Community will get stronger in 2022
President of Finansforbundet Kent Petersen is looking forward to a year in which new collective agreements will be prepared, solutions for individual, flexible organisation of working life will be created and in which Finansforbundet will continue to devote its efforts to cooperation with organisations and companies in order to remain as strong as possible. “My personal goal is to strengthen the sense of community by getting out and meeting a lot of union representatives and members in the workplace”, he says.
18. Jan 2022
A new year has begun with the corona pandemic and working at home for the majority of financial workers, where the collegial community takes place online. Hopefully, this will not continue in 2022 for too long.
“I see 2022 as an exciting and challenging year for Finansforbundet. Broadly speaking, the companies are operating in a good economy where profits are constantly being adjusted upwards despite strict regulation, and this is important for us, as preparations for the renewal of the 2023 standard collective agreement in 2023 are now beginning”, says Kent Petersen, President of Finansforbundet, who is looking forward to seeing and hearing what members want for the collective agreement in the member survey taking place in February.
Four times in 2020 and 2021, the association has asked members about their working lives and job satisfaction in major surveys. This year, Kent Petersen expects that they will get closer to concrete results on how working life can be arranged flexibly for individuals, so they can have good job satisfaction and not too much stress.
“The latest survey shows a tendency for working at home to be unhealthy every day over a long period of time. On the other hand, we can see that if you experience flexibility and have an influence on planning your work tasks and working hours, you have better job satisfaction”, he says.
“It will be a challenge to see how we can arrange work flexibly and with proper working environment conditions when working from a distance. In this context, management will also be a major theme in the coming year”, predicts Kent Petersen.
Data ethics and sustainability
Another important political issue for Finansforbundet is to put data ethics on the agenda. The topic was debated at the association’s extraordinary national meeting in September 2021, and there was talk of having a code drawn up for how to handle the use of data on employees in the companies.
“Data is becoming more and more important. It is a complex topic with many ethical dilemmas. Therefore, over the coming year we will gather knowledge in collaboration with other stakeholders in order to prepare a more concrete political proposal later”, says Kent Petersen.
Sustainability has been on the agenda for a number of years. Finansforbundet sees it as its role to help support sustainable development in companies and society.
“In 2021, we started training advisers in sustainability in collaboration with Finanssektorens Uddannelsescenter, and we will expand this even more this year, so that more advisers are equipped to advise customers in a sustainable direction”, says the president of the association.
In 2022, Finansforbundet will also start a project with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, where we will look farther ahead – to 2030 – to gain insight into the megatrends that will affect the sector, society and the world in the coming years.
Community must remain strong
Kent Petersen welcomes the fact that the association has a positive and constructive collaboration with Finanssektorens Arbejdsgiverforening, Finans Danmark and F&P.
“We will devote our efforts to strengthening the cooperation with the organisations in the sector and also with the main organisations in the labour market. We have to be as strong as possible so that we can safeguard the interests of our members”, he emphasises.
Kent Petersen has more than 12 years behind him as President of Finansforbundet. He therefore has an in-depth knowledge of his support base. One of his most important tasks in the coming year will be, in his own words, to make sure that the sense of community between the members of the association remains strong.
“A community is not a constant but something that is constantly in motion. Therefore, it is important to gain insight into the people who are part of the community. My personal goal for 2022 is to help strengthen the sense of community, and I will do so by coming out and meeting as many union representatives and members in the workplace as possible. This means that I will spend many hours on the road”, says Kent Petersen.
Emner