People by PostNord 1_19 English by postnord

#1 2019

145

fantastic PostNorders in this issue: Britta stays in step, Heidi copes with complaints, and Patrick does the impossible. Plus 142 more!

Truth-teller! Why eighty managers listened to Cezar

128

Equ iandus et occab ipsa, Tine Anundsen denter loste. Equlia Anders Palm denter Equ et occab ipsam, Samir Razak. Diter loste. Equlia Hassan Masaoud denter

The new flexible T-Cross.

An interior easy to rearrange to suit your needs – the new T-Cross is adjustable, allowing more legroom, or more room for luggage, or the space to load very long things. Moreover, lots of advanced safety features are included. For example, the new T-Cross brakes for pedestrians, helps keeping you in the lane, and warns you when you get tired. Discover the greatness of a compact SUV.

Find your nearest dealer on www.volkswagen.se Bränsleförbrukning blandad körning från 5,9 – 6,3 l/100 km. CO2-utsläpp från 131 – 142 g/km. Skattegrundande CO2-utsläpp från 112 g/km. Miljöklass Euro Bilen på bilden är extrautrustad. Vi reserverar oss för ändringar och avvikelser.

Volkswagen

Welcome!

T H E C O N C LU S I O N *

PostNord

football

>>> Zishan Munir, a truck driver in Oslo, takes the sting out of a conflict by talking about the Premier League, on page 48. The mail carrier Jan Geertsen in Randers, Denmark, dreams of seeing his local team “The Blue Horses” at the top of the Super League table, on page 11. When Cezar Husseini, a truck driver in Veddesta outside Stockholm, had to speak to eighty senior executives, he compared a good working environment and good management with a successful football team. See page 52. The conclusion: if you meet a colleague for the first time we recommend talking about football – chess on grass – as a suitable icebreaker.

The magic of short stories

PS. >>> In 2006, Larry Smith, founder of Smith Magazine, asked his readers a question: Can you describe your life in six words? Since then, “six-word memoirs” have become a global phenomenon and a best-selling book series. The website sixwordsmemoirs.com has published over one million memoirs – such as “Married by Elvis, divorced by Friday”, “From migrant worker to Nasa astronaut” and “I still make coffee for two”.

Where is the news?

People by PostNord is a magazine with stories about PostNord’s employees. News and information are available on the PostNord intranet, for employees who have access. You are welcome to comment on the articles in the Yammer group: People by PostNord.

PICTURES BEHIND THE SCENES

RICKARD KILSTRÖM

FREDDY BILLQVIST

STOCKHOLM. On cover is Cezar Husseini, here with his daughter Kianna. Photographed by Magnus Laupa. PEOPLE BY POSTNORD

RANDERS. Jan, Gitte and the cat Albert Geertsen offered our photographer Freddy Billqvist a cup of coffee.

PEOPLE BY POSTNORD. Publisher: Thomas Backteman Editor-in-Chief: Malin Nordén National Editors: Robert Långström (SE), Michael Kirkeby (DK), Maiju Karhunen (FI) and Sigurd Bjerke (NO). Design: Erik Westin Picture Editor: Magnus Laupa Language Coordinator: Louise Holpp Other contributors: Eriq Agélii, Julia Spector, Björn Thorvaldsen, Grethe-Birgitte Friis Jakobsen, Salla Virkkunen, Malin Dahlberg, Fredrik Arvidsson Production: Spoon Printing: V-TAB Email: peopleby@postnord.com

BANFA JAWLA

* The editorial teams draws a highly unscientific conclusion about topics that bring PostNorders together, based on the interviews in the magazine.

”For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” Some people want to call it the world’s shortest novel. There is a myth that the author Ernest Hemingway made a bet with some friends in a restaurant that he could write a whole story in six words, and wrote the six words on a napkin. The origin of the story is actually much older than Hemingway – but the point is that a good story is not decided by its size or number of words, but by the images that the words put into the reader’s mind. It is not the ambition of People by PostNord to be Hemingway. M A L I N N O R D É N Editor-in-Chief, But its aim is to tell stories. Not People by PostNord about PostNord, but about the people who work there. From the truck driver Britta in Odense, who dances through life, via Cezar in Järfälla, who had 80 managers as a captive audience, to the adventurer Tim in Oslo, who cycled to Russia to watch the football World Cup. Everyone has a story to tell – and we want to tell your stories. People by PostNord is PostNord’s new employee magazine. It is distributed to all employees in the Nordic countries and we hope that you find it inspiring to read about the magic of your colleagues’ stories, whether big or small. Or if I describe the magazine in six words: About people – with or without uniform.

CONTENTS #1-19

Gyrild Thune drives on.

CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

MAGNUS LAUPA

FREDDY BILLQVIST

Alexis Larsson tracks down thieves.

The team in Arlöv does the impossible.

Terje Eide never loses the beat.

Andrea Schlechter loves the border zone.

RENJA NURMI

CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

Rudi Harlo perfects his work-life balance. Liv Najjar ställer gammalt mot nytt.

PEOPLE BY POSTNORD

INDEX

We feature in e this issu We are interviewees:

JOHAN HÖRBERG

Abdelkader Chemlali 30 Alexis Larsson 23 Andrea Schlechter 15 Anna Hindborg 30 Anna-Maj Melin 32 Britta Holk 8 Britta Mejer 40 Bure Noréus 60 Cezar Husseini 42 Christer Ekstrand 16 Claes Linder 64 Emil Plahn 30 Emma Stèen 17 Gyrild Thune 13 Göran Lindqvist 41 Harri Parviainen 36 Hassan Masaud 31 Haxhi Restelica 8 Heidi Voutilainen 50 Jan Geertsen 11 Jonas Wahlsten 60 Krista Yliruusi 60, 65 Lisa de Wahl 59 Magdalena Robsarve 59 We are mentioned: Aki Liikanen 37 Anders Lindholm 18 Anna Peräjoki 65 Arild Lund 34 Aron Khan 49 Birthe Larsen 57 Björn Mossberg 16 Catharina Landgren 16 Christer Haglund 25 Christer Kostet 15 Claus Enevoldsen 11 Diana Beck Jørgensen 15 Elisa Rakkolainen 50 Emelie Ericson 25 Erik Hansen 49 Espen Ellingsberg 41 Essi Harjanti 50 PEOPLE BY POSTNORD

Ferhat Yasa 8 Frank Høj 11 Frank Uzlastiran 9 Gabriella Clausén 41 Gilbert Svensson 66 Harri Pajula 65 Harri Tuominen 8 Henne Ihle 15 Håkan Cragéus 25 Isabell Albinsson 41 Jakob Persson 39 Jemina Parm 8 Jens Boye 49 Jesper Pedersen 11 Jesper Robdrup 55 Jessica Nyström 25 Jette Andersen 15

Jian Reyes 12 Joakim Strömberg 41 Johan Abrahamsson 34 Johan Björklund 25 Johanna Zaitri 8 Jonas Halvardsson 25 Jonas Westerberg 25 Josefina Saarinen 41 Jørgen Tvenstrup 11 Kati Lappalainen 8 Kati Packalén 65 Katri Lahti 8 Keld Lindbjerg 41 Kent Ohlsson 25 Kevin Nielsen 14 Kristian Lund 9 Kristine Norman 18

Malin Nordén 3 Martin Dam 54 Michael Hansen 30 Michael Toxværd 31 Patrick Svensson 17 Rasmus Plæp 31 Rickard Örn 38 Rina Haverinen 50, 61 Ronnie Halonen 14 Rudi Harlo 65 Sari Paananen 8 Sofie Skadal 8 Susanne Christensen 49 Svend Stemann 54 Tatjana Harder Erdal 12 Teit Høilund-Carlsen 31 Terje Eide 9 Thomas Backteman 44 Tim Bogdanov 33 Tomas Lundström 10 Zishan Munir 48 Kujitim Inseni 48 Lars Pilgaard 49 Laura Honkarila 8 Lauri Sarparanta 8 Linda Berg 41 Liv Najjar 62 Malin Nilsson 16 Mandeep Grewal 12 Marie-Louise Tysén 41 Markus Lindholm 39 Martin Webb 44 Martti Järventie 65 Mea Grönholm 50 Mikael Sjöström 25 Mike Strøander 49 Mikko Nurmi 8 Mikko-Antero Savolainen 50 Oskar Brunnberg 41 Ossi Pakkanen 37 Per Nylander 46 Per Rasmussen 49 Peter Alborghetti 18 Philip Wik 46 Preben Larsen 11 Preben Mikkelsen 15

Raymond Iversen 48 Robban Malm 46 Robert Luomala 25 Roland Egnestam 41 Sami Elmi 12 Samu Tallniemi 8 Sebastian Jellema 15 Sigurd Tullberg 66 Simon Schultz 16 Stefan Iversen 6 Stig Reidmar 66 Suvi Vitale 50 Svein Andersen 49 Terese Sjølli 13 Terje Mortensen 9 Tero Mehtänen 50 Thomas Augustsson 46 Tomi Vuorinen 37 Toni Karinen 65 Torgeir Eriksen 14 Trude Evensen 9 Tuukka Hyyppä 37 Ulf Widman 25 Åsa Palm 18 5

MY SPOT / BORNHOLM

JESPER KLEMEDSSON

“ I take pride in being here” I’M HERE TWICE a day. In the Danish port of Gudhjem, where everyone is friendly towards each other: the fishermen, the harbormaster and the residents. You are part of the family, among the stone spires embedded in the cliffs and the harbor walk with its decorative stone paving. In the summer there are thousands of cheerful people in the port. In the winter you can feel the tranquil calm. I take pride in being here every day at exactly 10:00 and 14:15. That’s when the post boat Peter arrives. An old cutter dating from 1930 that transports mail to and from the small islands Christiansø and Frederiksø. I help to moor the boat, and would like to step onboard – if only I didn’t get so seasick. So I stay on land and enjoy the work with the ropes, the atmosphere in the port, and loading and unloading the parcels to and from the islands. Like many other people, the 88 islanders on Christiansø and Frederiksø shop online, and they also send many parcels of pickled herring in the other direction. A lot of the herring goes to high-end restaurants in Copenhagen. STEFAN IVERSEN, POSTMAN INTERVIEWED BY MARIE-LOUISE ARNFAST

P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

Cymbals, pearl hearts and magic seconds. Pick up makes quick stops around the world of PostNorders. Join us and climb aboard. Drop us an email and tell us about your mobile photo: peopleby@postnord.com

MY PHOTO

Celebrating in style “My partner Morten hates celebrating his birthday. But you only have your 30th birthday once in your life, so I planned a proper celebration. Morten was awakened with pancakes and bacon, balloons, gifts and small parcels of goodies from SebastienBruno. I took 20 pictures of the breakfast tray before I was satisfied. That’s probably because I’m a trained photographer. Later in the day, Morten was led out of the apartment with a blindfold on. We had dinner at Smalhans with his family, who came from Arendal for a surprise visit. He was very happy.” SOFIE SKADAL , CONTENT PRODUCER FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, OSLO

A burst of adrenaline “My grandchildren Willas and Logan mean an enormous amount to me. They live close to us and we see each other a lot during the week. We go to the playground, go on excursions to the wetland, play in the snow in winter, and we’ve now started to accompany our oldest grandchild to swimming and football. This is us at Amager Strand. Becoming a grandma has really enriched my life. Of course I love my children, but to also have so many feelings for my grandchildren took me by surprise. I clearly remember the rush of happiness that I felt when I held my grandchild in my arms for the first time. It was like feeling a burst of adrenaline. And it’s lovely to see my son become a father and watch how he is with his children. It makes me feel proud.” BRITTA HOLK, BUYER, COPENHAGEN

Hearts breeds hearts “Last winter I scraped the ice off one of the frozen windows of my car to form a heart shape for my five-year-old daughter to give her a good start to the week. It made her really happy, and a few days later she gave me a heart made of beads in return. It made me think of the chain reaction that starts when we do something good for someone else. If we managers turn words into actions and create good conditions for our employees, then we receive hearts in return in the form of commitment.” HAXHI RESTELICA, TERMINAL MANAGER, MALMÖ 8

