Stronger through dialogue
”Let’s start talking”. A close dialogue can solve many problems
An English summary of the annual report from Finansforbundet in Nordea.
During 2021, Finansforbundet in Nordea (FiN) met with far more than 2000 colleagues – physically and in webinars. Many topics were touched, including how to discuss and agree with the management. The feedback from members was positive. “It is important to talk and discuss – if not, things can easily go wrong”, says Dorrit Brandt, president of FiN.
Open positions means heavy workload
We made strong results in 2021. But it comes with a price. “Many open positions means a higher workload”, Dorrit Brandt says, mentioning organisational changes and redundancies as some of the reasons.
“Two questions need an answer to rebalance the situation: How can we make candidates apply for a job in Nordea – and what does it take to make colleagues stay in Nordea?”
Changes in the salary system
Nordea Løn and job salary were introduced in 2021.
”Implementing the new salary model went surprisingly painless”, Dorrit Brandt says. “But that doesn’t go for job salary. We were aligned on the strategic level, but the local dialogue was insufficient and without the needed openness, transparency and dialogue”.
FiN and the management have a good and constructive dialogue on many things. But the big round of dismissals in the IT area early 2021 ended up in disagreements.
“We are deeply concerned about the loss of competencies. Several have left Nordea due to the limbo around the redundancies. Understandable, but it puts additional pressure on those remaining”, Dorrit Brandt says.
Strong efforts from union representatives
”We know that the union representatives through strong efforts have initiated many local dialogues and solutions”, vice president Mette Balck Mejlby tells.
“After the election late 2021, we have the same good representation as before, but headquarters are still a challenge, often due to lack of enough members here”, Dorrit Brandt says.
She underlines the importance of managements’ support to the union representatives: “Having the title is not enough, they also need the time to prioritise helping their colleagues”.
Flexibility – more than the choice of workplace
“Flexibility is still the focal point for our work life, but it is important not only seeing it as a question on where to work from. We really hope that Nordea will raise the level of ambition”, Mette Balck Mejlby says.
“It surely will become an important competitive parameter”.
