The times when “remote working”, i.e. not working from the workplace in the office, were a foreign word seem to be over. More and more employers are supporting the flexible workplace and, according to a study by the industry association Bitkom, 50 percent of employees in Germany work completely or partially on the move.
Specialist retailer BabyOne is adapting to these changing work needs and has increased the flexibility of its employees: they can now work from anywhere in Europe. The offer is currently valid for around 160 employees in the BabyOne franchise and system headquarters in Münster; however, the company plans to develop more flexible working models for employees in the specialty stores as well.
“We are contemporary witnesses of a historical change in the world of work. If you want to attract the best talent today and retain them in the long term, you have to be able to recognize and deviate from well-trodden paths. We firmly believe in a future working world in which the importance of personal freedom will increase even more. As a family, we live it out of conviction for our employees and place our absolute trust in them,” explains Anna Weber, Co-CEO of BabyOne, in a statement.
There is a clear legal framework for the working model called “Work from anywhere”, and the team around HR boss Sébastien Lucina supports employees who want to work from other European countries, including with tax and insurance law issues.
“We assume that the vast majority of our workforce will take up the offer,” says Lucina, because more and more applicants for the vacancies at BabyOne are not from the Münster region.
However, the company does not plan to be completely outsourced, which means that the franchise and system headquarters in Münster will remain an integral part of the corporate culture in order to promote personal encounters and mutual exchange.
“One thing is immensely important for us: The BabyOne headquarters is and will remain the central point of contact for our employees: we are not and will not be a full-remote company,” confirms Co-CEO Jan Weischer. “Our modern headquarters is a real benefit, a real cultural mile for so many employees who want to work from here, and we are very proud of that.”
For this purpose, the premises were converted for agile forms of work and for a planned increase in employees of almost 30 percent this year.