Bruno Buffenoir (ServiceNow, France) “Post-Covid workspace will no longer be the same”

Facing the health crisis, company employees discovered a new way of working remotely. For the company, one of the challenges it will face in the next few months will be to improve the efficiency of employees’ daily work.

According to ANDRH’s research, by April 2020, 95% of companies in France have used telecommuting for eligible employees. As the world faces a health crisis, this proportion is high. As a result, millions of employees in France and around the world have witnessed profound changes in their habits. There is no doubt that this new decade will be marked by major changes, and this trend will never end.

When adopting new personal or professional habits, humans must spend the necessary time to fully integrate these changes. We must face a new daily life, but we must not impose it on others, but build it in a collaborative way between the company and its employees. This long-term partnership requires in-depth thinking and testing everyone’s ability to innovate. For employees, this is a key skill that needs to be reassessed. This is the future that the work world must face in order to build a new tomorrow. Then, companies and employees around the world are invited to redraw the outline of this new work organization brought about by the unprecedented crisis.

The decision to introduce telecommuting on a large scale is the cornerstone of the profound changes that have affected the world of work in recent months. The first health measure achieved by prohibiting employees from entering the office. In this case, the prospect of returning to the workplace becomes synonymous with pressure and doubt. Should we go back to work as before? How to ensure hygiene rules in enclosed spaces? Let us be clear, the workspace before Covid no longer exists. Employee safety is paramount, you must adapt to the professional environment and maintain team productivity. The adaptability of employees has become crucial, and the company has also become particularly important. In the face of the global health crisis, companies must be flexible.

Actively listen to employees

One of the main challenges of this period, although strange, is that the geographical distance between employees and colleagues and the workplace has shaken corporate culture and commitment. The role of human resources is changing, and the psychological state of employees has become a top priority. Then, the basic quality will play its full meaning when dealing with these new challenges: actively listening to the voice of employees. Building a relationship of trust is essential to ensure a safe return to the office. In addition, the concept of transparency has been added, which is the key word for creating tomorrow’s workspace. The company must take into account the needs, criticisms and even worries of employees in order to provide a reassuring environment that can adapt to their new daily life.

Therefore, the physical working environment of tomorrow is intertwined with the development of technology, the development of the cloud, and the accessibility of technology around the world. The workspace has brought about a more open office, with fewer limitations and often disappeared… The fundamental change requires support for employees so that they can become the engine of tomorrow’s world.

Digitization brought about by the health crisis has become a new daily life for employees and companies; this reality has a place in the work world and is profoundly changing the way we deal with the future and new challenges. The company’s work around process digitization will accelerate, even after the crisis is over. This difficult period ushered in a new era, the foundation of which is the company’s ability to achieve digitalization.

Redesigned workspace

Through the digitalization of the work space, improving the daily life and work efficiency of employees is a challenge that the company must deal with. Employee productivity is a current issue that is prompting companies to completely rethink their work processes and tools available to employees.

Therefore, supporting employees and companies to use these new technologies and tools is essential. The workspace has become a digital environment, no longer limited by the physical representation of the past, and must be intuitive and flexible to maintain employee engagement. Therefore, the company must ensure that everyone has the necessary skills and technical resources to ensure a professional life in the office or in a private space.

Due to new major issues caused by health restrictions, the digital onboarding of employees occupies an important position in tomorrow’s career prospects. The rules imposed by this temporary deadline will leave an indelible mark in the future human resource process. Ensuring that managers and human resources functions can take advantage of this new way of team integration, and strive to ensure that every employee can acquire the necessary new skills to have a comprehensive understanding of new employees on a global scale is a crucial issue.