THE LIST

“ Eurovision is about fun and enjoyment” SAR

I PAA NAN EN has loved the Eurovision Song Contest ever since 1983. That was when she sat by the radio with her dad and listened to it, although since the 1990s she has watched the competition on television. She is a member of the Eurovision Club in Finland, which organizes an event each year at which the members rate the songs of all the SARI participating PAANANEN countries. “A lot has changed >>> Sari is an Invoicing over the years and it Specialist and works at is sad that the big PostNord in Vantaa, orchestra has Finland. Her closest disappeared. But you colleagues are Johanna should definitely Zaitri, Kati Lappalainen, take the Eurovision Harri Tuominen, Lauri Song Contest with an Sarparanta, Jemina attitude of fun and Parm, Katri Lahti, Mikko enjoyment. When Nurmi, Samu Tallniemi, Conchita Wurst won, Laura Honkarila and a friend of mine in Ferhat Yasa. Copenhagen told me that many people had been so impr essed by the bearded winner’s appearance that they started crocheting beards for themselves,” says Sari. Eurovision fans are very positive, acco rding to Sari. There is no sulkiness, and scan dals are encouraged. “It wouldn’t be the Eurovision Song Contest without a scandal, basically.” MAI JU KAR HUN EN

Sari Paananen’s five favorites with which to warm up for this year’s Eurovision:

> Carola: ”Evighet” (2006) > Marie Myriam: ”L’oiseau et l’enfa nt” (1977) > Charlotte Nilsson: ”Take me to your heaven” (1999) >S ilvi Vrait: ”Nagu merelaine” (1994) >M or ve Ötesi: ”Deli” (2008)

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THE LIST

TEXT: SISSEL FANTOFT PHOTO: CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

Terje Eide Job: Head of Administration in Langhus, Norway. His closest colleagues are Frank Uzlastiran, Kristian Lund, Trude Evensen and Terje Mortensen.

5 Terje’s favorite drummers

“It sounds raw!”

> Jeff Porcaro, Toto > Ian Paice, Whitesnake > Ringo Starr, Beatles > Lars Ulrich, Metallica > Peter Criss, Kiss

Terje Eide was born in time with the beat: “Playing drums provides fantastic enjoyment”. “BOTH MY MOTHER and my father played several instruments. I started playing the drums in the Lerstad school orchestra and then continued in youth bands. When I grew up, I performed in Tobbens Dance Band, where I was the singer from 1989 to 2009,” says Terje, who is Head of Administration in Langhus in Norway. When there is a party at PostNord, he plays the drums alongside other colleagues with musical experience. P EEO N ONRO D R D OPPLLEEBY BYP OPST O ST

“There is always a great atmosphere! Otherwise, I play in the band En gang te, and we practice in the emergency shelter once a week. We have even signed a record contract with Tylden & Co”. “Playing drums provides fantastic enjoyment,” says Terje. “There are so many different beats, and it sounds so raw! My love of music has also given me the gift of being able to play most instruments.”

Would you like to hear how it sounds? Follow us on Instagram. #peoplebypostnord

THE PHYSICS LESSON / 3D PRINTER

A copy of reality Say hi to Stratasys J750, your new colleague who can print body parts.

“WE DO NOT YET KNOW THE LIMIT” “What makes it so exciting is that we don’t yet know the limit of what we can do, because you can mix such a vast number of materials and various combinations,” says Tomas Lundström, Head of 3D at PostNord Strålfors.

MILLIONS OF VARIATIONS Each print can be given 360,000 different characteristics. Thirty different materials can be combined on top of that, giving millions of possible variations.

PRINTING WITH DROPS The precision in details is created by 0.016 millimeter thin layers, consisting of micrometer-sized drops of various materials, known as photopolymers.

UNIQUE MATERIALS PostNord Strålfors uses the 3D printer to make marketing materials and miniature prototypes for sales support, but also to facilitate planning and visualization.

PRINTED URBAN DISTRICTS The items that PostNord’s customers have printed include miniatures of urban districts, of enormous ships, and replicas of antique museum exhibits.

BUILDS INSIDES PRECISELY Thanks to the layer principle, you can control the internal geometry of the print out, which means that the print can also resemble reality on the inside.

CAN TAKE A DAY >

A print can take everything from five minutes to a whole day.

PRINTED A HEART The printer’s perhaps most spectacular print out so far was an exact copy of a child’s heart which was used to prepare for an operation.

“I am still sometimes shocked by how realistic the print outs are,” says Head of 3D at PostNord Strålfors in Sweden Tomas Lundström. Stratsys J750 has so far printed out everything from sneakers to a copy of a child’s heart. Nobody has yet discovered the printer’s limits.

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TEXT: MICHAEL KIRKEBY PHOTO: FREDDY BILLQVIST

HEARTS@POSTNORD

“ Sometimes it is the sum of all the small things that makes everyday life a little better,” says Jan Geertsen.

The magical half-minute “WHERE DO YOU want the parcel?”, asks Jan Geertsen. “In the basement, in the kitchen or in a room?”. Actually, he doesn’t really have to ask, as he already knows. Most people want to have their parcels put at the same place each time. He knows where, because he takes the time to get to know his customers. “When you drive the same route you get to know the neighborhood and the customers. I’ve been delivering parcels here for three years and really enjoy it. I wouldn’t say I am friends with the customers, but people know me and we say hello to each other. Then you feel like the contact is good,” he says. Jan is a familiar face on the quiet residential roads in northwest Randers in Denmark. People greet him and Jan greets them back. There is not much that disturbs the peace and tranquility here. And Jan Geertsen doesn’t do that either when he arrives in his large Fiat Ducato and delivers parcels and express letters to residents in the districts of Hornbæk and Helsted. “I can also call customers and ask them where I should put their parcel if they have not registered for Mottagarflex. It only takes half a minute. And what you gain is much more than that. It is sometimes the sum of all the little things that makes everyday life a little better – and who doesn’t like that? I am convinced that it is worth it in the long term.” After work, Jan returns home to his wife and cat in their house just outside Randers. It is also very likely that you will find him at Randers Stadium, where he dreams of seeing “The Blue Horses” at the top of the Super League.

JAN GEERTSEN Job: Postman in Randers, Denmark. Has worked for 31 years: I started working for Post Danmark in 1988. He has worked with his closest colleagues for many years: Jørgen Tvenstrup, Jesper Pedersen, Preben Larsen, Frank Høj and Claus Enevoldsen.

HEARTS@POSTNORD Are you good at giving that little extra something? Or do you know somebody who does? Please let us know at peopleby@postnord.com P EEO N ONRO D R D OPPLLEEBY BYP OPST O ST

11 11

PICKING A BRAIN / TATJANA HARDER ERDAL

TEXT: SISSEL FANTOFT PHOTO: CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

The PostNord store:

Best within three weeks “The response from customers has been overwhelming! If problems arise, we deal with them at once, so we are both a store and customer service in one. The goal was to become the distribution point in Norway with the most satisfied customers, which we achieved just three weeks after opening!”

Her colleagues:

Really enjoying work “I have two fantastic colleagues, Mandeep Grewal and Sami Elmi. Both have a really positive attitude and get very good feedback from customers. Even though some days are very busy, I really enjoy my work.”

Mental health:

Things are heading in the right direction “I am involved in issues relating to mental health, an area I have experience in. Fortunately, it is a topic that is now easier to talk about - things are heading in the right direction!”

The speed of success

TATJANA HARDER ERDAL is a team leader at the very first independent PostNord store in Norway. It opened in Grünerløkka in Oslo on October 19 last year. The district has a lot of small shops, which have limited capacity to store parcels awaiting collection, and the idea is that PostNord will provide help in this regard. “We serve an area with 70,000 inhabitants, and with the increase

in online shopping there is a considerable need for such a service,” she says. Tatjana lives in Sankt Hanshaugen with her partner and their cats Sherlock and Sky, a 15-minute walk at a leisurely pace from work. “I look forward to walking there when it gets lighter and warmer. We have a park right outside the door at the store, and we hang out there at lunch time and after work.”

12 P EPO E BYP O PO STNNOORRD D 12 PEO LPELBY ST

TEXT: SISSEL FANTOFT PHOTO: CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

THE BEGINNING / GYRID THUNE

Gyrid Thune >>> Joined PostNord Norway in 2012 as a work consultant at the Information Management Department in Oslo. In 2014, she was made Head of Business Information Services (BIS). She has a background in purchasing, sorting, and having responsibility for training new employees in the sports industry. She has also owned and operated her own special store in Strømmen, outside Oslo.

“I was full of expectation” Gyrid Thune not only changed jobs – she also moved to a new industry and culture. How does one manage that? By shadowing brilliant colleagues, of course. “EVERYTHING WAS NEW and exciting – I came to an industry that had new ways of thinking and a different culture from what I was used to,” says Gyrid Thune. On a beautiful fall day in 2012, Gyrid entered her new workplace, as a consultant at the Information Management Department at PostNord in Oslo. She was full of expectations and very curious about her new colleagues. Starting a new job involves major changes. You have to learn a lot of new things, and get to know new colleagues and a whole new culture – and do a good job. But she remembers that she received a warm welcome and that she learned a lot in the first few weeks. “I was lucky to come to a business in which there were a lot

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of people who had worked in the organization for a long time and were good at their job – including Terese Sjølli, who really helped me when I was new,” she says, and continues, “As a new employee, it is important to really take advantage of this experience. You don’t get everything served on a plate, so it is important to take the initiative.” For Gyrid, a normal day at work is enjoyable, challenging and long. “Rewarding and multi-faceted, in other words. The work at PostNord involves a high tempo, care and attention to detail, and the ability to handle many types of tasks and people,” she says. The very best thing about the job is all the nice colleagues. “There are so many lovely and

capable people here so it is a real pleasure to go to work! I enjoy having a varied working day with a lot of different kinds of tasks. I have learned a lot since I started at PostNord. I use leadership methods in a completely different, structured and more professional way than I did previously.” In 2014, she was made Head of Business Information Services (BIS). She tries to be a helpful, clear, predictable and friendly leader who achieves good results in collaboration with her colleagues at BIS. “It is never wrong to smile and be positive! I always try to bring the best out in others and I am committed to creating a good working environment and good systems in which to work.”

OPPOSITES / NORTH AND SOUTH

RONNIE HALONEN job: Truck driver at Tana bru, Norway. Works together with: Torgeir Eriksen and I share the trips to Kirkenes. Kevin Nilsen is the best transport manager I have ever had! He is invited to my wedding this fall.

Tana bru

Aabenraa

“ It suddenly changes – and becomes dramatic” Truck driver Ronnie Halonen has no problem being on his own for hours on end. Welcome to the last outpost in the north.

hey have a saying in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city: "Don’t you like the weather? Then just wait for 20 minutes”. But Auckland doesn’t stand a chance against Finnmark, Norway. Here the weather can switch from brilliant sunshine to a hard wind over the course of just a few minutes. “I drive through fantastic and magnificent scenery. It is incredibly beautiful when the weather is good, but it can suddenly change and the surroundings can become dramatic,” says Ronnie Halonen. HE HAS BEEN transporting goods around Finnmark in northern Norway for 25 years, most recently for PostNord from Tana bru. “In a normal week I drive about 3,500 kilometers. I do the delivery route to Båtsfjord and Berlevåg on my own, and there are three of us who share the trips to Kirkenes. Every third weekend I drive the long journey to Kiruna, Sweden, to deliver and collect containers with parcels from the railway station there,” he says. The change in weather and road quality, and long distances, are some of the challenges to which Ronnie has had to become accustomed. “On trips to Sweden I also drive through Finland, and there is no doubt that the roads are better as soon as I leave Norway.” Driving long distances is no problem for Ronnie, as he enjoys being on his own and listening to music and the radio. 14

HE WORKS SHIFTS, with one week on and one week off. The working day starts at 6 am. “There are seven off us at the base in Tana. We start the day by allocating the goods that are to be delivered and defining the routes, before we get behind the wheel. There is often a long way to drive before the first parcel is even delivered,” he says. Ronnie Halonen often has up to fifty stops on his delivery rounds. That suits him just fine. “I like talking to people and I get to know the customers quite well. If they are not at home, I go to the neighbor. Everyone knows who I am. That’s what I like most about working in the north – further to the south people give you a strange look if you say hello to them, but up here everyone talks to each other. That is something that strikes me quite often.” He makes sure he treats people well and drives in a responsible way. “People up here don’t have any connection to the terminal or the big company. For them, PostNord is me and the vehicle I drive.”

