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In 2005 we wondered
what our biggest problem would be.

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We were surprised that it
turned out to be:

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how do we find people we need
to efficiently realize our mission?

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But we, the management, all baby boomers,

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should not have been surprised.

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We ourselves have created the problem.

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Everyone thinks that our generation

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was all about 'Make love, not war'.

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But in reality we practiced
'Make love, not children'.

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(Laughter)

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Our parents had 2.2 children.

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We produced only 1.2.

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It takes 2.1 children to replace
the people who retire.

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Our children are doing better.

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But their children enter the labour market
around 2030. Too late.

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Against all intuition the number
of people at work keeps expanding.

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The situation in Belgium
will become problematic

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already in 2014, when as many people
leave the labour market

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as the number of people
entering the labour market.

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It looks like 2020 is going
to be the most difficult year

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with a replacement ratio just around 60%.

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In the meantime, the war
on talent will burst

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in all its intensity.

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Therefore, the nature of the labour market

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will change dramatically.

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In the old days, labour
supply exceeded demand.

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The employer chose the employee

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and he could make high demands.

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In the near future
labour demand will exceed supply.

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The employee will be scarce.

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In the future the employee
chooses the employer.

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Every company, everyone who employs people

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will have to compete with anyone
who employs people.

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The challenge is: who gets these people?

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For every company the key
question of the future is:

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how do I become and stay a sexy employer?

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I am convinced the answer is:

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change your corporate culture.

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Customize your culture
to the culture of the millennials,

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because those are the people you need.

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Key question: which corporate
culture lures the millennials?

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Millennials want a high
degree of self-determination.

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They are no salary slaves.

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They don't want their boss
to decide where to work.

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Our motto is: work at home, home at work.

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Work at home.

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Then the next logical question is:

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who can work from home?

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Don't go there.
I know what the result is going to be.

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The top is allowed to work at home,

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the graduates also,
the rest you can't trust.

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The real question is:

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which functions are not eligible
for work from home?

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You will be surprised.

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92% of our people are perfectly
able to work from home.

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And 69% does.

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This requires a total change
of all processes and workflows.

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Until now, the employee
had to follow the file

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because the file was a paper file.

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Today's technology makes it possible

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to make files follow the employee.

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Digital is the new normal.

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The employee expects to work with
technology which is state-of-the-art.

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At least the kind of edge technology
he is working and playing with at home.

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It's natural for him to work any place,
any time and with any device.

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Bring-your-own-device
will be standard in years to come.

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If state-of-the-art technology
is like having breakfast,

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using social media is like breathing.

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If you save on technology
at the expense of employees

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and you don't trust
your employees on social media,

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they feel like a prisoner
in your organization.

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If you really want millennials to leave,

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keep working with the old versions
of Microsoft Office and ban social media.

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Let your employees work
wherever they want,

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but make sure they feel
at home at work as well.

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The workplace is not a place
for solitary concentration.

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It is the place where you meet people.

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As an employer, think
about [what] the workplace

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where you want to meet other people
should look like.

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The setting in which people work
should not depend on hierarchy.

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It should depend on the activity
you are executing at that specific moment.

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So you can read email
here, but also at home

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or at Starbucks, wherever there's
an internet connection.

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You can have a meeting here,

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but of course we have
videoconferencing as well.

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And coffee?

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Coffee you can drink anywhere.

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Mostly it is drunk at home.

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Which is very cheap for the employer.

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In such an environment, creativity
seems to come naturally.

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But to create a truly
creative organization,

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you need to do a lot more.

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Everything must be
designed for the employees

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to participate in the continuous design
of the future organization.

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When you enter an organization,

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you smell the boss and his culture.

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What kind of bosses do we need

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to create a creative environment?

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Not this one, because he is like this.

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We need bosses that are like this.

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How do we know if they are
the new good bosses?

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How do we know if the team manager
is a team builder?

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How do we know if she is a real
coach for you?

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Well, we ask the team.

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Every year, we organize a bottom-up evaluation
of all the bosses in our organization.

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You wouldn't find much creativity
in an organization that is based on this model.

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You will have to work hard to ensure
that you have this kind organization.

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How to get there?

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Easy, ask your employees.

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Give them time.

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Encourage them.

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And certainly don't fill up their agendas

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with 100 percent operational assignments.

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Make them proud.

