Best of both worlds: LeoVegas pivots to a flexible way of working

When social historians document how the Covid-19 pandemic changed the fabric of global society, there will inevitably be a chapter on the challenges of remote working and how employees and employers adapted to a necessary exile from the office. Just as individuals have faced up to these challenges, operators have also had to adapt and change, embracing new technologies and business practices.

With the pandemic slowly coming under control across Europe through accelerated vaccination programmes, the challenges of the last 18 months have now brought forward a secondary challenge: how do operators get employees back working productively in the office? LeoVegas’ head of HR North, Jenny Borgquist, tells EGR about how the firm is answering that question, and the unexpected benefits arising from remote working.

EGR Intel: What did LeoVegas do in its various offices to support staff during the pandemic?

Jenny Borgquist (JB): We acted quickly, speaking about Sweden specifically. We received recommendations later on, but as soon as we saw the increase of numbers in Europe, we sent all employees home in early March 2020. It was more or less the same week for all offices throughout Europe within the LeoVegas group. At the time, we didn’t think it was going to last as long as it did, we thought it was more of a temporary solution. The health and safety of our employees was the most important thing, so it was better to be safe than sorry and send everyone home really early on in the pandemic before things got worse.

EGR Intel: Did you adopt a one-size-fits-all policy or different policies for different offices?

JB: We had different policies for different offices. Broadly speaking, we’ve been following recommendations made by the local authorities and the World Health Organization. That’s why things have differed from office to office, in terms of things like face masks, but in general we’ve kept our offices open where possible for employees who felt safe to work and where it was possible to be in the office. We advised all employees to work from home, but the offices remained open for those who chose or actually needed to be in the office.

EGR Intel: How did your remote working setup work out?

JB: That’s been a positive part of the story. Since we’re a digital company, the transition for us was not that huge compared to maybe other companies in other industries where the digital maturity might be different. It was a positive thing for us when it comes to both the tools we already had in place, the majority of our employees and the knowledge of our employees as well. We looked into and acquired a couple of extra digital tools, virtual whiteboards, digital workshop tools and we invested in equipment providing extra tools to employees as required. In general, I wouldn’t say we were prepared for a pandemic and a subsequent fully remote working environment, but we had our digital tools in place, so it was a pretty smooth transition.

EGR Intel: In what ways did you work to maintain the team Leo culture during the pandemic?

JB: That’s been the more challenging part with all employees working remotely. Since we’ve had the office-first policy previously, that’s been a big change when it comes to culture, and we have spent a lot of focus and energy and time on our culture as well. A lot of that has to do with people interacting, getting to know each other and how you collaborate between the different teams and departments etc, so that was something that we needed to work on and focus on in a different way.

We’ve had digital leadership summits, something we’ve not had previously, where global leaders met up digitally to discuss different questions. We’ve had more digital social events like quizzes during Friday afternoons, thinking more about entertainment from a team perspective and, of course, all our company meetings went digital. We have two summits every year, but instead we did a big digital event that was global so everyone could follow from home and that surpassed our expectations.

We’ve done a lot of things to try to keep the culture and the teamwork alive while working from home, and that’s also been up to the individual teams as well when it comes to their daily activities. Some have had weekly meetings, others have just met for coffees within their respective teams, while others have had remote dinners together.

Talking more about the Leo culture, innovation is something that is really important to us and we’ve kept it going during the pandemic to the point where we haven’t actually paused or cancelled anything we’ve planned for during Covid, which is amazing. However, having those workshops centred on innovation, where you are sharing ideas, that’s something that’s really good but actually meeting up is something we are really missing. Just to meet our colleagues and have more fun along the way as well because the office space and colleagues is a really important part of that.

EGR Intel: LeoVegas has said it aims to move to a hybrid model of working from home and the office, how will this play out on a day-to-day basis?

JB: We will start this hybrid pilot, which we call ‘the new awesome’, during the fall. The main idea is that we want to combine the best of two worlds more or less – we have seen the accountability and the flexibility of our employees as well. We have been achieving great business response results working from home. So, it makes perfect sense continuing this proven track and adding some extra flexibility while we’re at it. That’s why I’m also happy to say that we will be giving our team members the option of working from any location in the world for one month.

We call it a pilot because we will try it out for the first four months. I think it’s important as well just to understand that no one has all the answers to this situation. We need to reconcile with that because this is a new situation for all of us. That’s why we’re trying it out for four months to start with. Along the way, I think we might need to make slight adjustments when it comes to time or how the office space looks, or for certain individuals what works better and doesn’t work to ensure that it is suitable for the long term after the initial pilot period.

EGR Intel: Is there a set deadline by which you expect all of your employees to start working from the office again?

JB: I would love to have specific dates when everything turns back to normal because that would actually make our life easier and a lot of employees are really asking for that as well. Since we’re still following the recommendations in every country, based on current guidance, the UK was the first office to open seeing that the Covid situation is further down the track. The Swedish offices welcomed everyone back on 4 October. When it comes to Malta, for example, we haven’t set a date there because we’re waiting for the authorities to see what we are aiming towards more or less. Ultimately, it’s important that we welcome back our employees when it’s safe, and in a safe way.

EGR Intel: Will employees be required to work from the office for a minimum number of days?

JB: I don’t really want to say too much about the specific details seeing that they will differ depending on teams, but we will have more or less of a hybrid approach. It will be a 50/50 approach with some set days. We want to ensure employees actually physically meet each other as well for things like bigger meetings, common lunches and some social activities. That’s the main purpose but we want to really have some flexibility.

Our offices will remain open five days a week for the employees who prefer to be in the office but, at the same time, we offer the possibility to work from home a couple of days a week for those who prefer to do so. As mentioned, we’re also giving our employees the opportunity to work remotely from, basically, anywhere in the world.

EGR Intel: What’s been the appetite for LeoVegas employees to return to the office?

JB: We have invested a lot in the culture and how people interact with each other, and we’ve also invested a lot in our office space. People really miss the office space as such. You interact with some colleagues that you might have common projects with for example, but with the rest of the colleagues that you may only have a social relationship with it’s not that easy. I think that will make a great difference being back at the office.

We’re really looking into the employee experience when people are coming back to the office. Having things like interesting presentations, setting up good workshops and meetings in the couple of days when we know that people are in the office together. Things like snacks, lunches and after work events, etc. We have some social events going on as well in the office because that’s what we know our employees have really missed during this year and a half.

EGR Intel: Throughout the pandemic, there’s been a lot of emphasis on things like mental health and Employee Assistance programmes for those who need access to support. What has LeoVegas put in place?

JB: We have partnerships in different countries so we have a good offering when it comes to that kind of support for our employees. We’ve also had workshops and presentations around mental health, Covid-19 fatigue, how that actually can affect you and discussing it a lot within the management group. Focusing on our leadership group to make sure they are more aware, from a leadership perspective, and really having close contact and conversations with their team members, just to make sure that everyone feels safe and healthy while working remotely as well.

EGR Intel: A lot of employers are talking about requiring their staff to be double vaccinated before returning to the office. Is that something that’s under discussion at LeoVegas?

JB: I’ve been monitoring those reports in the media, and I know that several of my colleagues have been doing the same as well in the management team and HR department. From a legal perspective, it varies by country. We won’t be requiring a double vaccination, but we have been informing our employees about vaccination as they have done in Malta where they’ve been running a targeted campaign at the gaming industry employers and employees.