SISSEL FANTOFT P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

“ I’m a mix – and I like it” Postman Andrea Schlechter feels as much Danish as she does German. Welcome to the border country.

ndrea Schlechter grew up in Germany but went to a Danish school. She is a German citizen but her husband and children are Danish citizens. She lives in Denmark and is a mail carrier based in Aabenraa, but it is music from the German radio station RSH that comes from the vehicle’s speakers while Andrea is doing her round. In this part of Jutland, the border has moved many times over the centuries. This applies to both the border on the map and the border where the population feels either more Danish or German. “I was born in a Danish minority of about 50,000 people who have lived south of the border since 1920. I am neither 100 percent German nor 100 percent Danish. I am a mix and in many ways I like that. But the music is best on RSH,” says Andrea and laughs.

applies to the constant west wind from the rough North Sea. “Our postal district doesn’t go all the way out to the west coast, but there is still fantastic variation in the landscape – for example from the coast down toward Flensburg Fjord to the forests around Gråsten. I like the variety.” That is why Andrea acts as a substitute, which she has done since joining Posten in 2008. “I think I would get bored if I always did the same round.” SHE LIVES IN a house in Padborg, just a few hundred meters from the border. When her leisure time is not being spent with her partner, children, dogs and cats, tennis has become a big interest. But first, the mail has to be delivered of course: “If I finish my round early, I often give others a call and ask if there is anyone who needs help with the last deliveries. We help each other in this way, so that our days do not get too stressful. That’s also why I like my job.”

MICHAEL KIRKEBY

ILLUSTRATIONER: JOHAN HÖRBERG

HAVING GROWN UP in the countryside outside Schleswig, Andrea is used to fresh air, open landscapes and plenty of space. “I can’t imagine living in a big city. I like to get out into the open and the job as a postman is therefore perfect for me.” The national border cuts across from west to east, but nature’s own border instead runs from north to south. Although the Jutland peninsula is only 100 kilometers wide, the difference between its eastern and western parts is considerable. On the Baltic Sea side – from Kiel in the south to high up on Jutland – the landscape is gentle and romantic. There are rolling hills and glittering fjords where the broad-leaved trees reflects in the water. The countryside is very different to the west. The landscape is flat, pine trees dominate and the same

ANDREA SCHLECHTER Job: Postman, Aabenraa, Denmark. Works together with: Andrea’s closest colleagues are Hanne Ihle, Preben Mikkelsen, Sebastian Jellema, Jette Andersen, and Diana Beck Jørgensen.

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Från vänster: Catharina Landgren, Malin Nilsson, Björn Mossberg, Christer Ekstrand, Christer Kostet och Simon Schultz och de andra på brevbärarkontoret i Arlöv gjorde det omöjliga möjligt.

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D O N E AT Arlöv in southern Sweden was about to lose its last outlet.

LIGHTNING It was impossible to open a new one in such a short space of time.

SPEED Chaos would follow. Or so everyone thought.

TEXT: SAM SUNDBERG PHOTO: FREDDY BILLQUIST

PATRICK SVENSSON WAS counting down the hours until the Christmas holiday when his mobile phone rang. It was a Friday afternoon on December 21. Outside the mail delivery office in Arlöv, north of Malmö, the sky was dark. The phone call that Patrick received was of a sort that few people want to receive as a Christmas gift. “I’ve got a little Christmas gift for you,” he heard Production Area Manager Emma Stèen say in a cheery voice. “We’re going to open a partner outlet! Now, don’t think about it too much over the holidays ...” Patrick Svensson is the Production Manager at the P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

mail delivery office in Arlöv, a small town with just over 4,000 inhabitants in the Skåne region of southern Sweden. The sugar refinery is the most important industry today, as it was 150 years ago, and the other end of town is home to another of its institutions: Burlöv Shopping Center. That’s also where the supermarket Coop Forum is located, which housed Arlöv’s partner outlet. Patrick had heard the rumors that the supermarket was going to close down, and as late as in November it sounded as though a new partner outlet was in the pipeline. But something had apparently occurred along the way and the situation had reached a critical 17

“It is small and temporary, but some people think it is very nice,” says the Production Manager at the Arlöv mail delivery office Patrick Svensson.

Simon Schultz, postman.

Björn Mossberg, postman.

CHRISTER EKSTRAND:

It’s not like a dance floor here, but it works.

point. After Christmas, Patrick and his colleagues had three weeks to ensure that the residents of Arlöv wouldn’t need to be without a partner outlet. WHEN PATRICK HAD visited the Coop Forum supermarket, he had noticed the volumes of parcels. From what he could see, it would be impossible to handle them at the small mail delivery office. There were so many obstacles to starting their own partner outlet that he and Group Leader Christer Ekstrand sat down 18

and wrote a long list of everything that made the project completely hopeless. But oddly enough, the obstacles gave way one by one when they talked them through. “When we actually got started, it all happened at lightning speed,” Christer explains. One reason why was because they were not tackling this task alone. Anders Lindholm, Peter Alborghetti and Kristine Norman from PostNord Retail came to the rescue. “We went to look at the premises, planned what was needed, and helped them with fittings and shelving,” says Kristine Norman, Partner Outlet Manager at PostNord Retail. The team at PostNord Retail didn’t regard anything as problematic. Opening new partner outlets and assisting them are natural elements in their job descriptions. There was just one decisive difference in this case. “We usually have better forward planning. It’s extremely rare for a partner outlet to close without us having a replacement ready,” Kristine says. CHRISTER EKSTRAND REMAINED skeptical when he saw the team from Retail sketch solutions for the interior design of the small mail delivery office. “When they first came to measure it up, I thought that it wouldn’t work – people would have to work on top of each other. But it actually does work. It’s not like a dance floor here, but it works. Everything was in place half an hour before we were due to open,” Christer says. The premises were one difficult piece of the puzzle; the other was to find staff. Patrick Svensson first looked

ร sa Palm, postman at the Arlรถv mail delivery office, going out on her round.

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PATRICK SVENSSON:

You do what you can. Sometimes it can achieve more than you think. inhouse for skills that were already at PostNord. “Unfortunately I had no luck there, so it was a bit nerve-wracking during that final week. But in the end I managed to contact two ladies who had previously worked at the Coop Forum supermarket. Luckily we were able to recruit them, so we solved the problem a couple of days before opening,” he says. THE WORK CARRIED on right up to the last moment, and when the partner outlet opened one afternoon at the end of January, the queue of customers was long. Patrick says that the customers who now come to send and collect parcels seem very satisfied. “Admittedly, it is small and temporary, but some people think it’s very nice. They say that at last they are able to visit the old Posten post office again.” He laughs at the postal nostalgia. “I reply that, no, it will never be the old Posten again. And to be honest, the opening hours were much better at the Coop Forum supermarket. But you do what you can. Sometimes it can achieve more than you think.”

We opened a partner outlet at lightning speed Where: Arlöv, Sweden. Why? The Coop Forum supermarket which housed the local partner outlet, suddenly closed. Who: Patrick Svensson, Production Manager at Arlöv’s mail delivery office. Emma Stèen, Production Area Manager. Christer Ekstrand, Group Leader. Peter Alborghetti, Store Planner, PostNord Retail. Kristine Norman, Partner Outlet Manager, PostNord Retail.

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From left to right: Catharina Landgren, Malin Nilsson, Bjรถrn Mossberg, Christer Ekstrand, Christer Kostet and Simon Schultz. P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

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THE HUNT FOR THE GOODS THIEVES

“ THEY WILL GET CAUGHT” Mobile phones disappeared without a trace. Security Manager Alexis Larsson and his team put all their efforts into catching the thieves. TEXT: ANDREAS UTTERSTRÖM ILLUSTRATION: JOHAN HÖRBERG

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T THE HOLIDAY WAS well and truly over for Alexis Larsson. There was no chatting with colleagues about the unreasonably hot summer. It was not long before he was in meeting rooms trying to save stolen mobile phones worth SEK 600,000. It was like stepping onto a treadmill that was moving at 30 kilometers per hour. Goods had vanished from a transport run between Örebro and Stockholm. On six occasions. The items that went missing were mainly mobile phones, but also other electronics. The same contracted driver drove the goods each time. But they couldn’t be sure that the goods had been stolen, as sometimes the reasons for losses are undramatic and consist of some form of handling error. Regardless of the reason, this was a matter that Alexis Larsson and his 13 colleagues in the security department at PostNord Sweden had to get to the bottom of. In addition, the customer that had contracted PostNord to make the deliveries was a key partner whose patience was beginning to wear thin. “We immediately got started,” Alexis says. When he and his colleagues analyzed the transport runs, they identified a pattern. The truck’s GPS tracking device showed that on each occasion the driver had stopped at the Haketorp rest area outside the town of Arboga. Why stop to stretch your legs after just half an hour in the vehicle?

that he had taken on a major task. The surveillance would require substantial resources. It also risked becoming a lengthy operation. Alexis Larsson traveled to Haketorp himself to check it out. There were wooded areas, thickets and a few hills nearby. With his military background, he was able to identify potential hiding places for the team. The plan was not to intervene at the rest area. Instead they were going to document what happened and then follow the goods. “My biggest concern was that the driver would stop at the site and meet professional criminals who would then see us. In that case it could have ended badly as it involved such a lot of money. People have been murdered for less.” Now the key was to act fast. They drew up a checklist for the surveillance. Alexis also ensured that the staff had the right equipment: a two-way radios, a video camera and night vision binoculars. They were on the right track to catching the thief.

THE TARGETS

In the 1990s, robberies of vehicles transporting valuables constituted a major problem in Swedish society. As security has increased and cash handling has decreased, the thieves have found different targets. “Shops have also really stepped up their security. Five to six years ago it was already apparent that the criminals were choosing different paths,” says Dick Malmlund, former head of security at the Swedish Trade Federation (Svensk Handel), now a consultant in the security industry. This means that PostNord’s transport operations, which handle goods worth billions of Swedish kronor every year, are becoming increasingly interesting to criminals. Last year the police issued a report stating that the activities of international gangs of thieves in Sweden would increase. PostNord became aware of this in 2017 when a reckless gang was caught red-handed in a spectacular way. “It’s extremely unusual to thwart a gang carrying out such advanced criminal activity. In this case we had close collaboration with the police and surveillance cameras that documented everything taking place,” says Alexis. The sensational aspect of that particular case was that THE MOST LIKELY explanation was that the goods the goods at first seemed to disappear without trace had disappeared at the rest area. Maybe the driver had while the truck was moving. The security removed the goods and then sold the team fitted surveillance cameras inside the phones himself? Or maybe it was a truck, which showed how the thieves, commissioned job in which the products risking their lives, broke into the loading were stolen to order and handed over at the space while driving at speeds of up to rest area. 80 kilometers per hour. “There was now a suspected crime scene “It was like an action film,” Alexis recalls. that we could put under surveillance. I With about 30,000 employees it is promised the customer that we would understandably unavoidable that criminals monitor the rest area each night until we Dick Malmlund, sometimes also infiltrate the company caught the thief.” security industry among PostNord’s own employees – or Nonetheless, the security manager realized consultant.

