Hybrid work: lessons from the Covid-19 crisis
The 2020 health crisis accelerated the adoption of remote work… It happened in a rush, which was understandable: the priority was to keep our activities going as far as possible.
But organisations are still living with the consequences of permanent decisions, often taken in a bureaucratic way.
As early as 2020, we warned against these radical and poorly thought-through changes… Here are some of the perspectives we wrote during those months of crisis. They still shape our approach today.
Remote work: opportunity, fad or transformation?
Many organisations adopted remote work under the constraint of lockdown. Beyond the technical challenges, it is a professional and relational practice radically different from what companies and their people were used to, whether executives, managers, experts or employees.
Some companies seize the opportunity to cut office property costs. Some employees push for remote work to become permanent, for many reasons, stated or not. Some find a new work-life balance. Others drown in a workload that no longer finds its limits and warning signs in office hours and social interaction. Some managers are comfortable with the new distance from their teams, while others despair at losing the connection.
If only because of this « revelation », or this suffering, the post-Covid world of work is different. These transformations should therefore be chosen rather than endured.
A few readings that explore these questions and our proposals (in French):
Remote work: autonomy is the key
Read the article on LinkedIn – on our blog [links to add]
The crisis also tested organisations’ ability to absorb shocks: discover our perspective on organisational resilience.