Annual Report 2019-2020

25 E F L I N G A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 9 – 2 0 2 0 over from the outgoing vice-chairman, Sigurrós Kristinsdóttir, whose good work for the union is great- ly appreciated. Agnieszka began work in the union’s office at the end of July of the same year. The language skills among the staff have improved considerably in the past few years as one of the pri- orities in staffing during the past year has been to foster such an improvement. An increased number of in-house employees now speak Polish, Russian and Spanish and we also have a few employees there who speak languages such as Lithuanian, Latvian, German and even Mandarin; the translation of which lan- guages would previously have required seeking other avenues. The responses to this improved collective skillset of the staff have been very positive as about half of the union’s members has a first language other than Icelandic and this enhances their access to necessary information and the union’s services.. GUÐRÚNARTÚN 1 In October of 2019, for the first time, a system to limit access to the parking lot of Guðrúnartún 1 was introduced while for some time the number of driv- ers seeking parking the lot’s spaces had been beyond its capacity. The members of Efling, as well as staff and the other of the building’s guests had experienced some difficulty in finding parking near the building during certain times. This could lead to considerable difficulties for individuals with limited time trying to seek the union’s services it was universally acknowl- edged that the matter must be dealt with. After the implementation of the access-limitations the guests of Efling register their license plate number in an easy and convenient manner on a tablet inside the union’s reception area, which ensures free access to parking for a previously allotted time-period. This solution eliminated the influx of outside parties, whose busi- ness was with someone else in the area, into the park- ing lot. Efforts are still being made to evaluate whether the system has been successful enough or whether other measures will have to be taken to grant the guests of Efling proper access to parking. FILE MATTERS The union possesses an ocean of data and files – old as well as new, which is to be stored, preserved and weed- ed properly. This includes everything from historic documents and photographs to recently created docu- ments with grant applications, minutes of meetings, emails or photographs. Ingibjörg Þóra Haraldsdóttir started work at Efling in February of 2019 in the new position of archives and project manager and her com- ing precipitated a file managing program. The aim of that program is to efficiently and systematically work on organizing the files of the union, an effort which began with an analysis of the data and information which is created within the union. This has been done with so-called file interviews with the staff of each organizational whole. Subsequently, a requirements analysis group was created which includes several experts and division heads, as well as a file manager where the requirement analysis began. This work has led to the archive manager drafting a filing strategy and a filing plan which is, among other things, the basis for the implementation of an information sys- tem. This year saw the introduction of a new system called Fotoware/Fotostation which is a photobank where all the photographs of Efling, Dagsbrún, Framsókn, Sókn and Iðja are preserved and systematically registered. Ultimately, it bears mentioning that a staff library was established with easy access to files and research hav- ing to do with the issues of working people. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MATTERS Computer- and technical issues arise everywhere in the union’s operations and employees, as well as the unions members, rely on technology in various ways. The department of office and HR among other tasks, is responsible for seeing to it that the staff has access to the equipment necessary to do their job and pro- vides technical assistance and helps them learn how to use the equipment. Personal support for employees is emphasized, as well as the gradual increase of their skill level and confidence in picking up new techno- logical innovations. In the past year, the equipment of the staff was brought up to date and adapted to allow for greater flexibility in their work, as well as a new intranet and means of communication between staff. All that groundwork certainly came in handy once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and led to the 2-meter rule and assembly bans, which resulted in the closures of many bases of operations all around the world. With the appropriate technical equipment already installed, a lot of preparation and organization, the synchronization of all staff and cooperative parties, it became possible to provide services for union mem- bers after the doors of the union’s office had been closed to visitors on March 16th and a large part of the staff had to start working from home.