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work for one of the company’s subcontractors. “They try, but they eventually get caught. As orders, driving routes and other details are carefully documented, we see all deviations and can act on them,” Alexis says. “For example, an unusually large order of mobile phones could be attempted fraud, or part of an operation in which someone is planning a robbery of the transport.” Stealing from the parcel terminals is also difficult as they are filmed 24/7 using surveillance cameras. Earlier this year PostNord caught a person, employed by a staffing agency, who was stealing goods. His actions were discovered even though he went to a different part of the terminal and tried to hide the parcels. “By using the camera to zoom in on the man’s movements, it was possible to detect him.”

THE SURVEILLANCE Robberies and thefts are of course not just a problem for PostNord, but for the entire logistics industry. “Suppliers, customers and insurance companies must sit down together with the transport industry and decide on a way forward,” Dick Malmlund says. He states that technical solutions can have a major impact. “I have worked on counteracting theft in the pharmaceutical industry. There we used tracking devices very successfully.”

Examples of security measures that PostNord uses in everyday work include locks that lock automatically and GPS equipment that sounds the alarm if a door is opened without authorization. “In some of our transports we also work with DNA marking. An invisible spray that is practically impossible to remove; it sticks to skin and penetrates clothes,” Alexis explains. But at the rest area outside Arboga they didn’t have any spray. Instead they laid there, night after night, watching and waiting. Without success. AFTER NEARLY THREE weeks of surveillance, the staff started to feel worn out. They suffered from a constant lack of sleep as they had to manage their regular tasks, too. “I sometimes traveled directly from the rest area to my workplace, slept at the office for two hours, and then started work,” Alexis says. Were they barking up the wrong tree? Or had the driver under suspicion discovered that he was being monitored and taken a break from his activities? The team decided not to give up. Then it was time for a new iPhone model to be

We make PostNord (and our customers) more secure Business Continuity Management Specialist: Kent Ohlsson, Sweden. Security Specialists: Jonas Westerberg, Håkan Cragéus, Jonas Halvardsson, Kjell Johansson, Mikael Sjöström, Christer Haglund, Sweden. Investigation Specialists: Jessica Nyström, Robert Luomala, Johan Björklund, Emelie Ericson, Ulf Widman, Sweden. Security Manager: Alexis Larsson, Sweden.

Alexis Larsson and his team staked out various roadside rest areas for three weeks, equipped with night-vision binoculars and film cameras. P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

Six months later

When you look back – what are the first emotions that spring to mind? “Relief and pride! It was proof that hard work pays off.” What do you remember most clearly? “The tension when I didn’t dare to crawl closer to the truck due to the risk of being seen, at the same time feeling I could trust that my pal on the other side would be able to see what was going on.” How were you and the group affected by the operation? 26

“You obviously become a more tight-knit unit when performing such demanding operations together. It’s also positive for me in pure leadership terms to spur on an operation as a manager and feel certain that it will be a success provided that we are determined.” What did you all learn? “I can’t say that we learned anything new. But now we can see that we should have been more thorough in our preparatory work. However, it’s easy to say

that with the benefit of hindsight, because resources must constantly be prioritized where they are needed most.” What is the best thing about your job and the group? “We in the Security Department make a real difference for our customers and for PostNord – the appreciation we receive is well worth all our effort. Criminal elements in our operations are much more damaging than the goods that are stolen. The same applies to external thieves.”

What was the reaction? “I phoned the customer immediately in the morning when we got back to the office. They were very impressed with our perseverance and the result of the investigation. Many people at PostNord have congratulated us, as have many people outside the company who have read articles about the arrest. Ultimately, this is my job, and I have to do it to the best of my ability.”

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MAGNUS LAUPA

What have you learned, Alexis Larsson?

ALEXIS LARSSON:

People have been murdered for less launched. Alexis realized that if the driver was still planning to steal goods, it was now that he would make a move. If not, PostNord’s security manager would be in trouble. “We couldn’t perform endless surveillance. But I couldn’t go back to the customer and say that we hadn’t identified the thief. Our relationship would not have survived that.” On the evening of September 20, the day before the new phone model was due to be launched, the surveillance team was on site and in position. ON THIS OCCASION there were four of them. They sat in pairs in two cars a distance away. Alexis laid on a hill and was equipped with night vision binoculars. He had painted his face black to reduce the risk of being seen. His colleague was on the other side of the road. Via the truck’s GPS, they followed the driver’s journey from the town of Örebro. Alexis felt his adrenaline increasing when he heard the truck approaching. He listened to the engine noise. It sounded as if the driver was going to drive past yet again. But then, at the last minute, the driver indicated right and turned into the rest area. The time was 02:15. “I felt that ‘now this is finally going to end somehow’.” The driver parked the truck. Alexis crept closer. Out of fear of being seen, he stopped about 15 meters away. His colleague ran across the road, waded through a little swamp, lay down under a different truck parked at the rest area, and started filming. They saw the driver’s torch flickering in the dark. Then they heard a loud bang when the roller shutter doors of the truck were opened. The driver jumped into the trailer and disappeared from view. THE SURVEILLANCE TEAM simply had to wait. Time crept by slowly. It started to drizzle. After just 20 minutes, the driver re-emerged. He dragged two heavy garbage bags along the ground and then maneuvered them into the driver’s cab. Then he drove away. The surveillance team members already in their cars followed him. At the same time, P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

Alexis and his colleague ran over to their own car parked close by. The suspect was now being followed in secret by three cars heading towards Stockholm. “We took it in turns to drive behind the truck. Sometimes we overtook it or turned off at an exit – everything to avoid arousing suspicion.” The journey to Stockholm took two hours. At about 3 am, the security manager phoned and woke up a colleague who promised to meet them at the terminal. The plan was to make a citizen’s arrest; Swedish law permits anyone to do this in special situations when a crime is committed. But when they approached the terminal, Alexis made a mistake. “I drove the wrong way because I’d never actually been to the terminal in Årstaberg. It got a bit stressful, but we arrived just before the truck.”

THE DENOUEMENT At 04:35, the driver turned off the road and arrived at the terminal. Perhaps he understood that something wasn’t right when a car drove up and blocked the road. One of the team members rushed up to the truck: “Open up, open up! Get out of the truck. So...you’re under arrest.” Without protesting, the driver jumped out of the truck. He sat down on the ground. “Do you have anything sharp on you?” The driver shook his head. Alexis took the opportunity to ask how many times he had stolen. The driver replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But in the driver’s cab, there weren’t just ginger cookies and a sports bag, but also the garbage bags with 74 parcels of electronics, including mobile phones of the new model due to go on sale later that same day. Value: SEK 613,000. One of the surveillance team members phoned the emergency services number 112, and the police were quick to arrive at the scene. Now the question was what would happen to the stolen goods. Alexis Larsson convinced the police officers to just photograph them instead of seizing them all.

How we work with security PostNord conducts very advanced security work and close collaboration with the Police, industry organizations, and our customers’ head of security. Our goal is to constantly be one step ahead of the criminals. A few examples of security measures that PostNord uses in everyday work are that none of the company’s drivers handle cash, and that drivers on certain routes are equipped with personal alarms. Extra robust locks, which lock automatically, have been installed in many vehicles. Load carriers and trailers are also equipped with GPS equipment that sounds the alarm if the doors are opened without authorization. PostNord Security strives to ensure that all employees and visitors feel safe. The company’s and our customers’ assets must be protected from crime and fire. The Security Department also prevents production disruptions and creates crisis management systems.

“I felt that, whatever happens, now this is finally going to end somehow,” says Alexis Larsson about the climax of the drama.

“That meant that with extra courier runs we were able to deliver the parcels to the customers, so that those who had ordered new phones received them the same day.” The police later searched the driver’s house. In a toiletries bag they found SEK 277,000 and EUR 5,900 in cash. They also found a further SEK 120,000 in a garbage bag in the inner pocket of a coat. THE DRIVER DENIED he had committed any crimes. He claimed that the cash was a gift from his brother. But Västmanland District Court didn’t believe his explanation. In November the man was sentenced to one year and two months in prison. The police investigation never managed to find out whether he had been stealing on his own initiative or had been commissioned by someone else. The most important thing for PostNord was that the thief had been caught and the thefts ceased. Alexis Larsson remembers the wonderful feeling of being able to phone the customer in the morning with the news. “For me this is proof that it may cost whatever it takes. Thieves must feel that stealing from PostNord is not worth it.”

Footnote: Other participants in the operation remain anonymous for security reasons. 28

The arrest. The 39-year-old is caught here.

The stolen goods. Mobile phones worth more than half a million Swedish kronor.

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MAGNUS LAUPA

CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

HELI BLÅFIELD

MARIE HALD

The Guide

WORK OUT

Running, shooting, line dancing, fencing, playing football, forest walks, climbing, cycling, weight training, house renovation. This is how your colleagues work out. Here is their guide. >>> P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

Hello! How do you exercise? Eight terminal workers at the TPL warehouse in Køge, Denmark, about how they stay in shape. TEXT AND PHOTO: FREDDY BILLQVIST

ANNA HINDBORG “I work a lot and often get home late. In order to ensure that I still get out and exercise, I usually put on my sports clothes straight away. Then I have to do it and don’t get too comfortable on the sofa. I also play football for the senior Borup Ladies team twice a week.”

ABDELKADER CHEMLALI “I usually go for a run on a nearby sports field and challenge myself by running faster. The results are really noticeable. When I am not working, I go to my summer house in Holbæk. There I get exercise when I mend things and carry out renovations. And I also sometimes play football with my friends.”

MICHAEL HANSEN EMIL PLAHN “I go to the gym at least five times a week and almost always with a friend. We inspire and push each other. We do about an hour each time. And I also play football once a week.”

“I don’t exercise too intensively but I like to take walks. That is sufficient for me. The ideal scenario is an hour’s walk in the woods on a nice summer day. The countryside is there for everyone and people should make more use of it.”

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MICHAEL TOXVÆRD

HASSAN MASAUD “I go to the gym every day and play football with my friends twice a week. I don’t really have any specific advice about how to keep fit. Everyone has to discover for themselves what works for them.”

RASMUS PLÆP “A friend and I go to the gym about four times a week. It is important to have a friend with you when exercising, not least for the sake of safety, but above all because it is more fun. If you have fun you are more likely to do it again.”

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“I play football twice a week, and that is my biggest interest after music. My best advice regarding exercise is to find a sport that you like and join a team or training group. If you have a set time each week, it is more likely you will actually do it.”

TEIT HØILUND-CARLSEN “Before I injured my knee, I used to run ten kilometers twice a week and I was often training for a race. I now try to train more gently, such as on a rowing machine or by walking. My best advice is to stop smoking. This resulted in me halving my running times and doubling my endurance.”

TIPS FROM THE COACH!

How to make it happen Challenge a friend!

Why not challenge a friend to a step competition?

Sometimes my daughter and I set goals linked to wellbeing, such as going to bed on time, not eating sweets, or walking 10,000 steps per day. Then we compare our results, and if we haven’t reached our goals for the week, we have to donate SEK 100 to charity.

Make it simple!

THE COACH

“MICRO-BREAKS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOING TO THE GYM” It doesn’t matter whether we lift heavy objects or sit still in our work, we need to move to stay healthy. Anna-Maj Melin, Training Instructor at PostNord, shares her best tips. 1. Find something that you enjoy As parcel volumes increase, the strain on PostNord’s employees tends to do the same. But with good basic fitness you can counteract common strain injuries. We are built for movement, and just 30 minutes per day gives you enormous health benefits. Find something that you enjoy doing!

2. Save your back – lift in the right way Lifting and carrying heavy objects comes with the job, but incorrect lifting risks leading to neck and back problems. So, use the right technique: keep your back straight and use your leg muscles, keep what you are lifting close to you and do not twist or turn your body at the same time.

3. Stretch more Shoulder rolls and calf stretches are effective for counteracting strain injuries. Do you often bend forwards? Get into the habit of placing your hands at the bottom of your back and bending backwards once an hour. If you work at a computer, it is important to do back exercises for balance.

