Today, hybrid work alternating between distance and face-to-face work is becoming a reality. This new form of work organization is forcing companies to adapt. However, this trend needs to be supported and supervised in order to respond effectively to today's new challenges.
In the absence of a framework that identifies the fundamentals of hybrid work and the best practices for optimizing it, each structure decides on its own how to deploy it... with varying degrees of success. Challenged by this organizational transformation, companies must respond to the expectations and requirements expressed by job applicants and employees.
Hybrid work: a mixed picture
A recent survey conducted by Incitu with a representative panel of HR professionals revealed that 84% of them see telework and hybrid work as key to solving current issues, such as employee retention and recruiting new talent.
These new forms of work organization have become real competitive advantages for building an attractive employer brand, but they are not without consequences and seem to pose some difficulties.
According to a study by ANDRH, 76% of HR managers believe that it has become essential to offer hybrid work arrangements. Another 78% point out that workplace flexibility has become a priority demanded by candidates during job interviews.
While it is essential to support this new organization, it is also important to take into account those who are not in a position to opt for this hybridization. In the service economy sector, many employees with first or second level qualifications continue to have to travel to their place of work. This creates a real social divide between more highly qualified people, who are able to organize their working hours, and those who are forced to work on site because their activity cannot be dematerialized.
Diversified challenges
The cultural evolution of the manager's role is a major issue. The new forms of work organization mean that this function must now be rethought to move towards a leadership format rather than one of control. Setting objectives that can be revisited on a regular basis but letting go of the method, the way to achieve them. This is a challenge for our companies, which are still very much anchored in the culture of face-to-face meetings. At the same time, employees must be encouraged to change their view of their manager. To become fully aware that the manager is there to accompany and help them, but not to be there all the time to cushion any difficulties.
Second issue: the difficulty of maintaining team cohesion and a collective dynamic. How do you create and maintain a corporate culture when employees are far from it? Because even if they aspire to more flexibility, employees still need to recognize themselves in the social interaction with their peers.
The third major issue is employee support. Companies need to tread carefully on the borderline between autonomy and independence. On the one hand, it is necessary to provide the best possible support to those who have more difficulty with autonomy, the ability to work alone, to set a goal... On the other hand, it is necessary to evaluate the limits to be set for those who develop a form of independence that is too marked. Because if the employee realizes that "it works as well on the outside as it does on the inside", how do you get people to come back to work? What meaning can be given to the fact that they are on site? These are real questions that affect all levels of positions today.
Training and adaptation of collective rules
Faced with these challenges, a first avenue for reflection is undoubtedly linked to the development of skills. As the Incitu survey underlines, 75% of the HR managers interviewed believe that hybrid work is not self-evident! The implementation of telework cannot mean simply transposing our work habits to a remote location. It implies the acquisition of new skills. The successive confinements we have gone through have clearly demonstrated that not all employees have been able to adapt at the same pace, and those who were doing so before the crisis have clearly had an advantage.
In the current context, the formalization of the skills required for this hybridization of work is becoming a key issue.
It is therefore imperative to focus on training. The objective? To ensure that employees and managers are up to speed in order to practice hybrid work effectively. Training is both a source of professional development and a cursor for improvement. And the acquisition of new skills that can now be valued through certification.
Another avenue for reflection: an adaptation of collective rules seems necessary today. This need for a single frame of reference was endorsed by 83% of HR managers interviewed in the Incitu survey. Without over-individualizing, these collective rules could be adapted to the major types of situations structured around employees.
In the current "shortage" situation, the real issue is clearly talent retention and the ability to capture the best skills. Some companies have understood this. The ones that are quickest to adapt to the current challenges will win! In any case, it's a safe bet that all companies will have to follow suit. Even in certain professions that are not yet practiced remotely. The future will bring some innovations on this subject...
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