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Think and do authentic branding.

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Ask all employees to use social media.

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Beg them to talk about their organization,
not your organization.

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Become a conversation company.

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It's hard work, but it
brings magnificent results,

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including financial ones,
although that's only the side-effect.

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It's collateral profit.

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First and foremost you have to
make your people feel at home at work.

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And don't tell them when to work.

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Only bad bosses and bad employees
are happy with the time clock.

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Bad bosses think that you're
a good employee

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when you get there on time
and don't leave early.

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Bad employees think
it's okay just being there.

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In the end it's all about results.

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Each team must know
what results they should achieve.

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And the entire team decides
who does what, not the boss.

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A boss should never tell
people how to work.

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He's to decide what the results should be.

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That's what an authentic boss does.

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He doesn't lie. He walks the talk,

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not because he read it
in a management guru's book,

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but because he believes in it,
he is convinced,

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he is enthusiastic about it.

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For the old style boss,
employee equals function.

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An organization has financial resources,

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it has logistical resources,

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but you don't have human resources.

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People are no resources.

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Your recruitment policy
should reflect that rule.

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Be like the Rolling Stones.

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What would happen
if Charlie Watts had enough

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of the follies of Keith and Mick and Ron?

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Would they place and ad
for a drummer who can keep pace?

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No. They would leave no stone unturned

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until they found a new Stone.

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If your people are really important,

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then you feel about their future.

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Not only their professional future,

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because
that's only about the company's future,

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but their future, their life's future.

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Certainly not every millennial is a card
carrying member of the green party,

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but be sure, they hate
filth, they hate waste.

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The world is their world.

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For them, global warming
is no theoretical problem.

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They feel it. It destroys their world.

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So don't expect them to work for a company

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that is part of the problem.

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Their friends would have
a lot of criticism

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if you work for a polluting company.

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Make no mistake, in making choices

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they rather listen to their friends
than to their employer.

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Even if your business has
nothing to do with ecology,

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then you should be part
of the environmental solution.

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That's why we buy products
that are cradle-to-cradle.

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That's why we drive small hybrid cars.

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In a few years, we will produce
all the energy we need.

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The paper purchases are reduced by 72%,

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the printers by 84%.

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And everyone in the organization
knows this strategy

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and is convinced that management
makes good choices.

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Strategy and branding
are key tasks of management,

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but their task ends there.

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Management determines where to go.

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The people decide how
and what to do to get there.

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Sometimes you need
to completely break with the past.

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We chose a totally new environment also:

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less space, no walls.

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So many changes, and do
we get our results?

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The first year after the change,
we realized a two digit productivity rise.

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But again, that's collateral profit.

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It's people that matter.

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Benchmarks indicate that our people
are the most satisfied federal employees

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because they can choose when to work.

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That's what they love.

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People choose to work from home

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because they are fed up with traffic jams

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and trains that are always too crowded,
too late, too hot or too cold,

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but they continue to work from home

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because in doing so, they have become
director of their own lives.

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On Saturday, everyone is fighting for a parking
lot at IKEA or at the shopping mall.

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Not our people.
They shop on Monday or Tuesday.

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Our people work when
they are concentrated.

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When you are concentrated, you only need
6 hours to get all your work done.

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Anna is correct.

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And thereby, everybody
wins 4-5 hours a day.

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Time is really the new money.

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Also our organization is gender-balanced.

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At all levels, there
are as many women as men.

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And strangely enough,
we don't have a gender program.

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What's the secret?

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Our young mothers
don't need to take a part-time job

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to pick up their children
at the daycare or at school.

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Part-time employees get no promotion.

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Full-time employees do.

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Sometimes, things are easier
than you imagine.

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We are very happy with these results

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because it makes us
more attractive as an employer.

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Because we know family
is the first priority for millennials,

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not the organization they work for.

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Important, yes, but not a priority.

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Accept it. Family is parents,
grandparents, children.

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But family isn't just family.
It's also their friends

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and anyone with the same values.

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The employees have to
experience those family values

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in the organization.

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That means: remove hierarchy
and status symbols.

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It means creating a physical
environment that promotes

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the meeting between all employees.

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No walls.

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These are the eight motors of change.

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Employers have no choice.

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Companies in a coma, get serious.

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Change or disappear.

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Shift or shrink.

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And change is like breathing:

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You stop, you die.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)