Rabobank creates a flexible work environment

We don’t need to look at the past to work out our future, but sometimes it’s interesting to see just how long ago the seeds of our success have been sown. One of the most cutting edge banks as far as business process is concerned was set up at the end of the 19th century as a federation of small farmer’s banks: Rabobank. Rabobank was set up at the end of the nineteenth century as a federation of small farmers’ banks. Even after all this time, the company’s corporate spotlight, involving the nurturing of local connections and cooperative structure remains at its heart, and ever the more relevant today.

Rabobank realised some time back, that the most critical resource it needs to focus on is its people. Attracting the right kind of people and keeping them is the cornerstone to any successful powerhouse, but how? The answer is remarkably simple: instead of making them adapt to the business, the business adapts to them. The most difficult thing modern people seem to face is the collusion of the modern lifestyle and working activities. Using technology to create an environment where the individual can effectively balance business requirements and personal needs means both the individual and the business are going in the same direction. People join a company or stay at a company largely based on what works for them. Rabobank has picked up on this directly – forging an atmosphere that does exactly this. 

Rabo Unplugged is an integrated style of working along the lines of the New World of Work principle, where people are the focus of a flexible work environment, ably supported by innovative technology. In this world information is independent of time and place, which means working with fewer rules and less apparent structure, greater independence and better cooperation. Naturally this engenders a greater entrepreneurial spirit. 

Basically staff are provided with the latest Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) facilities and the appropriate mobile equipment (such as laptops and smartphones) to make their own decisions as to where, when and how they will achieve the best results in the most efficient way. While the system means placing a fair whack of trust in the people by letting them take responsibility for their own work, it strikes at the heart of the main obstacle the company believes all businesses will face – holding on to good employees. Offering a way for people to balance their work and their home life in a modern way that suits them, is a great answer to this. In a way Rabobank is reverting back to its cooperative past: working together to enable better results while still retaining individual independence.

Creating a supple and robust working environment necessitates in turn the use of a flexible technological platform. Rabobank turned to Microsoft technologies to provide users with technology sensitive to wireless needs, with the aim of creating a single transparent workplace. While using software such as Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, what the users don’t see is the underlying infrastructure such as management, enhanced security (provided by Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption) and storage capabilities – all critical to providing a reliable permanently available and safeguarded application platform.