Page 17 - Hacktivism

in different time zone regions - and work-life balance ones that require a managerial skill to be learned. A skill that we try to teach through dialogue and the development of a particular mindset especially in managers, because it is obvious that if a manager offers greater recognition to someone for staying longer in the office than someone who is more efficient - as often happens in traditional businesses - this would go against the very idea of flexibility. It’s a continuous process that includes opportunities for discussion and support, exchange of experiences and respect for a transparent relationship between the various working levels of the company.
What is the importance of teams in this type of work process? What are the degrees of freedom?
G.C. _ Teams are key elements in the way we work. The employees take responsibility for the work of their own team. Successes and failures are shared and therefore it is in the team that we have to provide the flexibility to assure a good work-life balance.
Tetra Pak has taken the idea of “efficient flexibility” that is typically associated with the new economy and digital sector, and introduced it to a traditional manufacturing industry. What are the peculiarities and difficulties you've encountered in this regard?
G.C. _ First of all, we must specify that the concept of a team in Tetra Pak is not based on departments or functions, but on the set of people who, for various reasons and at different levels, are involved in a project. Therefore it involves people who are working on the project at different stages and in various ways, from the design and construction of machines to the phase of testing of packages or from R&D to commercial.
What are the values that Tetra Pak seeks to develop as the main link between the company and its employees through flexibility at work?
G.C. _ Definitely the main value of this relationship between employees and the company is transparency: there is no real sharing unless you have maximum information flow and knowledge about the challenges and the strategic goals of the company.
Based on that, we can then establish an open dialogue in which everybody can participate and set the modalities through which to achieve our stated goals.
The realisation stage of a project also has to be transparent. In our company the progress of all projects is visible to everybody. We have a so-called "war room", a sort of forum at the heart of the production plant, around which all operational areas converge: in this space, some panels report the production chains marked with green, yellow or red depending on whether they're complying with the schedule, they are addressing some problem or they are late.
Simply sharing this information establishes a dialogue between teams, promotes the exchange of experiences and activates forms of collaboration. But transparency is not just about information: all of our offices and facilities are designed for maximum visual transparency and flexibility.
The offices are conceived as smart boxes, made of glass panels, the layout of which can be easily modified in response to specific working requirements. Open space, meeting rooms, separate offices: when we contracted the architects who built our offices, we did not explain to them the way we work. The result was a modular building that allows changes very easily, over a weekend, without modifications to technical plants and still providing maximum transparency among the working spaces.
This is another way to allow people to take responsibility for their behaviours: everyone can see everyone, no hierarchy - of course ensuring confidentiality through the maximum insulation from noise.
Is the company engaged in social projects? How do these projects fit with the company's strategy and how are employees involved? Are they free to combine work and social commitments?
G.C. _ When you ask employees to stay at work overtime or respond to emails outside office hours it means you ask them to combine their professional and private lives. For us, this is acceptable only if allow it to work both ways. Between private interests and work commitments there are a lot of social initiatives that we sometimes promote as a company. We have teams that develop a sense of community amongst employees outside the office, such as those dedicated to artistic or sporting events or charity ones. Many of these projects are related to everyday life. So, we developed a series of public cycle lanes in partnership with the Municipality of Modena to encourage employees to bike to work. Similarly, we contributed to the building of a kindergarten which is open to the children of employees and local citizens. In this way we believe that the collaborative spirit that characterises our way of working can go beyond the gates of our company and become a model for other organizations.
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