Cooperation and agreements - important both nationally and across boarders

"The past year has really shown us what it means to have clear agreements for collaboration, consultation and negotiation. Now that we lack them at a transnational level, we can really see the benefits that Nordea, the trade union members and all other employees have when there are good agreements," says Kasper Skovgaard Pedersen, president of Finansforbundet in Nordea.

Last year, Nordea chose to terminate the cross-border agreements* that the Nordic financial unions have been part of for more than 20 years. 

"We are therefore now in a situation where the framework for transnational dialogue between us and the management is, in our opinion, inadequate. We have had countless meetings over a long period of time, where we have tried to come together on a new, negotiated solution," Kasper adds.

Cooperation on Danish soil – we solve it

On Danish soil, we can look forward to a good cooperation on a daily basis between the board, the union representatives and People. 

"The cases are solved, we listen to each other and find out – so that the affected members get the best possible result," says vice president Mette Balck Mejlby.

On a more political level, cooperation is generally good too. 

"We have very good meetings in the Consultative Committee DK, where we have the opportunity to discuss Nordea's situation and development – from the employees' perspective – in a good and informal tone. We listen and take notes, and the topics we bring up are dealt with afterwards if needed. I am also very pleased with the dialogue we have already established with the new Country Senior Executive, Peder Bach – he sends good signals about how important our collaboration is," says Kasper.

Another picture of national cooperation is the negotiations that led to the conclusion of the new company collective agreement. 

"There is no doubt – and that's how it should be; that kind of thing is a compromise – that both parties would have wanted more than the result we ended up with. But the negotiations took place in a respectful tone, and we have also been very much in agreement on which areas should be particularly focused on when implementing the new rules and framework. But it is not that we do not have disagreements. We have that quite often – and sometimes it takes time to reach a compromise," says Mette.

Control or trust?

A concept that is taking up more and more space in everyday life is control. Control of travel, control of office presence, recording of meetings ... and so on. Some are rules that Nordea has chosen itself – others are determined by the authorities.

"I would like the balance between control and trust to be different. Trust is essential for psychological safety. I think we at Nordea should raise the level of ambition and put extra focus on increasing trust in each other – so that the person who wears the shoe is also the one who has the opportunity to do something about what is pressing. We have the "Raise Your Concern" tool – and that's both good and important. But I sincerely hope that everyday minor conflicts can be solved by talking to each other locally. It also rhymes best with Nordea's values, I think," says Mette.

"As control increases, employees' confidence in the fact that their suggestions for solving everyday challenges matter decreases. It challenges psychological safety and leads to silence, and that is not good. Noise doesn't go away just because you don't talk about it."

Well-being at the centre

As we write this, we are waiting for the results of Finansforbundet's recurring well-being survey. All members across the sector have been asked, and we are excited to see if the answers from Nordea’s employees are in line with the answers that come in the bank's People Pulse – or if you as a member answer something else when it is not the employer who reads the answers ... according to what we have just said about control and trust.

"We will be able to see the responses collectively for the whole of Nordea – and broken down by business area. But no more local than that. And we promise that we will use the results as much as possible. On the one hand, we will of course take them up with the management in the forums that are appropriate – and in addition, we will share them with the union representatives in a way that makes it possible to discuss them locally," Kasper promises.