Lower your goals to avoid feeling like you’re failing, and make sure that you achieve a little bit of exercise instead. It’s easy to use the excuse of not having enough time or money, but everyone can go for a walk or do some strength exercises at home. Do simple things and be happy about what you achieve.

Don’t forget recovery! You can train really hard, but eventually your body will say no if you don’t ensure that you recover. Make sure you get enough sleep; that’s when your body and mind recover. Socializing with friends and doing fun things are also forms of recovery.

ANNA-MAJ MELIN

Job: Training Specialist and Instructor Var: Arken Health Center at PostNord’s Head Office in Solna, Sweden. Leads workouts: There she leads tabata workouts, a form of high-intensity interval training, and functional strength twice a week. She is also a workout class leader at Friskis & Svettis (an organization of non-profit fitness clubs). The significance of exercise: “I live outside Västerås and have commuted for 12 years with 4 hours of traveling every day. I would have never coped with that without my exercising. But above all, exercise makes me happy; it gives me energy and stamina, both mentally and physically. Quite simply, quality of life!”

4. Eat, drink and breath Remember to eat and drink regularly – even on stressful days. Plan in good snacks during the day, such as fruit or nuts. And don’t forget to breathe deep: stop what you’re doing, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths from time to time.

5. Take breaks Monotonous work shifts are a common cause of strain injuries. Take many micro-breaks at work rather than going to the gym twice a week. Get your circulation going so that your blood can transport nutrients and oxygen to your muscles. Also try to spend a bit of time outside each day to get some daylight and fresh air. FRIDA ANTER

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Tim Bogdanov is the only Swede who has climbed the ten highest mountains in South America without any support or supplementary oxygen.

THE MAN WHO FEELS NO PAIN Next year, Tim Bogdanov will place the PostNord flag at the top of Mount Everest. Then he will aim to climb much higher. TEXT: OLA HENMO PHOTO: CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

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“IN THE FUTURE: Olympus Mons,”

says Tim Bogdanov, when we meet him at PostNord’s big terminal in Alfaset, Oslo, where he works as a foreman between his increasingly challenging expeditions. And that is? “The highest mountain on Mars. 26,000 meters. Advances in technology are going so fast that I can allow myself to have such ambitions.” The entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has plans to send the first manned mission to the planet as early as 2024. Tim has contacted him to ask if they could train together. “As the gravitational force is so weak there, I don’t think climbing will be so technically demanding.” He hasn’t received a reply yet, but Tim Bogdanov is more persistent than a commercial. He has displayed that trait since he was eleven years old, when he was glued to the TV screen at home in Gothenburg in Sweden watching his compatriot Göran Kropp riding from Sweden to Nepal and then climbing Mount Everest. Tim also wanted to live like that – and since then he TIM BOGDANOV has cycled ever longer distances and climbed ever higher. Lives in: Oslo, Norway.

WHEN CYCLING AND climbing in Europe were no

longer enough of a challenge, he decided in 2008 to cycle from Sweden to Beijing to watch the summer Olympics. Together with two friends, he cycled to Africa, and then from Ethiopia he rode alone to the east. Things got quite crazy almost immediately. For example, when he came close to the border with Somalia, which was in a state of anarchy. “There were three refugees in the middle of the road who threatened me with swords. I managed to squeeze past them but they ran after me and I had a steep hill right in front of me. Luckily, I had been cycling for five months by then, so my legs were in good shape and I got away,” he says matter-of-factly.

5 TIM BOGDANOV’S FIVE TIPS FOR LONG-DISTANCE CYCLING: 1. Look on Facebook

2. Give it a go

Join a Facebook group, such as “long-distance cycling” or “bicycle touring”. You can get a lot of tips and answers to your questions there.

Learn by doing. Not just by looking on the internet. Start with, for example, a one week trip.

3. Bring 4. Have 5. Adjust your good tyres the level equipment Make sure you You don’t have Bring your camping gear with you. It gives you the flexibility to stop wherever you want. A sleeping mat, sleeping bag, cooker and head torch are all you need.

have good tires, so that you don’t get too many punctures, and a good saddle. It is better with a somewhat heavier bike than a broken one.

to be in fantastic shape before starting. Adapt the lengths of the days to your capacity. People think it is a difficult way to travel, but it is not. It is a fantastic way to travel.

Position at PostNord: Foreman at the Alfaset terminal in Oslo. Next adventure: Climbing Mount Everest unsupported. If the first ascent goes well, he wants to do it again around a week later. He wants to beat the world record of 16 hours 42 minutes.

And it did not put him off. When he was sitting on the flight home from Beijing after having completed 24,000 kilometers on the bicycle saddle, including a tour around China, he knew he wanted to do something similar again. And thanks to the goodwill of PostNord, Tim has been able to make his dreams come true, over and over again. “I have always been welcomed back and work between expeditions. I am very grateful for that. I have managers and colleagues such as Johan Abrahamsson and Arild Lund, who are always there for me. I try to give back as much as I can when I am here. At the same time, my thoughts always revolve around new adventures,” he says. TIM HAS BEEN affiliated with PostNord in Oslo since 2010, when the company he worked at outside Gothenburg closed. Combined with an ascetic lifestyle – Tim lives with his parents when he is in Sweden, rents a room from a friend in Oslo, does not have a car and only buys new clothes when the old ones are completely worn out – his income allows him to experience even greater challenges. “On my expeditions, I have to get by using what I bring with me on the bike. So I have learned to live on very little. People in the Nordic countries work a lot and earn well, but do not have a lot of leisure time. That makes it is easy to end up in the consumption bubble and become obsessed with material things. I don’t want to moralize about how

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other people live, but if anyone is inspired by me then that’s great.” Your ambition does not have to be to cycle around the world and climb mountains. It can be something as simple as finding a better balance between work and physical activity. “The most important thing is to listen to your body. There is no point in exercising if you are sick or too tired; in that case it is better to rest. I try to sleep between eight and ten hours each night. That helps me recover.” “TIM BOGDANOV’S LIST of achievements is

starting to get long. He is the only Swede to have climbed the ten highest mountains in South America, with no support or oxygen. Last year, he rode to Novgorod in Russia, the country where his family lived until he was five years old, and watched Sweden beat South Korea in the football World Cup. He then climbed his first 8000-meter mountain, Manaslu in Nepal, without extra oxygen or help from Sherpas. When he came down from Manaslu, with frostbitten toes, he immediately felt ready for the next big task: Mount Everest. “But that is very expensive. It will probably cost

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around SEK 300,000. That is why, after many years as a freight forwarder, I have accepted a better-paid managerial position as a foreman. I work evening and night shifts, and as much overtime as possible,” he says. And he wants to put the PostNord flag at the top of the world’s highest mountain, as a thank you to the company for giving him so much freedom. Next year, he will be away from work between February and May. He will first climb in South America to get acclimatized to the altitude, and then head for the Himalayas and Mount Everest. He will also make this expedition without oxygen or help from Sherpas. “Göran Kropp is the only Swede who has done it before me, but he was accompanied by a Sherpa. I will be climbing on my own. I have a high pain threshold and perform well at high altitude. You just have to make careful preparations and train enough. Many people are on Everest for the experience. I will be there for the challenge, to push my boundaries and see what my body can take.” For Tim, it is not enough just to get to the top. “If the first climb to the summit goes well and if the conditions are good, I want to do another climb after recovering for about a week. The world record is 16 hours 42 minutes. I think I can beat that.”

“The most important thing is to listen to your body. There is no point in exercising if you are too tired; in that case it is better to rest,” says Tim Bogdanov.

See Tim’s adventure. Follow us on Instagram. #peoplebypostnord

PHYSICAL FOCUS CLEARS THE MIND Harri Parviainen isn’t thinking about job issues when he is facing the tip of an épée. TEXT: ANNE SALOMÄKI PHOTO: HELI BLÅFIELD

IT IS SAID that the boundary between genius and madness is a fine one. Harri Parviainen threw himself from the starting blocks at a swimming pool before he could swim properly. He set off on a horse without having ridden before. He picked up an épée without having fenced previously. It requires carefree bravery to engage in activities that are all outside one’s comfort zone. Why did he embark on these sports? Because he started with modern pentathlon. So he had no choice. Madman or genius – it didn’t matter. “It is a multi-faceted sport that is a good contrast to work, as the brain has to work in a completely different way. You do not think about work-related issues when you have to focus entirely on performing, for example when shooting,” says Systems Specialist at PostNord Harri Parviainen. Modern pentathlon originally consisted of separate swimming, fencing, horse jumping, cross-country running and shooting events. More recently, the running and shooting have been combined. There are various opinions about who created modern pentathlon as a sport, but the Olympic founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin is said to have designed the event (the Swede Viktor Balck, “the father of Swedish sports”, is the other alleged founder) to simulate the skills required by a cavalry soldier stuck behind enemy lines. The athlete must ride an unknown horse, fight against enemies with gun and sword, and swim and run to get back to his/her own army. Harri started with the sport in 1991. He competed at a high level for 16 years and was, for example, in the World Championship training group. It is an individual sport that at the same time involves a feeling of togetherness: “There is a lot of talk about pentathletes being like one big family. We meet in the swimming pool in the morning, in the sports hall in the evening and during a run now and then. We are basically around each other the whole day,” he says.

Harri’s job at PostNord in Vantaa outside Helsinki requires more mental than physical work. Exercising helps him recover from the mental fatigue. He was forced to take a break from his sporting career because of injuries caused by cycling, but Harri took up pentathlon again a couple of years ago. In the meantime he also started cycling to and from work throughout the year and doing ashtanga yoga. This involves being on a yoga mat for between 30 and 150 minutes, six days a week. “Yoga helped me get in good enough shape to to your to start training again.”

3 HARRI PARVIAINEN’S TOP TIPS FOR FEELING GOOD. 1. Do asanas Do asanas in ashtanga yoga. They are a great way of taking care of your body and stretching.

2. Avoid sugar I don’t eat red meat, sugar or flour, and try to avoid dairy products. This makes me feel better. Sugar and meat make me feel tired.

3. Use trial and error You can find what is right for you by means of trial and error. Cycling or walking to and from work are smart ways of exercising: you can think about things on the way and the fresh air is good for you. And if it is raining then maybe it won’t be tomorrow.

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“Pentathlon is a multi-faceted sport and a good contrast to work, as the brain has to work in a completely different way,” says Harri Parviainen.

Harri Parviainen Job at PostNord: Systems Specialist in Vantaa, Finland. The best thing about the job: The multi-faceted nature of the work and the good colleagues, such as Aki Liikanen, Ossi Pakkanen, Tuukka Hyyppä and Tomi Vuorinen.

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Rickard Örn

MAGNUS LAUPA

Lives in: Huddinge, Sweden. Job at PostNord: Postman in the Huddinge district. Future dream: Work abroad and lead sightseeing tours in which you run. “Imagine barefoot running on the beach and dashing through a cave, to show people amazing environments while running.”

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“YOU SIMPLY LET EVERYTHING GO” The first time Rickard Örn set off on a run, he literally thought he was going to die. TEXT: SARA MARCZAK PHOTO: MAGNUS LAUPA

THE ROUTE WAS five kilometers, and

Rickard Örn´s entire body was screaming, “No!”. Today, five years later, he runs to and from work every day and manages 10 kilometers in under 36 minutes. But it all started one Sunday when he was at home feeling unwell. He’d spent too many late hours with his base guitar around his neck in Stockholm’s trendy pubs and restaurants, and too few hours in bed. Too much circulation in rock clubs, and too little in his blood. A time that was fun, yet devoid of energy. “My partner had been pushing me for a while to seek out new kicks in life. That Sunday I laid on the sofa and watched the film Prefontaine starring Jared Leto. I felt so inspired! You could say that’s where it started,” says Rickard who is a postman in Huddinge outside Stockholm. THE AMERICAN MIDDLE and long distance runner Steve Prefontaine held seven US records and competed in the Munich Olympics in 1972. He was one of the profiles behind the running boom in the US in the 1970s, when an estimated 25 million Americans put on their tracksuits and started running. “Before Steve Prefontaine became a runner he played American football, but he never felt good enough in that sport. There is a highly symbolic scene in which he runs away from the football pitch, and I felt that I also wanted to run away from all my problems,” Rickard explains. His first run was a nightmare. Every muscle in Rickard’s body protested. But after a number of runs with the taste of blood in his mouth and the music in his ears, things started to happen. His colleague Jakob

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5 Rickard Örn’s five tips for anyone wanting to start running to work. 1. Take it easy Start carefully, take it easy at first and don’t push yourself too hard.

