Two years of a health crisis punctuated by periods of confinement have put an end to a work organization system deeply rooted in the office. The obligation to resort to teleworking has propelled companies, in a few months, into a mode of work that is not compatible with the needs of the workforce. hybrid work And it has significantly changed people’s minds. Now, as we know, there will be no turning back.
Alain d’Iribarne, economist, labor sociologist and Research Director at the CNRS, guest speaker at our webinar «Hybrid management and the return to the office», confirms this trend. the international survey Actineo 2021, It sheds light on how we will work tomorrow and on the new conditions necessary for the proper organization and management of work that has become hybrid.
«Hybrid work will force any company based on the traditional French management model to innovate in a disruptive way.»
Alain d’Iribarne’s analysis of the Actineo investigation
What are the main lessons learned from the post-lockdown teleworking survey?
Alain d’Iribarne The study by Actinéo – which compares before, during and after confinement among workers in major international metropolises – sheds light on the Report on teleworking.
Before the health crisis, 80 % of the employees working in offices had never done teleworking. After the lockdown, only 15 % say that they could not or would not continue to telework.
Another statistic: before the lockdown, 1 % in 10 workers were working from home all week. % During the lockdown, there were 29 who wished to work from home all week, and 14 % who now wish to work from home all week.
Overall, the ideal pace would stabilize around 2 or 3 days of weekly remote work And the current negotiations between companies are largely based on this distribution. At the end of this crisis, the choices available to companies and their employees have been greatly expanded.
According to The Ifop survey «HR Perspectives 2022: the state of mind of recruiters» Published in February 2022, the average number of days teleworking in companies that have implemented a specific policy is 10. 2.3 days per week.
Who will decide the new hybrid working conditions for companies?
Alain d’Iribarne On the company side, the main decision-maker is the Management, which defines the strategy, supported by the HR department for the management of human resources.
There are also three other essential actors in the hybridization of work:
- First and second-level managers who are essential components (Read also ‘New workspaces: managers at the heart of change‘),
- the social partners for large and medium-sized enterprises,
- The State – through its administrative and financial institutions – which took advantage of the lockdown to put the majority of its employees teleworking and reduce the number of square meters of offices.
Why continue to come to the office if it is possible to work remotely?
Alain d’Iribarne To the question « What are you expecting if you return to the office? », the main reasons cited by the employees are the need for socialization and meetings (41 %), the search for an environment that allows for calm work (39 %) and more effective professional exchanges (34 %).
But what respondents aspire to the most is the seeking a balance to separate work life from private life (80 %). One of the possibilities would be to consider spaces of coworking of proximity.
How to manage the complexity of the new hybrid organization?
Alain d’Iribarne : Managers are the main actors in the evolution of work patterns. From now on, all companies that maintain a very vertical traditional management model and that claim to integrate digital technologies will be in trouble. working remotely They will be forced to undergo a disruptive innovation in their management model.
Alain d'Iribarne
Companies have a Triple challenge to be noted: economic to be profitable, human to integrate quality of life and well-being at work, and Environmental To optimize their impact. Managers will therefore have to be guarantors of this triple result, in a complex and destabilized context. They must now manage the combination of places, times, and the relationship between individuals and the collective, and bring all these elements into coherence.
According to ANDRH survey: «The future of work as seen by HR managers» Published in March 2022, the transformation of the role of managers is key to the future of work and represents a Priority project for 70 % of the respondents.
Are there any disparities between large metropolises and the provinces, between small and large companies?
Alain d’Iribarne The answer was already in the Actineo 2019 survey… Quality of life at work in France grows as people move away from large metropolises and large companies. In other words, satisfaction is higher when the size of the company is small and in non-metropolitan areas.
Teleworking remains primarily a problem in large cities and very closely linked to variables such as time and the quality of transport. Internationally, the situations vary greatly depending on the megacities.
Moreover, the proper implementation of The hybridization of work It does not depend on the size of the company but on the philosophy of the company and the mindset of its employees.
Many thanks to Alain for taking the time to answer our questions!
Webinar «Hybrid Management and Return to the Office»
45 minutes of testimonies and concrete advice
