We at Unic know that balancing private life and work can be a challenge, and as an employer, we’re passionate about getting it right. That’s why we offer our staff a trust-based work environment that is tailored to their personal requirements and situations. Our employees really appreciate the high level of flexibility around working time and workspace set-up, and make active use of it. In this way, we create a framework offering equal room for both private and professional lives.
In the following, we find out more about individual colleagues’ requirements and look at all the options Unic offers.
How Sandro Dönni sees Work-life Balance at Unic.
Introduction
In my role as Principal Transformation Consultant, I advise customers from various industries on matters related to New Work and support them during comprehensive transformation endeavours. I also hold internal roles at Unic. In particular, I drive the areas of culture and purpose. Covering all that with an 80% part-time job is a challenge. But it means that outside of my fascinating work, I get to spend time in the mountains, which I love, and that gives me a great work-life balance.
Smart Work
Smart work has become a bit of a buzzword. What it means is optimising your own way of working while increasing job satisfaction. To do this, our staff use new technologies and new developments in peripheral devices they’re already familiar with to reduce their overall workload and create more breathing space.
How flexible or effective can you really make your working time at Unic?
Our Unic culture and sound technological basis allow for a large degree of flexibility in managing your work. When I’m not on site working with our customers, the combination of independence and technological freedom enables me to flexibly choose the location where I work – such as on a train, at home or in one of our offices. A key factor is that we trust each other and know that everyone is doing their best, even if we sometimes do not see each other regularly.
A key factor is that we trust each other.
Work-life Balance
To achieve a good balance between work and private life, you need to plan well and be prepared to compromise.
How do you personally achieve that balance?
Integrating the different roles and parts of your life is always a challenge. Most of the time, I do fairly well and find a balance where nothing falls by the wayside. If several projects go through a very active phase in parallel, I can also increase my hours at Unic for a quarter, without a lot of hassle, which benefits both me and our customers. Once that phase is over, it is equally easy to go back to my regular hours. Plus, we really support each other a lot, which is a great advantage, given that many of us work part-time.
Flexible Working Time Models
Fortunately, flexible working time models are no longer the exception. And yet we often see that people very much appreciate having the flexibility to adjust their workload to suit their home situation.
How do you distribute your workload?
The distribution strongly depends on the needs of our customers. But I try to dedicate Fridays to sports and mountains instead of work.
When you work part-time, you run the risk of taking on more work than your working model actually allows for.
How do you achieve balance in your daily life?
Well, I don’t always succeed in that and obviously, there are times when I go beyond 80%. On the one hand, this is part of my employment contract, and on the other, it is also up to me to manage my annual working time responsibly. For us knowledge workers, breaking work down into hours is an imperfect concept anyways, also because work rarely ends when you close your laptop and you will sometimes have interesting revelations and good ideas on your bike or in the shower.
What I appreciate most is that as part of our culture, we assume that grown-up people can make responsible and educated decisions on where and when they work best.
Summary of Work-life Balance at Unic
What’s your take on work-life balance at Unic?
I think the work-life balance at Unic is very good. We have every freedom – formally, structurally, and also culturally. If there are any limitations, it is when there is a lot to do for one of our customers. But if it helps us achieve goals and workload peaks are only situational, it is worth it, as far as I am concerned. It is important, however, to bear in mind that we also need breaks and time to recover, and that is everyone’s own responsibility.
Which freedoms do you particularly appreciate?
What I appreciate most is that as part of our culture, we assume that grown-up people can make responsible and educated decisions on where and when they work best. At the same time, there is an awareness that when there are competing needs, you need to talk about it – but that you need to determine together how collaboration is going to work.
What I appreciate most is that as part of our culture, we assume that grown-up people can make responsible and educated decisions on where and when they work best.
Spotlight on
It is the people who make Unic and drive it forward. The section "Spotlight on" gives an insight into what distinguishes our experts. They not only present their field of expertise, but also show their very personal perspectives and tell us what drives them and what fascinates them.