2. Buy good shoes Buy really good running shoes; it’s definitely worth paying a bit more for shoes that are adapted to your feet.

3. Stretch Don’t forget to stretch after exercise. It might feel tough at the time, but it’s extremely important for recovery.

4. Buy a good backpack There are many backpacks you can use when you run to work. I have one from a brand called Under Armour with three compartments, in which I keep my keys, wallet, lunch and a dry sweater. The straps fit so tightly that it doesn’t move about.

5. Dress right Don’t wear too many clothes; you get hot after five minutes. Many people are dressed too warmly. Wear breathable clothes.

Persson, who works in the Tyresö district, took him to a running club. “After that everything just felt easier,” Rickard says. He got help to draw up a training program including interval training combined with long-distance running. Soon he had entered his first five-kilometer run, and his development has rocketed since then. Apart from on Saturday, his rest day, Rickard goes running every day of the week, all year round.

“It’s great that we have changing rooms with a shower at work, so I run to and from work on Monday to Friday. My colleagues probably think I am a ridiculous runner who turns up in tights every day,” he says laughing. Running has become a lifestyle for him, so he can’t stay indoors for a few days due to a blizzard. “Thanks to my running, I have so much more energy, both at home with my son and at work.” RICKARD DOESN’T JUST think that his fitness has improved, he also feels stronger mentally when he runs. “From the first step I take when out running, I simply let everything go. I think that I am much calmer and in a better mood when I get to work these days,” he says. Rickard has also inspired several colleagues to take up exercising. He once took his colleague Markus Lindholm, an ice hockey player, with him. Rickard gave him his best running tips, and in return Markus has shown Rickard some strength exercises at the gym. To become a good runner you need a good level of strength, and Rickard likes to supplement his running with cross training, swimming or cycling. “I have definitely made new friends through running, and I think it’s just as much fun to run as a pacesetter in a marathon and help other people achieve their dream times as it is to compete myself.” Steve Prefontaine died in a car accident at just 24 years old. Rickard Örn is ten years older and in the shape of his life. A fact that Steve is probably happy about in his heaven.

DIESEL AND DANCE IT IS NOT possible to think about purchase lists while learning new dance steps. It is not possible to reverse a 16 meter truck without having a good amount of oxygen in one’s head and body. As a truck driver in Denmark, Britta Meier takes no less than 12,000 steps during a working day. And when she gets home she takes another 12,000: “I have to get out of the truck a lot of times to load and unload on the route between Taulov and Odense. Then I dance line-dance two evenings a week. Some of us dancers also travel around the country for events during the weekends, and several of us have traveled to the Mediterranean to dance for a whole week.” Britta only took her truck license in 2015, after having been a moped-riding postman in Børkop. The shift upwards did not come as a surprise to her friends. “You have always liked diesel fuel,” they told me, “and that is indeed the case. Trucks have always fascinated me,” she says.

TEXT: MARIE-LOUISE ARNFAST PHOTO: MARIE HALD

“I enjoy everyday life – not least the freedom under responsibility that we have,” says Britta Mejer, a truck driver in Denmark.

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Göran Lindqvist, CIA.

THE MISSION / CIA

When PostNord’s own CIA went undercover They borrowed the identities of two business owners and set off on a winding journey in the footsteps of customers. IN THE TV SERIES “Undercover boss”, senior business leaders put on wigs and work undercover in their own company. It may sound dramatic, but in a way that’s exactly what Linda Berg and Göran Lindqvist, in the team at CIA – Customer Intelligence & Analytics – did when they received a new assignment in 2017: to get more small and medium-sized companies in the Nordic region to use PostNord’s services. The first thing the team did was to methodically map the customer journey. How many of all the companies that are started in the Nordics find their way to PostNord, and how many are still there one year later? “We realized early on that to be able to do things better, we had to put ourselves in our customers’ situation,” says Göran Lindqvist. The whole group sat down in a room together and began brainstorming. They emerged after a few hours with quite a drastic P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

method. They had decided to go undercover. Linda and Göran borrowed the identities of two business owners, one in Sweden and one in Denmark, and embarked on a journey in the customers’ footsteps. The first thing they discovered was how difficult it was to find out how to become a customer on PostNord’s website, and where to apply. “We searched and searched. It took us several minutes to find where the link was hidden. We asked several other people to test it and got the same result,” Göran says. AFTER THAT, THEY tried applying to become a customer. An experience that revealed how confusing and complicated it can be on the other side. “It took several days to receive a customer number. Then it became apparent that you needed to have a printer and install new

BANFA JAWLA

What: CIA, Customer Intelligence & Analytics, is a unit in the group function Strategy & Commercial Excellence at PostNord. CIA works with analysis and business development. Who: The team consists of Linda Berg, Göran Lindqvist, Oskar Brunnberg, Marie- Louise Tysén, Roland Egnestam, Joakim Strömberg, and Gabriella Clausén. The main contacts in each country for SME:s are Keld Lindbjerg in Denmark, Josefina Saarinen in Finland, Isabell Albinsson in Sweden, and Espen Ellingsberg in Norway. software on your computer. This gave us proof of why so many people who apply to become customers do not actually start using our services.” They went through the entire customer journey and gathered examples. Two years later, the work has yielded results. “A totally new flow has been established for applying to become a customer. You now just need to enter your corporate identity number and verify yourself with a digital ID,” says Göran. Another area where they detected deficiencies was in the quite clunky communication used when customers had a parcel to collect. “Customers now get a really nice email saying: Hello, your parcel is now ready for collection. That may sound like a small detail, but that’s how we try to work – making the customer journey better every step of the way.” MALIN DAHLBERG 41

A person who gives, receives Driver Cezar Husseini had the attention of almost 100 managers. What did he talk about? Salary, communication, and football. >>> TEXT: SAM SUNDBERG PHOTO: MAGNUS LAUPA

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Why does PostNord exist?

T THE STAGE SWAYED under Cezar Husseini’s feet. He wasn’t prepared for this at all. He thought that he would be talking to a few managers about how the company can make his everyday work easier, but in front of him and his colleague Martin Webb, in a large hall at Årsta mail terminal in Stockholm, sat nearly 100 of the company’s top managers from all over the Nordics, smartly suited and looking at them expectantly. It was a meeting of PostNord’s Top Management Team, TMT. “To be honest, I’m quite nervous,” he began. Cezar Husseini has worked at PostNord in Sweden for one year now. Every day he drives his bright-blue truck between the logistics terminal in Veddesta and customers in Kista – many of them are high-tech companies such as Samsung and Philips. EVER SINCE HE was a child, on the winding streets of Iraq’s capital city Bagdad, Cezar has loved two things: big cars and Manchester United football team. What he has always hated is standing on stages and speaking to crowds. “All of that stage fright came over me,” he says when we visit him at work in Veddesta a couple of weeks later. However, he also realized that he had a unique opportunity to raise issues that had been bothering him ever since he started working at PostNord. “I thought that all these managers know the company extremely well from the outside. But they don’t know it from the inside like I do. Now I could actually tell them what a normal day is like for us ordinary employees. Convey a message. When I thought about it like that, my fear disappeared. I realized that this was my chance to tell them about what is working well and what needs fixing. I have always thought that it’s important to be matter-of-fact and clear.” 44

Cezar Husseini came to Sweden via London, where his family had moved to when he was 12 years old. In 2008 he met a woman who lived in Sweden. They got married, had a daughter and in 2015 they moved to Stockholm. He is now divorced, but has no plans to move back to London. His job is one reason. “I really like it. And I’m good at it. There’s a link between the two. If you feel that you are good at something, you want to do your very best. You are assigned a task to perform: be there at a set time, and deliver this. It feels great to get it done, perfectly, without mistakes and without delays.” But the main reason why Cezar can’t contemplate leaving Sweden is his five-yearold daughter. He smiles from ear to ear as soon as he mentions her. “She is everything to me. I give her all the love I can, and she gives me even more back.” IT’S PHILOSOPHY ACCORDING to Cezar Husseini: a person who gives, also receives. And in order for him to enjoy his job, that’s the way it has to be there, too, with matter-of-fact and assured communication between colleagues. “That’s what I said to all those managers, and I compared it to football. For a player on a team to be able to give his very best for the team, the coach needs to know him, know his strengths and weaknesses. In the Premier League you sometimes see a fantastic player on the bench, and all the fans wonder why. But the fans don’t see everything that takes place during training sessions and in the changing room.” He takes Lionel Messi as an example – the God given football talent talent from Argentina, who with the right coach and on the right team is the best in the world, virtually a superhuman football artist. With certain other coaches – like on the national team – he is more often injured or underperforms. But Cezar also had another important issue to raise with PostNord’s top management. “When I brought up the subject of salary, everyone in the room started laughing. But they thanked me and said it was good that I dared to bring it up! At PostNord the working situation is very good compared to many other companies. There is always readiness to cover you if you don’t have time for all the deliveries along your route. Management ensures that the stress and workload do not become excessive, and that your job can be combined with family life.

When Cezar Husseini and Martin Webb spoke to PostNord’s top managers at the Årsta mail terminal in Stockholm on February 7, it was one of the first steps on the journey that endeavors to answer the question of why PostNord exists. A project that has been under way since the fall of 2018 to define PostNord’s purpose. “All organizations and companies should ask themselves what value they create. This is what defines what you do and answers the question of what difference you make to the world around you. Employees need a shared goal to work towards,” explains Thomas Backteman, Chief Communications Officer and initiator of the project to define and work on PostNord’s purpose. So, why does PostNord exist? Because the company makes people’s everyday lives easier. PostNord aims to be present, reliable and sustainable, according to the new declaration of purpose.

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xx x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xxxx x x x x x xxx x x x x x

â&#x20AC;&#x153;She is everything to me. I give her all the love I can and she gives me even more back,â&#x20AC;? says Cezar Husseini about his daughter Kianna. P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

Cezar Husseini Job: Driver for PostNord Sweden at the terminal in Veddesta. Closest colleagues: Thomas Augustsson and Per Nylander. Inspired by: His five-year-old daughter and Manchester United. Wants to thank: Group Leader Robban Malm at Veddesta north of Stockholm, because he treats all the drivers as individuals and as colleagues. And Philip Wik, the former group leader who always took the time to listen to his team.

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CEZAR HUSSEINI:

When I brought up the subject of salary, everyone in the room started laughing.

An unexpected meeting with “The Chuck” at a customer.

“I really like it,” says Cezar Husseini about his job as a driver at the terminal in Veddesta.

“Believe me, I have worked at other logistics companies, and the stress has been totally different. The only problem is the salary. It’s costly to ensure that the work environment is sound, so the salary is slightly lower than at certain other companies. But I think that you should be able to reward those who are really good at their jobs and give them a higher salary than those who come late, crash the vehicle all the time and don’t manage their tasks. You can again draw comparisons with a football team. Cohesion and team spirit are important, but do all the players receive the same salary? No, of course not.” IN A COMPANY with more than 30,000 employees it is difficult to get the communication flowing throughout the company, from postmen in rural areas, to large mail terminals and management offices. But Cezar Husseini is pleased that he and Martin Webb were able to contribute their slice of reality, from the terminal in Veddesta. “In any case they seemed very interested. I think it’s important to know both what is working well and what is not in order to make progress, so I hope that they learned something.” P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

See Cezar behind the scenes Follow us on Instagram. #peoplebypostnord 47

THE TRIO / ANGRY CUSTOMERS

It is not easy to be the point of contact with customers in a large service company. But with a sense for others’ emotions, you can go a long way. Three PostNord employees describe how they handle angry customers.

