team implemented several initiatives to support and promote flexible working arrangements as a way for managers and staff to improve work-life balance. Access to different types of FWA was also seen as an important means of promoting gender equality.

In 2019, two new workshops were introduced: Working Remotely (FWA) for Staff and Managing Flexible Teams (FWA) for Managers. The workshops aimed to facilitate the shift of mindset and ensure that individuals, teams and the organization are able to make the most out of flexible working arrangements. They encouraged staff and managers to embrace flexibility as a tool to achieve better results and move away from management by presence. The launch of the workshops coincided with the issuance of the updated FWA policy.

Both workshops received positive feedback and contributed to the preparedness of staff and managers to full-time remote work when the pandemic struck in March 2020. UN Geneva personnel were able to adapt quickly to full-time remote work, in part thanks to these earlier efforts. Well-functioning IT systems and the deployment and adoption of IT tools among staff also enabled business continuity, along with the support provided by colleagues in the Information and Communication Technology Service (ICTS).

During COVID-19, UN Geneva focused on providing support to staff and managers in various formats: through regular COVID updates, the IT support mentioned above, and publishing tips for remote work, among other initiatives.

UNOG personnel were invited in May 2020 to give feedback on their experience of teleworking during the first COVID-19 lockdown. The survey results shed light on staff well-being and provided some interesting insights:

• Staff were positive overall when describing their own and team experience, perceived the situation as an opportunity, and felt supported by their managers.

• Staff and teams maintained a high level of motivation during the entire period.

• IT support ensured business continuity, enabled effective teleworking, and was key in allowing staff to maintain quality interactions with their teams.

• There was a general feeling of “too much”: extended duration of confinement, too many things to juggle, too many/long meetings, too much time spent working in front of a screen, too much uncertainty.

Staff at large generally experienced an increased level of flexibility and autonomy, which contributed to maintaining a high level of motivation and, hence, productivity. In addition, the shared vulnerability we experienced has given us a great opportunity to see the ‘whole’ person with kids, pets, and in a home office context.

As with many other organizations, the pandemic served as catalyst for a widespread adoption of remote work. Of course, this does not mean that all of us should be working remotely full-time. Nothing can replace face-to-face interactions, especially when it comes to building relations, holding multilateral negotiations, or simpler things, like having a chat with colleagues over coffee, or coming up with a new idea after an impromptu encounter with a colleague from another team. Nevertheless, this unprecedented work experience of large-scale telework showed staff and managers that we were collectively able to remain productive and adapt to the unknown.

In examining the impact of the pandemic on workplace trends and realizing ‘the way things were’ is not what most of us want anymore, UN Geneva and the #NewWork team have been working to support the new workplace models that are emerging. In summer 2021, #NewWork team conducted another survey to find out how perceptions have changed about flexible working arrangements and how staff envision the post-pandemic future. The survey showed there has been an important culture shift within our organization, and a significantly increased interest in the use of FWA. We have proven teleworking can work for many teams and can provide many benefits to colleagues and the organization. The COVID experience has rapidly increased our adoption of digital collaboration tools and pushed teams to adapt their processes to a new reality.

There are many benefits to flexible working, but also challenges — such as maintaining connectedness and collaboration, protecting healthy work-life boundaries when these can become easily blurred, and a need for teams to rethink how they can thrive in a hybrid workplace. Colleagues made suggestions about how we can address some of these challenges.

When asked about the culture change colleagues would like to see in the ‘Next Normal,’ many said they would like to have greater flexibility to define the way they work, feel less constrained by organizational hierarchy, and experience more collaboration across the organization at all levels.

Surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021 showed that teleworking contributed to a better work-life balance for many colleagues, among other benefits. The discretion given to managers to find and decide on what worked best for their teams, contrary to a one-size-fits-all approach, also generated positive feedback.

UNOG and #NewWork team developed a new training “Managing Teams in the Next Normal – From Disruption to Choice” to capitalize on this experience. The training aims to support team leaders in dealing with uncertainty, provides them with ideas and practical tips to operate in the workplace of the future, and enhances their understanding of their changing role in the ‘Next Normal’.

Readiness to embrace FWA, together with flexibility exercised by management, gave excellent results, which were captured through the survey. Building on this experience will allow UNOG to define how we will work in the future and continue its transition towards a more agile mindset and way of working. We can envision a future where the benefits of both worlds — work from home and work from the office — are combined in an optimal way for individuals, teams and the organization as a whole. w

UNOG FWA App:

One of the challenges with implementing the FWA policy was recording and processing FWA requests efficiently and effectively. It is no surprise that in 2019, at Dragon’s Den, two HR officers pitched a project to digitalize the process for requesting, reviewing and reporting on FWA. Although the project did not win, it received support from the Senior Management sponsors. Over the course of 2020, in collaboration with the Human Resources Management Service (HRMS), the UNOG Information and Communication Technology Service (ICTS) developed and launched the UNOG Flexible Working Arrangements App, which allows users to record and manage all types of FWA in a user-friendly and transparent way. The app also enables HRMS to have a precise view of the usage of FWA through a dashboard.