Ericsson’s return-to-office policy is causing trouble

During the pandemic, working from home was the order of the day at Ericsson. But as employees started to return, it was decided two years ago to have a 50 percent attendance in the office — a policy that was never really followed up, according to Jessica Nygren, vice chairman of the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers’ local branch at Ericsson.

Now the company wants to see more people in the office, and at the end of the summer it announced a new policy: 60 percent attendance.

The company’s press officer Ralf Bagner described it as “a minor adjustment in the guidelines to increase clarity.”

“Today, Ericsson has a hybrid guideline based on the fact that we believe in the human encounter. We also believe that there should be a purpose to where an individual or team chooses to work. This results in an office-first mindset among managers and employees,” he said via email.

Jessica Nygren describes the change very differently.

“The decision came very suddenly, without warning, which meant that many managers took it straight at their word. Every day we see horror examples where managers state that employees should come in three days a week, full days. But it is stated in the policy that it is about 60 percent of the working time over a year, which makes a fairly big difference. To follow it to the letter strangles flexibility,” she said.

Rules without reason

Bagner wrote, “Ericsson’s hybrid guideline has always given every manager, employee and team the opportunity to work in dialogue on how and where they work best and that everyone understands the importance and benefits of meeting, from an individual and team perspective, and from a social and cultural perspective.”

But this is not what it looks like in practice, according to the union.

“We also believe that the company needs a greater presence in the office — developers need to brainstorm to find new products going forward — but no motive has been presented for us to use this particular model.

As it looks now, many are in a bind according to Jessica Nygren. Some of the employees come from other locations where Ericsson has previously had operations that have downsized or disappeared. They have then been offered a position in Kista but have remained in Örebro or Gävle. Now they are suddenly required to commute five, six hours a day, three days a week.

And when they arrive, the office may be full already.

“If you’ve been commuting for several hours, you want an adequate workplace: We’re supposed to be inside 60 percent of the time, but there are only seats for 50 percent of the staff, so you have to puzzle. In some places there is a lot of space left, in others not. Yesterday, for example, two of my colleagues sat in the toilet and took meetings because there was no room. Others go out and get in the car,” she says.

Not opposed

At the same time, Jessica Nygren emphasizes that the union is not against more people coming into the office, but that it is a process that should be allowed to take some time and be better adapted to different individuals.

“If we had been told that they wanted to increase the presence in the offices, we would have given the thumbs up. But then perhaps they should have announced that it would be launched after the turn of the year and that they took in feedback in the meantime. Are there parking spaces? What is commuting? How can we attract people — instead of with “push” as today, it would be better with “pull”.

Managers should also avoid having a harsh policy imposed on them and be able to decide what works in their particular work group, according to Jessica Nygren — someone may need to be in the office for more than three days while someone else can work more from home.

From the union’s side, however, they think they have a good dialogue with CEO Börje Ekholm, who has clarified in his weekly newsletters that “one size” does not fit all.

“Now the company management just has to get the other managers to understand it — as it looks now, the employees do not feel safe and they do not feel welcome in the office in cases where they are squeezed by the new policy,” says Jessica Nygren.

More on workplace trends:

Amazon’s RTO mandate likely to boomerang, other companies ‘should not follow suit’

The hidden high cost of return-to-office mandates

Senior employees, ordered back to the office, are jumping ship

Hybrid work is entering the ‘trough of disillusionment’

Why even hybrid RTO mandates are hurting overall job satisfaction

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