“ We’ll beat you next time” It is never wrong to solve a situation with humor. And football.

IT IS EASIER to be angry with an abstract person than with a real person. The above story is a clear example of that. When Zishan delivers parcels in Oslo, 80 percent of these are to regular customers. They know Zishan and Zishan knows them. In such cases, patience and understanding are considerably greater. His advice is therefore to try to get to know the customers: “When you deliver a parcel, remember the 48

name, say hello properly and wish the customer a good day. If we are nice, they will also be nice. If they have a good impression of you and PostNord from previously, they will have greater patience,” explains Zishan, who adds that this is easiest when making deliveries to

JULIA KROHN

“Often, customers just need to be able to express their irritation,” says Zishan Munir.

CHRIS MALUSZYNSKI

ZISHAN MUNIR WAS on his way to a customer who he knew was very dissatisfied. They had talked on the phone and Zishan knew what was coming. It was like reading a book and already knowing the ending. An anxiety-laden journey toward an inevitable conflict. But while he was on his way with the parcel to the door, something happened that would completely rewrite the ending of this story. He saw a big Liverpool flag hanging in the window. Zishan is a big Manchester United fan and he suddenly had a brilliant idea: “I pressed the bell, and when the customer opened the door I immediately said “we’ll beat you next time!”. The customer was surprised at first but then understood that Zishan was referring to the match between Manchester United and Liverpool, which had just ended in a draw. As a result, the customer calmed down and instead of a conflict they talked about football, says a smiling Zishan. “I perhaps won’t have that exact same experience again, but it is never wrong to solve a situation with a bit of humor.”

corporate customers, as these often involve meeting the same people. Although it is rare, Zishan has met a few dissatisfied customers during his twelve years as a driver for PostNord. “It’s all part of the job. Things happen, parcels arrive too late, communication problems occur – there can be numerous reasons, but I am the one who has to handle the customer’s frustration. In such cases, I think it is best to just take the criticism. Often, customers just need to be able to express their irritation, and then one has to quite simply apologize.” If there is enough time, Zishan tries to explain what has happened, without blaming others. “Sometimes, it can be helpful for the customer to know more about the actual reason for the delay in delivering the parcel.”

Zishan Munir Job: Truck driver in Oslo, Norway. Mostly works together with: Raymond Iversen and Kujitim Inseni. P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

“It is actually very rare that people are really dissatisfied,” says Susanne Christensen.

Susanne Christensen Job: Postman in Svendborg, Denmark.

MARIE HALD

Friday coffee with: Every Friday, half an hour before starting work, Susanne meets with her closest colleagues at the post office – Lars Pilgaard, Per Rasmussen, Svein Andersen, Mike Strøander, Erik Hansen, Aron Khan and Jens Boye. Susanne takes bread with her, as she lives close to a bakery. They have a nice time and talk about what they are planning to do on the weekend. “It is a good way to maintain work contacts and prevent any possible conflicts,” says Susanne.

The art of contact You can get a long way with a big smile. Or you can move to the Danish island Funen. SOME PEOPLE SAY that the dialect spoken

on Funen is useless for shouting at people. In other words, that the special, singing Funen accent, with its flat a, is too light and friendly to express anger in a way that really makes an impression. Maybe that’s why Susanne Christensen, from South Funen, has difficulty remembering when she last met a customer who was really angry. Another reason for this is Susanne herself. “It is actually very rare that people are really dissatisfied. On my usual round, I talk to 30–40 customers every day. Of course I sometimes meet someone who got out of P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

bed on the wrong side, even in the afternoon, but not much more than that. And that can usually easily be solved with a quick comment and a smile. Smiles are very infectious,” she says. SUSANNE CHRISTENSEN IS a postman based in Svendborg, an old trading town on the south coast of Funen, the island between Zealand and Jutland in Denmark. From her mail vehicle she has a good view of the gentle landscape north of the town, toward Odense. Rolling hills, deciduous forests and open fields rush past as she drives 200 kilometers to deliver letters and parcels to

houses in the small villages, and scattered farms. “Occasionally there is a man who is surprised when I bring a parcel. “What has my wife ordered now?” he might say. Then I say “I told you that you should keep an eye on her credit card!”. Of course it’s just a bad joke, but we both laugh. But this helps establish contact and perhaps prevents minor irritations arising – such as if a parcel arrives a little later than expected.” SUSANNE GETS HER good mood and patience from her mother. It is a character trait that is useful not only at work, but also when she pursues her great leisure interest. “I started researching my family tree about ten years ago and I love to sit and discover family ties. I have, for example, a photograph of my great-grandfather, dated 1894. He sits smartly and proudly on a mail coach pulled by big horses. He was a postman for 40 years on the island of Langeland. I myself have worked in the mail service for 27 years, so I have a while still to go before I beat his record.”

MICHAEL KIRKEBY

“I am often told that I am quite tough,” says Heidi Voutilainen.

Check out The Trio´s top tips. Follow us on Instagram. #peoplebypostnord

Heidi Voutilainen Job: Key Account Back Office Specialist Where: Vantaa, Finland. Works together with: Mikko-Antero Savolainen: “He gave me a lot of good advice when I was new”, Suvi Vitale, Elisa Rakkolainen, Rina Haverinen, Essi Harjanti, Mea Grönholm and Tero Mehtänen.

Happy to take the heat DURING HER SIX-YEAR career at PostNord, Heidi Voutilainen has heard a wide range of opinions about her employer. This is alright, because as a Key Account Back Office Specialist in Vantaa, Finland, she thinks it is part of her job to listen to customer opinions. When someone is angry on the phone, Heidi does not try to calm them down. “If you try to calm an angry customer down, they may feel that it is not acceptable to get angry. As a rule, customers need to be able to express their frustration and I give them the opportunity to do this, as long as this does not involve personal attacks,” she says. OFTEN THE ISSUE is that something has not worked as agreed, such as a delivery or collection that is delayed. In such situations, Heidi immediately says that it did not go as planned and that it is unacceptable. It is often sufficient for her to say “I’ll take care of it”. “I am often told that I am quite tough and 50

HELI BLÅFIELD

Heidi Voutilainen doesn’t try to calm anyone down.

that I express my opinions in a quite powerful way. That is perhaps why customers also trust me to take care of matters.” HEIDI WORKS WITH customer support for major customers – she knows many of them personally. The communication therefore rarely becomes improper, even if something has gone seriously wrong. It is far from always the case that problems are PostNord’s fault; for example the customer may have stated the wrong address. Even in such situations, Heidi is careful not to make accusations against the customer, in terms of

her tone or choice of words. An experienced customer service worker is aware of the power of apologizing. If a customer has had the same experience a number of times, it can be difficult to get a word in during an angry conversation. When it is Heidi’s turn to talk, she apologizes for the situation – and immediately suggests appropriate measures for dealing with the matter. “It is important for the customer to hear that I promise to investigate what has happened. When I suggest a solution as well, the caller usually calms down quite a lot.”

ANNE SALOMÄKI

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True detectives D BEHIN THE S SCENE

They handle mail addressed to websites. They rescue fashion shows in London. They are the last chance for parcels. TEXT: MICHAEL KIRKEBY PHOTO: FREDDY BILLQVIST

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“THE ADRENALINE RUSHES really fast on some days,” says Martin Dam. It was a big fashion show in London. Cameras flashed, models spun around and there was a designer hyperventilating behind the scenes. He had been saved at the last minute, by a bunch of detectives from PostNord Denmark. Martin Dam is one of them. He is Post Administrator at the Returns unit at Kastrup: “A very important dress for the fashion show was missing. Everyone was waiting nervously. It had to be found. And, luckily, we managed to do so in time,” he says. SVEND STEMANN AND Martin Dam from the Returns unit are very at home amongst the numerous shelves in the secure area at PostNord’s huge distribution hub at Kastrup. Damaged and homeless consignments from all over the country end up here, along with items on which it is difficult or impossible to identify the sender and recipient. “It is really mysterious. It is obviously great that two out of three parcels are reunited with the sender or the recipient. But every week we have about 200 items that lie here and do not seem to be missed by anyone. It is quite remarkable, especially when they contain valuable items or personal belongings. We can only speculate about their history,” says Svend Stemann. Martin stops in front of a shelf with lots of boxes with handwritten labels: “Telephones”, “Spectacles”, “USB sticks”.... Behind him, there is a similar shelf filled with paper bags with anything from toys to cat food. If you add all 54

the shelves together there is a product range like a small shopping center. “Just in this box there are probably 15 mobile phones, some of them completely new,” says Martin. All the items for which they can identify neither the sender nor the recipient are entered in a database – and then wait for their rightful owner to get in touch. After three months, their time is up and the goods are sold at an auction. MARTIN AND SVEND are veterans in this area. Together, they represent over 60 years of experience at the postal service in Copenhagen. For the past three years, they have been at the forefront of improving the work at the Returns unit.

“We started out as postmen and have had many other positions while completing in logistics and project management. There are probably not many other people who know as much about the daily work with mail as we do,” says Svend. A LOT OF things have changed over the years. Digitization has resulted in fewer letters and more parcels. There have always been people who simply write “To Britta and Uncle Hans” on an item of mail, but now a new variant has appeared. “It is quite incredible, but some people now think it is sufficient to just write a web address on their letter as the recipient address. Perhaps we should introduce a school subject about how P E O P L E BY P O ST N O R D

In the distribution hub at Kastrup, they lie in long straight lines – parcels without a sender or a recipient, waiting for someone to look for them.

“People send confectionary to each other at Christmas. During the spring we see garden books and garden tools, and in the summer it is swimming goggles. So we don’t need to look out the window to know what season of the year it is,” say the colleagues (from left to right) Svend Stemann, Martin Dam and Jesper Robdrup. Varje vecka är det ungefär 200 försändelser som blir liggande och som ingen efterfrågar.

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Tips for colleagues Do not put the return label on top of the barcode on a parcel. Otherwise Svend, Martin and their colleagues can’t scan it – and the customers would not know the parcel is at the Returns unit.

“Some people think it is sufficient to just write a web address on their letter as the recipient address,” says Svend. Top picture: Jesper Robdrup.

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to send non-digital items of mail properly. That would really simplify our work at the Returns unit,” says Svend. All the parcels and letters, including barcodes that have become detached from consignments, must be sorted and registered the same day they arrive. But it is sometimes necessary to change the order in which they do tasks at work, explains Martin. “The first thing that Svend and I check in the morning is whether there is a message from Birthe Larsen at Customer Service – or Emergency-Birthe, as she is called. Then we know the issue is urgent, and everyone drops what they are doing to help Birthe find a certain parcel or item.” Emergency-Birthe also has a special place in the heart of a designer in London. It was Birthe who alerted the Returns unit about the missing dress. Most heroes are not in the limelight or on the catwalk. They are just doing their everyday work.

SVEND STEMANN:

There are probably not many other people who know as much about mail as we do.

Telephones, USB sticks and spectacles. The assorted homeless items are neatly sorted in boxes.

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ROBOTS THAT WORK AT POSTNORD The truck that operates itself, the robot arm that plays Tetris and the smartest Egil in the world. Meet your new working buddies. TEXT: MALIN DAHLBERG PHOTO: BANFA JAWLA

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Automatic response to customers PostNord’s chat robot was launched on the recipient portal in 2018, and has so far handled more than 50,000 cases. It is regularly provided with questions and answers that it quickly and efficiently sends to customers. The vast majority of questions from non-business customers are of the type “where is my parcel?” and “when will it arrive?”. The goal is that, with more training, the robot should be able to help customers with 80 percent of the questions that come in via the portal. Any other cases are forwarded to one of PostNord’s customer advisors.

