• Wintershall Dea to continue with flexible working after the COVID-19 pandemic
• Hybrid working model starts: Globally obligatory with only two core working days in the office 
• New space concepts for new way of working and a modern corporate culture

After a year and a half of pandemic-related restrictions and mostly mobile working from home, colleagues at the headquarters in Hamburg and Kassel returned to the two office buildings on 1 November, in compliance with the health and safety regulations such as the “3G” rule (vaccinated, recovered or tested), social distancing and mask-wearing. Parallel, the company’s own hybrid working model Flex Forward was launched. Wintershall Dea, Europe’s leading independent gas and oil producer, will also set mobile working as the standard for the time after COVID-19 to strengthen both team collaboration and individual flexibility for employees.

Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall Dea, is looking forward with anticipation to the implementation of the hybrid work model: “We announced Flex Forward last autumn and now it is finally here. We are providing the future of work with a concrete framework. We are taking a big step forward together and showing that we already know how to be flexible and we will keep on doing it! I am convinced that the mix of mobile working and teamwork will make us fit for the future. Thanks to our Flex Forward programme, we will work even more efficiently and effectively together.”

It also goes without saying that the applicable hygiene rules at Wintershall Dea, such as wearing a medical mask, social distancing, and hand disinfection, will continue to be rigorously observed for everyone’s safety.

Hybrid work model from Argentina to Russia

The concept will be deployed globally and rely on the fundamental idea that each team will independently define two core working days per week on which, as far as possible, all members of the team will work on site in the offices. Both days should mainly be used for direct collaboration and dialogue. On the remaining three days of the week, the employees can decide flexibly where they want to work –from the office, home, or somewhere else.

The hybrid work model Flex Forward was developed by an interdisciplinary work group made up of international colleagues and adopted as a company agreement, with the aim of meeting the needs both of the around 2,500 employees at Wintershall Dea and the company itself. “During the pandemic, apart from all the restrictions in our professional and private life, we found that were also able to gain positive experience from mobile working. Most of all, our colleagues appreciate the eponymous flexibility of our new working world. Our focus has always been on mutual trust, cooperation, a willingness to engage in dialogue, and assuming responsibility,” Petra Angstmann, Head of Human Resources at Wintershall Dea, explains.

New space concepts for new way of working

It is not just the work model at Wintershall Dea that is adapting to future requirements. The architectural design of the company offices – new way of working is also promoted in creative spaces: With the “Innovation Factory” and “Sprint Areas”, the company is setting a clear trend for the future in Kassel by enabling agile project work and interdisciplinary collaboration. Over an area of 750 Square metres, workshops and events are held to boost innovative strength from within and make it available worldwide within the company.

Open, modern and collaborative corporate culture

Wintershall Dea promotes an open, modern and collaborative corporate culture, with the focus on inclusive teamwork shaped by mutual respect without hierarchical thinking. A significant step was made around a year and a half ago when the company-wide practice of using first names (using the informal Du form in German) was introduced for all colleagues irrespective of their position. That breaks down hierarchy and distance, and instead, employees engage in dialogue on an equal footing and in spirit of mutual trust and openness.

“Whether it’s Flex Forward or being on first-name terms, it reinforces our corporate culture as Team Wintershall Dea, hence contributing directly to the four corporate values we have given ourselves: trust, care, open-mindedness, and bravery,” Angstmann adds.