The HLCM Task Force on the Future of the UN Workforce was established in 2019 with the goal of anticipating and making proposals for the organization to adapt to challenges stemming from array of external factors, including social and economic issues, emerging technologies, and changing political situations in order to equip the organization to remain a competitive employer of the future.
The Task Force divided its goals into three main areas, one of which was to explore new ways of working. The objective was to propose elements to foster an enabling culture and positive employee experience from multiple perspectives, including leadership, people management, flexible work arrangements, transparency and dialogue, with due consideration for inclusion and diversity.
The Task Force set out with the aim to propose common principles and guidelines for UN entitites, while refraining from applying one cultural approach to all entities, in recognition of the diversity in the UN system. The Task Force also ensured to pay special attention to the critical role of leadership, particularly encouraging senior leaders to welcome new ways of viewing leadership by empowering teams and allowing for flexibility and innovation. It also sought to assist in preparing UN leaders to steer the transition of their organizations and workforce towards the future of work.
Flexible work is underpinned by the ethos and guiding principles of the Senior Leadership Commitments, which were developed to guide organizations and their global workforces towards the future of work. The Commitments invite senior leaders to welcome new ways of viewing leadership by empowering teams and allowing for flexibility and innovation. These Commitments are grounded within the Leadership Framework and the people-centred approach that is also central to flexible work.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Task Force refocussed its work on the immediate impacts – both positive and negative – and on the UN ways of working, their implications for the future, and how to derive important lessons learned to be applied towards that future. The Task Force decided to place the emphasis on assessing our current way of working – during the crisis – in order to develop a policy framework to support the new paradigm – a new model policy on flexible work.
The pandemic ignited a large-scale social experiment: the majority of the global UN workforce switched to working remotely in the course of a few weeks. The UN Secretariat, as well as other organizations of the UN system, experienced, albeit under exceptional crisis circumstances, the realities of Alternate Working Arrangements on the largest scale ever, i.e., full-time remote work for the vast majority of their personnel, with only minimal personnel at many duty stations continuing to enter the UN premises to perform essential on-site functions.
This experience brought a wealth of knowledge and lessons learned to multiple areas impacted by remote working, including not only the organization’s ability to deliver on its mandated activities, but also on UN personnel’s well-being and mental health. Various surveys were conducted by management and staff representatives within and among UN system organizations, such as the UN-wide COVID-19 Pulse Check survey. Results showed that working remotely largely worked well, helped to build trust and destigmatize flexible working arrangements. Some colleagues even reported better coordination and teamwork, as the physical separation of remote working demands more explicit communication than before.
Traditionally, organizations have addressed issues such as employee engagement, culture, performance management, rewards and learning, and career development as separate independent topics, with solutions designed and delivered by different HR divisions and accompanied by a set of tools and programmes to drive and measure the impact. Recent research, however, suggests that employees today see the picture differently. Employees look at everything that happens at work as an integrated experience that impacts daily life in and outside the workplace, including overall physical, emotional, professional and financial well-being.
Flexible work brings various benefits to personnel, from reduced commute time to an increased empowerment and overall freedom to organize their lives more flexibly, while often delivering more effectively. Strongly related to this is the technology experience as an enabler of the broader employee experience. Making the use of technology an attractive experience for employees during working hours, as it already is in their personal lives, is essential in today’s competitive talent market. At the same time, we must be mindful of the need to protect the right of staff to disconnect, in order to prevent excessive encroachment into their private lives and safeguard the health and well-being, by not being overly reliant on technology as the only solution to a balanced work culture.
UN system model policy on flexible work
Flexible work has been incorporated into several common system initiatives, including in the context of the UN Secretary-General’s System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, the Enabling Environment Guidelines, and the Field-Specific Enabling Environment Guidelines for the United Nations System. It is a powerful tool to promote work-life harmony for all and to complement both the mandates of the United Nations System Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy, and the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, among others.
The UN System Model Policy on Flexible Work, which was one of the key elements identified by the Task Force to foster an enabling organizational culture and positive employee experience, was endorsed with submission of the final version to the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) at its 42nd Session, which was held virtually in October 2021. It deals with various options for flexible working, including part-time work which may also be adopted to facilitate work-life harmony.
The Model Policy sets out a number of high-level principles and provides a harmonized framework for UN system organizations to build on and operationalize. For this reason, a balance was kept between high-level principles and the level of detail required in a UN model policy document. Specific effort was made to make the policy as equitable and inclusive as possible from a gender perspective, while at the same time compatible with the high-level principles approach. The principles are:
Trust and accountability
Flexible work is based on mutual trust, which is key to a successful professional relationship between managers and their team members. Managers should clearly communicate to personnel on their responsibilities and agreed deliverables, including performance expectations and timelines.
Management by results
The work of all personnel, including those who engage in flexible work, must be planned and evaluated in accordance with the organization’s internal policies on performance management, including results-based evaluation and provision of clear and timely feedback. The use of flexible work should not result in an increased workload for other personnel.
People-centered approach
Flexible work options should put the well-being and health (both mental and physical) and the safety and security of personnel at the centre. Organizations should ensure the availability of necessary tools, guidance and training to all UN personnel, and in particular to managers, to allow an effective, inclusive and consistent application of the policy across the organization.
Resourcing and support
Flexible work should normally not result in additional costs. However, active reallocation of resources may be required, for example for the provision of laptops or other equipment. Organizations may decide to cover certain costs and provide other relevant support to personnel.
Flexibility for field contexts
Field locations may face more challenges in taking advantage of flexible work options due to the expectations of physical presence by host governments, beneficiaries and external partners. Flexible work should be adapted to respond to duty station-specific realities and needs, in accordance with the organization’s applicable policies. Flexible work can help to support the physical and mental health of personnel serving in challenging work environments and mitigate the risk of burnout and absences.
Organizations with a field presence, particularly those in hardship duty stations, may consider operationalising flexible work to meet their needs, for example by establishing hybrid teams consisting of personnel based within and outside the duty station on a rotational basis in accordance with the organization’s applicable policy, mindful of particular local contexts.
Gender parity, diversity and inclusion
Flexible work helps organizations, retain and motivate highly talented personnel who reflect the diversity of a global workforce. Flexible work is part of the institutional support for gender equality and helps break down barriers to employment, including among persons with disabilities. Organizations should both promote and implement flexible work with a view to diversifying their talent pools, thereby contributing to gender parity, diversity and inclusion.
Ecological responsibility
Organizations must strive towards a lighter and greener environmental footprint and ensure that sustainability and earth-friendly measures are incorporated into all facets of their operations. This is also an important factor to take into account when considering the feasibility of flexible work.
Flexibility is a mindset that goes beyond the particular ways organizations structure their work; it is ultimately about providing personnel with a supportive environment that enables them to deliver their best while putting people/personnel and their well-being at the centre.
UN System organizations have been strongly encouraged to incorporate the policy into their own realities, based on their specific contexts and operational needs and necessities. Field-based organizations may need to identify innovative solutions to ensure all their personnel, regardless of location, hardship, grade, or level, enjoy flexibility and work-life harmony.
Organizations have also been requested to put in place accountability mechanisms to collect gender-disaggregated data to analyze how the UN workforce avail themselves of flexibility and allow for corrective actions, if required. Explanatory notes were included in the policy to direct organizations to additional resources to promote an enabling environment for all personnel. As we enter the “Next Normal”, whichever shape this may take, it is the Task Force’s hope that the policy will guide UN organizations to become more agile, effective and inclusive in the fulfillment of our mandates, and in how we treat our most valued asset: our personnel.