2021 has been a constant challenge in terms of workspaces: face-to-face, remote, re-face, remote a little, a lot, not at all. In short, HR and logisticians have had to use the calculator to find ‘the right’ solution. Let’s hope that 2022 can spare us these clever dosages…
But beyond the pandemic, many companies have reinvented their workspaces. The solutions are as diverse as the industries, but each manager has tried to find the right formula. What will happen in 2022?
To ask the question is almost to answer it! While some bosses aspire to return to “the world before”, most managers have opted for a compromise solution. According to several experts in Switzerland and Europe at least, the solution of “3 days face-to-face and 2 days in remote” seems to hold sway.
It is true that employees working in the tertiary sector and/or administrative sectors have quickly found their feet on this subject.
One can start from the following simple premise:
• I go to the office to socialise, to communicate, to deal with files that require interaction, to receive clients and business partners. • I stay at home or in its vicinity to design in peace and quiet, to write, to telephone, to answer e-mails, etc.
The solution seems so simple to put into practice - provided the technology naturally follows - that one wonders why companies have not implemented it before.
All parties stand to gain from this new approach, provided that, apart from the technical aspects:
• Managers trust and learn to manage their staff remotely.
• Employees are autonomous and proactive: the boss cannot see everything and know everything.
• The feedback culture is established, experienced, and cared for by all: managing feedback remotely requires tact and good communication skills.
• Unnecessary travel is avoided in favour of greater efficiency and effectiveness.
• We learn to manage our “private-professional” agenda by not mixing the genres, otherwise we will end up in potentially painful personal chaos.
• One should be able to adapt to new situations and change one’s habits according to one’s working days, whether face-to-face or remote.
“Rome was not built in a day”: it is therefore necessary to allow a little time to adapt to new realities. On the other hand, a return to 100% face-to-face seems doomed to failure for many companies: although some will get by in the short term, it is in the long term and in the light of the commitments of the new generations that the reality will emerge…
Let’s bet that pragmatism and mutual intelligence will be the basis of future success.
In this respect, we wish you a wonderful year 2022, full of beautiful professional discoveries and successes.
Have a nice week, good thoughts, and good reading.