What is agile working?

Agile working is increasingly used in companies of all sizes and in almost all branches, including banks and financial institutions.

What is agile?

Agile working is a flexible way of working in project structures. It originates from the IT world, where developers had to be able to respond quickly to the changing needs of the market.
Activities are divided into small, clear components and are distributed among the team. These smaller projects/activities are called sprints. Adjustments can be made after each sprint, so that continuously changing processes or market requirements can be anticipated.

Functions and function levels in an agile environment

An agile team consists of employees with similar positions from different disciplines at a comparable level. Frequently, there is no longer a team leader who divides the work, instead the team does this itself.

Are there still promotional opportunities within an agile work environment?

An agile organisation is formally a flat organisation with few function levels. The question then, is whether you can still have a career in an agile environment where everyone works at the same level? The traditional way of forging a career has disappeared, but you will grow in terms of knowledge and skills, meaning you can continue to advance in terms of function, salary and responsibilities. People comfortable with hierarchy and job titles within an organisation will have to adapt in an agile environment.

Performance appraisals, who with?

Within agile teams there is no middle management and thus no managers to take responsibility for tasks. Through a 360-degree feedback process, your colleagues will describe how they perceive working with you and where any points for improvement lie. These replace the traditional performance appraisals.

What is it like working without managers?

The development of your career within an agile work environment is primarily self-dependant. This is due to the fact that the teams you work in are self-managing, each with its own expertise. You regularly ask each other for feedback. In this way you learn proactively from each other and you can further develop within the team.

Recruitment & temporary staff

A different type of organisation requires a different way of working, and therefore also a different type of employee. The demand for people will therefore change with it.

Temporary or permanent staff?

Do you opt for temporary or permanent staff? In practice, we see that organisations want to maintain a certain flexibility in their workforce. This is often achieved by initially hiring employees as temporary staff, before offering them a permanent contract. As a result, organisations are not directly tied to employees when a project is completed. The new generation of employees often have less of an issue with this. They do not have the ambition for career-long commitment to an employer, often preferring to work on a project basis so they can switch if their learning curve declines. All the fun, without the ties.