Case Study: Ikano Bolig x Free Agents™

Case Study: Ikano Bolig x Free Agents™ - a successful freelance hire

Meet Magdalena Misak and Christa Grønbech Goncalves. Together, they are now working at Ikano Bolig in Copenhagen – Christa as a freelancer and Magdalena as Director of Communications and Marketing. 

Ikano Bolig is Swedish-founded real estate developer who builds tenant and rental homes. With a focus on neighborhood community, social engagement and sustainability, Ikano Bolig provide a sense of security and the feeling of belonging, and together with strong values, the company has grown into several new markets in the past few years.

A strong heritage

Ikano was originally a part of the home furnishing company IKEA and was founded by the same founder, Ingvar Kamprad, in Småland. In Småland, people are known for being hard-working and innovative. We’re talking about a no-nonsense approach to problem-solving in general and to business challenges in particular. That has taught them the value of working together to create meaningful solutions that simplify people’s lives and contribute to a better living. 

Values such as inclusion, diversity and equality appear again and again when working with Ikano Bolig.

An easy and flexible process

Magdalena had not previously been using freelancers but found herself in a situation needing just that. As a part of Ikano Bolig’s new 50/50 strategy allocating equal focus on tenant homes and rental homes, the new strategic focus on the rental market needed to be implemented on the website. Thus, the business was facing a larger web project which was time-limited and at the same time, very specific in terms of the competencies needed for the job. That was when Magdalena thought about using a freelancer.  

After consulting her colleagues on the Swedish side (Ikano Bostad), Magdalena learned that they often use freelancers to scale up and down during busy work periods as well as fill out specific projects with specific competencies. A freelancer was the right answer. Within a short time, Magdalena was presented with a field of candidates from Free Agents™ and had to choose which freelancer to proceed with. Conversations went back and forth between Magdalena and the Free Agents™ Consultant, who firmly suggested that Christa would be the best fit in terms of what Magdalena was looking for.

Christa had just ended a freelance role through Free Agents™ with the jewelry start-up Rocks For Life. The opportunity with Ikano was a good match to her competencies, and it fulfilled her aspirations to try out new industries to gain further experience.

If there was ever any doubt, it was definitely gone after a chat between Magdalena and Christa. Christa checked all the boxes and was personally a strong match to the strong values of Ikano.

A prolonged relationship

After finishing the web project, Christa and Ikano Bolig were not quite over each other. Other projects appeared matching the competencies of Christa, and thus, the relationship has become longer than planned. In Christa, Ikano Bolig found a talented freelancer who could challenge the status quo while being awesome to work with. And in Ikano Bolig, Christa found an inclusive culture including her on equal terms as the permanent employees. For example, Magdalena explains how Christa is invited to social events, seminars and the like on equal terms as the full-time employees. As Magdalena says, this is the only right way to do it and improves both professional and social outcomes.

Do you want to do like Ikano? Feel free to send us an e-mail at freeagents@freeagents.network and we’ll reach out to you straight away. You can also create a company account by clicking here.