Pontus Sunnergren: Hybrid workplace sparks creativity

Pontus works as an Embedded Engineer at Etteplan in Sweden. He joined Etteplan directly after his studies at Halmstad university in 2021. Like many others, Pontus was directly affected by the global pandemic, forcing him to finish his studies predominantly online. This previous experience has helped Pontus to come to terms with studying and working remotely and it also largely impacted his decision to join Etteplan, when he heard about positions available through a family friend. At Etteplan Pontus has a hybrid work model, allowing him to choose his workplace according to the circumstances or ongoing projects.

Pontus really enjoys the idea behind “hybrid workplace” and the flexibility that working as an expert at Etteplan can offer. The fact that you can work from home and take a break during the work hours and continue after that, helps with maintaining the productivity, pace and creativity in the projects. Pontus says that it really helps to clear your mind and come back even stronger!

Pontus has had a speedy start and been able to use this creativity in successfully learning from his more experienced colleagues as well as strongly contribute to various inhouse projects with fresh ideas and solutions. Learning and delivery is the focus of the team Pontus works in now as it is a new team, which was started in August 2021.

Hybrid workplace is not the only thing that Pontus has been able to enjoy since he started at Etteplan. Pontus has quickly joined the extra free-time activities here at Etteplan by leading Etteplan’s Swedish team in competing against Etteplan’s Finnish team in one of the most competitive and popular e-sports games now. Since many years, Etteplan has worked together with one of the biggest companies in Finland that organizes e-sports tournaments with other companies, including customers or competitors. Etteplan’s Finnish team has participated in many competitions since then and even created a discord-server - a group-chatting platform for Etteplanians who enjoy playing e-sports on their free time together with the colleagues. This way Etteplan encourages colleagues to share their passion for computer games with others and highlight the opportunity of getting to know your colleagues on the whole new level.

“When playing games together, people can get a better understanding of their teammates and their skills while at the same time improving social ability, building up teamwork, reduce stress and of course to see what their winning mentality really is like“, says Pontus.

So, if somebody still sees this new hybrid way of working as an obstacle, Pontus’s story proves them wrong. He is grateful to be able to work and develop, and even get to know his colleagues while playing e-sports, on his own terms – in the office or from the comfort of his home.