The arm that loves Tetris PostNord is looking into the possibility of developing a specialized loading robot. The trials are currently under way in India. The vision is to produce systems with a robot arm that can load parcels and adapt itself to different weights, materials and sizes – with a precise “Tetris” fit. “We have rules stating that humans are not allowed to perform work with loads above shoulder height. The robot has the potential to load parcels more tightly together and higher up. What’s more, robots can be a way of managing future volume increases regarding parcels,” says Lisa de Wahl who is managing the Robotics Automated Handling project at PostNord.

Where robot colleagues do picking work At PostNord’s TPL warehouse in Norrköping, Sweden, robots pick and sort pharmaceuticals which has been tailored to meet the needs of Apotek Hjärtat’s chain of pharmacies. The employees just need to stand at a picking station, to which their robot colleagues automatically deliver the goods. “We dispatch several thousand crates [also known as totes] every day. Without the automation, we would never have managed to sort so precisely and efficiently,” says Magdalena Robsarve, Operational Development Manager PostNord TPL.

Lisa de Wahl is leading a development project to investigate how robots can help PostNord.

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SHORT GLOSSARY OF ROBOT TERMS AI: artificial intelligence, a term used about robots with the ability to learn. Big data: access to very large volumes of data that can be used for analyzes. Pick by voice: voice-controlled picking, in which you receive instructions via a headset. AGV: automated guided vehicle, autonomous trucks controlled using analysis via a camera. Goods to person: the pickers stand still and have the products sent to them. Ring scanner: a small scanner that you put on your finger and use to read barcodes. A-frame: a fully automated solution in which the products are automatically dispensed down onto a collecting belt.

Egil gets smarter with each parcel

Robot army compiling data in Denmark Robots working with administration? Yes, that’s right! Since 2017 PostNord has evaluated administrative processes, in both Sweden and Denmark, to see which ones can be automated. The work is then performed by robots comprising software and technology called RPA. So far 55 RPA robots have been produced. A small digital army that can copy the work that people do on computers, click by click, and move simply between different systems. Robots are good at moving data and can help in connection with complaints, for example.

Egil is an AI (artificial intelligence) worker, which operates day and night to detect delayed parcels. Every time a parcel is scanned at PostNord’s terminals in Sweden, Egil is asked to evaluate the risk of parcel delayes. But soon Egil will be even smarter. “We have started a very exciting work through which Egil will soon know exactly where the parcels are in real time. Egil will be able to track parcels like you can track your Uber driver,” says Bure Noréus, one of Egil’s developers.

Telephone robot who speaks with a salesperson’s voice During the spring, PostNord in Finland has been testing a telephone robot that asks about the logistics needs of potential customers. The robot can make 10,000 calls in three hours. “The sales team has recorded the questions that the robot asks, and which the customer can answer with yes or no. So, even if it is a robot making the call, the customer hears a human salesperson’s voice. If the customer is interested in our services, a human salesperson calls the customer after the robot has called,” says the Head of the Telesales team in Finland, Krista Yliruus.

The self operating truck In PostNord’s TPL warehouse in Jordbro, south of Stockholm, an AGV (automated guided vehicle) has been in operation for a year or so, collecting pallets and putting them in the correct place in the warehouse. The aim is to see whether it can heighten the efficiency of repetitive tasks, “It makes it easier for us when we have a lot of pallets that need moving from one place to another. But it only performs simple tasks,” terminal worker Jonas Wahlsten explains.

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HELI BLÅFIELD

THINGS / RINA HAVERINEN

A glittering memory

Tea and South Korea have captured Rina Haverinen’s heart. MOST FINNS ARE dedicated coffee drinkers, but Rina Haverinen has taken her own path. She always starts the working day with a big cup of tea. Rina is a Key Account Agent in Vantaa, Finland, and she has tea bags and milk available at the office. “Tea should definitely be drunk with sugar and milk, so that the bitter taste is less obvious,” she says. Rina is also very specific about in which vessel she enjoys her tea.The dark blue mug from Starbucks, with a glittering Seoul print, is a memento from a trip to South Korea in 2011. She had started at PostNord that year and took the mug to the office shortly after her trip. “I always drank from it previously, but it has now taken its place on my desk as a memento.” A year and a half ago, she visited a tea plantation in South Korea, where she tested a range of green tea varieties. Despite the unforgettable experience, she did not switch from her favorite black tea to green. “Black tea is really my thing,” says Rina.. MAIJU KARHUNEN

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Now & Then GARIA VS. TJORVEN

Sulky kid became luxury golf cart The classic Swedish delivery vehicle Tjorven was certainly ahead of its time, but most postmen would probably choose today’s Garia. GARIA It has a maximum speed of 45 km/h and the battery has a range of 40 to 60 kilometers. The engine is a high-efficiency 3-phase AC unit with 48 volts. The vehicle also has McPherson suspension. Its turning radius is 6.5 meters and with standard lithium batteries the vehicle weighs 790 kilograms.

The vehicle is based on the Garia Utility City SC, with a closed top. The Danish company Garia is based in Greve and mainly manufactures “the world’s most luxurious golf carts”. The most expensive ones cost around SEK 200,000.

The small electric vehicle is built for efficiency and zero emissions, with a lightweight steel frame and good rust protection. It can be charged from a standard electrical outlet.

The Garia is equipped with special features for PostNord. These include letter holders, a driver’s seat on the right hand side, a door adapted for mail distribution, and a storage cabinet that has an alarm and is designed specifically for PostNord’s needs.

The Garia was launched in the fall of 2015. Of PostNord’s just over 4,000 electric vehicles, 444 are from Garia.

Information about the Garia is provided by Liv Najjar, Fleet Chef, Production Development PostNord Sweden. 62 62

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ILLUSTRATON: JOHAN HÖRBERG

TJORVEN The Tjorven vehicle was manufactured by Kalmar Verkstad in Sweden between 1969 and 1971. It is actually called the KVD 440/441, but the postman who helped test the prototype thought that the car had a somewhat sulky look reminiscent of the character Tjorven in the television series Saltkråkan.

The vehicle had a body made of plastic with fiberglass reinforcement, on top of a frame featuring steel profiles.

Tjorven is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The world’s only Tjorven museum is located in Rockneby, Kalmar, and features unique vehicles made by Kalmar Verkstad. Among other things, it has a fully equipped Tjorven fire truck.

In its original version, Tjorven only had a folding stool for a passenger. It had sliding doors and the driver’s seat was on the right. The vehicle was also available in versions with a passenger seat, for the consumer market.

Tjorven was a good vehicle for urban use thanks to its step-less Variomatic transmission. It was also spacious in relation to its length. It was less suitable for use on highways, due to its small two-cylinder engine, and because its high body was sensitive to side winds.

Tjorven was ahead of its time regarding many solutions that other vehicle manufacturers did not introduce until the 1980s, such as folding and split rear seats, sliding doors and a folding passenger seat to increase the load length.

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TEXT: MALIN DAHLBERG

WAIT, WHAT?

[Fulfilment] You may have heard the term Fulfilment in relation to logistics, but what does it actually mean? We had a look around the warehouse shelves and concluded that it is PostNord’s version of “with extra everything”. IF YOU LOOK up fulfilment in a dictionary it means “the meeting of requirements”. So what is it that PostNord fulfils? “Fulfilment is an established concept in the world of logistics. It means a number of steps that are carried out in a warehouse to complete a customer’s order. The simple basic steps are receiving, picking and sending an order,” says the Head of Communications at PostNord TPL, Claes Linder, based in Jordbro, south of Stockholm. “But we at PostNord TPL have a broader view of the concept. We also include that little something extra that customers require. We do not just want to store products but instead want to fulfil something in addition to an ordinary warehouse service.” What sort of extra services can this involve? “We call them value-adding services, and these can involve anything from configuring modems and managing returns to building displays for a store, which we do at our TPL warehouse in Køge in Denmark, for example. But we also do more unusual things, such as

mixing paints for the construction who sat and cut in trailers in chain Bauhaus. manually in a special cutting room at What! How is that done? the warehouse, before the film rolls “We have a special paint room at were sent away to cinemas. We have the warehouse in Norrköping in also put studs on winter tires, and put Sweden, where PostNord’s tires on rims and then balanced the employees mix paints. They finished wheels before they have received special leave the warehouse.” training so that they What is the limit can handle the paint regarding the services mixing machine, the you can provide to different paint bases customers? and paint pigments, “It is basically just the and also other imagination that sets the relevant activities.” limit, but it must of course Are there other fun be practically feasible and it Claes Linder must be possible to do it in a things that you can do when working with warehouse.” third-party logistics? But why should PostNord do such “We take pictures of shoes for tasks? Is it not sufficient to just Footway, for example. When we get a offer normal warehouse activities? new delivery, we pick out the shoes “It is a way of establishing a that we have not had in stock before. stronger connection with the These shoes are put in an automatic customer and developing a photo studio and the images then partnership, as well as being a way of end up on the Footway website.” earning money from services that What is the most unusual thing are a little more advanced than PostNord TPL has done for a having a pallet in a warehouse. We customer? want to become specialists and “It was most probably when we skilled at certain tasks, so that stored film rolls for different film customers know that they can turn companies and we had employees to us when they need help.”

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TEXT: ANNE SALOMÄKI FOTO: RENJA NURMI

GOALS / RUDI HARLO

Little Livia made Rudi change jobs Everybody has to have their own goals, but one must also have a clear common goal. Both at work and in a family. ALREADY DURING HIS first year as an account manager in Tampere in Finland, Rudi Harlo won a sales competition relating to the target group small and medium-sized companies. The prize provided confirmation that Rudi did the right thing when he changed jobs from a sports association to logistics: “I was wondering in which industry I could more easily monitor and measure my performance. Another factor that had to be taken into consideration was the fact that working for an association involves being available almost 24 hours a day, and I wanted to have more normal working hours as we had just had another child.” Rudi’s work also helps his children to achieve goals at home. Rudi describes himself as being family-oriented. “Working life today is hectic and everyone shoots in all directions. My aim is that life should be more harmonious at home.” Family life and working life depend on the same thing – cooperation. When communication works and there is personal chemistry, everyday life flows nicely. Rudi therefore does not want to have any unrealistic dream goals for any part of his life.

“You should not just put on an act in front of the camera and post pictures on social media that show you have a happy life, you should also do the things in reality.”

Rudi Harlo with his children Livia and Aldo.

AT WORK >>> Rudi Harlo has been an Account Manager at PostNord in Tampere since 2018. His closest colleagues are Krista Yliruusi, Martti Järventie, Harri Pajula, Kati Packalén, Anna Peräjoki and Toni Karinen.

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LADISLAV KOSA

THE ODDER STORY / ROCKET POST

A fast fail

Rockets are supposed to take people to planets, not letters to Lund.

s long ago as in the 13th century there were reports of rockets exploding on battlefields in China. On 16 March 1926, when inventor Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-propellant rocket, few people could have imagined the daring experiment that would follow – and that it would be from the Swedish Royal Postal Agency. On November 1, 1961, when the

great feverish interest in rockets had reached Sweden, the first rocket-post launch took place from the island of Rindö outside Vaxholm near Stockholm. The idea was that the rocket would transport medication and post from the island to the mainland. Unfortunately, the rocket flew off course, so the letters ended up in Solöfjärden Bay. The next launch fared no better.

In an attempt on Järvafältet, a large green space in Stockholm, the rocket exploded as it set off and spread burnt letters over the local area. On August 24, 1969 a rocket carrying mail was launched in the direction of Norway from the Swedish side of Lake Grövelsjön. It reached a height of 900 meters and a speed of no less than 600 kilometers per hour. The parachute didn’t open, so large parts

of the mail were destroyed when the rocket crashed. The driving forces behind the experiment were Stig Reidmar, Sigurd Tullberg and Gilbert Svensson, who formed the foundation called Stiftelsen Jubileumspostflygningen. The last letter transported by the rocket experiment flew through the sky in 1975. ROBERT LÅNGSTRÖM

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Spring/Summer 2019

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