The Norwegian wealth fund rethinks employee’s working week in the wake of the pandemic that for the past year has forced employees to work from home the majority of the time, Reuters reports.
According to CEO Nicolai Tangen, once the pandemic is over, Norges Bank Investment Management, the central bank division that manages Norway’s wealth fund, would offer flexible working to its 520 employees in Oslo, London, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Luxembourg. Nicolai Tangen told a parliamentary hearing that employees at the $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund will only be asked to come into work at the office twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
As a way of attracting and retaining talented staff, “We are thinking that after the pandemic we will allow up to two days a week of home office and we have two fixed days in the office for everyone for meetings,” Nicolai Tangen said.
“You need to offer flexibility differently than before. It is just not acceptable to require people to be in the office all the time. I think it shows that you don’t trust people,” he said.
Norway’s wealth fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is not the only organization to rethink employees’ way of working as they adapt to covid-19 restrictions. Commercial banks and other organizations are moving to continue working from home to cut costs while investment banks are keen on getting traders and advisers back into the office.
