A push for working mobile

Mark Klein, Chief Digital Officer at ERGO, works mobile from home, as many people do in these times. In an interview, he explains how this works and whether digital working will continue to gain in importance in the future.

Mister Klein, like many people today, you work from home. What does that look like for you?

Mark Klein: We have a well-organized working day. My wife works from home as well. We still get up together and our children start school at eight o'clock. I start work at the same time. All meetings take place either via video or telephone conferences. I spend my lunch break eating with the family. This is new for me and also very nice.

Can you give tips on how you have managed this? It's not easy to organize, especially with children.

Klein: We have achieved this by agreeing on a clear schedule. Our children are between seven and fourteen years old and are busy with schoolwork for several hours in the morning. They work well together, which seems to me a bit like cross-class work. The children know: They have to do their schoolwork during this time slot while mom and dad have to work. Overall, this is going quite well.

Of course we have also defined breaks. There is a smaller break in the morning and a larger one where they can go on the trampoline or read something, for example. Obviously you have to give the children the opportunity to get used to the new procedures.

How do you experience your mobile workplace?

Klein: I have set up my workplace at home quickly and easily, and I think it is really possible to fully experience the mobile office. Within two days, we were able to switch all appointments that required physical presence to video or telephone conferences. The efficiency is much higher than I expected. And I have the feeling that the current situation is keeping us at a distance, but at the same time we are moving closer together.

I believe ERGO is very well positioned. With over 11.000 colleagues from both internal and external service, who are now mobile, the platforms are running fairly stable in order for us to continue work and maintain the service level. We can really be proud of that. A big thank you to our IT colleagues for making the whole system available so well, so quickly and, above all, so widely accessible.

Where do you see advantages in digital working at home?

Klein: We become much more efficient in structured meetings because we don't hold them for so long. A telephone conference that lasts longer than an hour is tiring. That's why my team limits them to half an hour to one hour. But there are also challenges.

Which challenges are those, in your opinion?

Klein: The personal conversations are dropped. So we no longer meet anyone in the corridor or no one stops by for coffee. Here you have to find ways to make this casual exchange possible again. It makes sense to have a kind of virtual team lunch or a virtual coffee break.

Via videoconferences, you can then talk about the challenges and problems of everyday life. Together you can then solve certain problems that you might not have been able to solve alone. I myself block time in my schedule, which is not filled with meetings, and then simply call my colleagues. That way you can have a short conversation.

Do you think that the current situation gives digital work a push?

Klein: Companies will move even more strongly in the direction of digitalization. But so will the entire society. Some managers still had a bad feeling about mobile working. They can't see their employees and don't know how work is done. But now we have the unique opportunity to see how productivity is behaving.

And what do you think?

Klein: My guess is that productivity will be the same or even higher. People don't have to drive to work and can start directly in their own office. There they may also have more peace and quiet to finalize projects. That's why the topic of mobile working will continue to gain in importance.

This interview was conducted by Benjamin Esche.