Nokia lets employees work remotely three days a week week

STOCKHOLM, June 22 (Reuters) – Nokia (NOKIA.HE) said its employees can choose to work remotely up to three days a week with increased support for flexible working hours from January after the current work-from-home policy expires in December.

The Finnish telecom equipment maker surveyed its employees late last year and a majority said they wanted to work remotely for two to three days a week, compared to an average of two days before the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pandemic forced organizations to change. Technology gave people the tools to innovate. In many cases, the results were too good to go back to the old way of working,” said Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark.

The company, which had about 92,000 employees in 130 countries at the end of 2020, said in March it plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs within two years to cut costs and invest more in research opportunities. read more

Nokia plans to redesign offices to allocate up to 70% of the space in some locations for teamwork and meetings, with less space reserved for workspaces.

Offices in Dallas, Singapore and Budapest have already been reconfigured, and more locations are expected to be completed by the end of the year as Nokia follows companies around the world in opting for more hybrid work in the wake of the pandemic.

Car manufacturer Renault (RENA.PA) and Stellantis (STLA.MI), the maker of Peugeot and Citroën cars, have made agreements with employees to allow employees to work from home up to three days a week. read more

Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; Editing by Alison Williams

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