The post-Cavid hybrid company, the balance between the virtual and the real

If the "hybrid" mode makes it possible to considerably restrict the phenomenon of isolation that many of us have known during the containment phases, it brings its share of complexity.It will be tempting, for some, to start on pre-Cavid operating modes.Others will come to the office by being in the same logic as at home: in their bubble!The challenge for businesses will therefore be to optimize the performance and quality of life of employees by exploiting the best of both worlds, physical and digital.

Take into account hybridization in management practices

The implementation of the "hybrid" mode without prior transformation of managerial practices has a certain number of risks: poor circulation of information, coordination difficulties, multiplication of meetings, fragile team cohesion, individualization of performance, psychosocial risks.To limit them, four axes are to work primarily by managers and their teams.

Sensitize employees about the risks of an oral and written "double culture"

While in the teams sharing the same physical work space, collaboration can be based on informal and/or implicit exchanges, within a hybrid team it must be based on an essentially formalized sharing of information.This may seem surprising, while teammates are led to continue to be physically regular.However, collaborative tools are the only "common denominator" between remote employees and those in face -to -face.Their use is the only guarantee of homogeneous access to information.With the hybridization of work, written and oral cultures coexist.The manager will have to raise awareness of the risk of desynchronization of team members and encourage the formalization of information useful to all.

Exploit the best of both worlds

The temptation can be great, for the manager of a hybrid team, to want to reassure himself - even if it is by screen interposed - of the full commitment of his collaborators that he sees less.He will then be initiated by multiple so -called coordination meetings.If it is key, for a team that works in "hybrid mode", to have common routines, you must avoid Reunionite at all costs.It imposes on teleworkers the same pace as on on -site employees.One of the major assets of telework is that it promotes concentration, work on substantive tasks.

Maintain collective dynamics

If the hybrid configuration allows employees to continue to see each other, to have informal exchanges, especially during face -to -face days, the contact points within the team will be less.The manager will therefore have to redouble their efforts to maintain team dynamics. For this, he can for example encourage work and mutual aid between peers, feedback.He can also ensure that his employees are associated with decisions and looking for new ideas.

Meet physically, as a team, regularly due

L'entreprise hybride post-Covid, l'équilibre entre le virtuel et le réel

Find all, face to face is absolutely necessary.The pace of these meetings can vary and must depend on the level of maturity of the team, but the employees must be able to materialize the collective to which they belong.Furthermore, certain subjects can only be addressed face to face and in the presence of all.This is the case with the treatment of complex subjects or more emotionally involving subjects.These face -to -face moments will also be an opportunity to restore meaning, recall the course.The expression of disagreements will also be key.Among other things, it will continuously improve work organization.

Efforts are not to be focused only on management or support for employees, it is also time to rethink the use of offices.

Hybrid workspace and siege symbolism

Soon a year after the first confinement, companies are starting to take stock of the trip from their premises and also from the productivity of decentralized teams at their home for the most part.In their vast majority, they experience a form of telework and for some a continuity of activity at a distance.The situation does not seem to evolve towards a massive return to Full Office, alternative solutions are emerging while waiting for the emergence of a hybrid model.

The flagship will remain, it is necessary / essential to maintain an incarnation of the head office which will consolidate the feeling of belonging, a place of destination for the various stakeholders.If the headquarters justify its physical existence, the workstation has been quickly dematerialized, a process facilitated by the deployment of unified and collaborative communications tools on the various terminals: smartphone, tablet or laptop.In fact, companies meet their organizational models in terms of their new needs.

Of the generalized flex office to the spaces of co -creation

With the reflections on the number of days of site presence which will be imposed tomorrow, the debate opens on the transformation of the allocated spaces - which are the individual office and the open space - in flexible spaces.The absence of a regular workstation has never aroused crazy enthusiasm from employees in France, but combined with the possibility of home work, it should win the heart of the most recalcitrant.Because it is the whole of the project that must be embraced, by associating the teams with a redefinition of the function of the offices.

It is indeed unlikely that we come back tomorrow to the company to lock ourselves alone in an individualized office.The company of tomorrow will favor spaces for exchanges, and perhaps less so-called conviviality.The need to socialize teams is real and confinement made us aware of the informal strength.This pleads, thus, for an attractive redefinition of the development of spaces in order to promote meetings, exchange and collaborative work.These modular spaces, new social hubs, leaving free rein to creativity must be able to bring the flexibility necessary for group dynamics as well as to heads.The idea is to copy the spirit of coworking by transposing it into the company.

Coworking, adjustment variable

Besides, the coworking offer may be an additional solution.After five years of supply development, in particular in major agglomerations, teleworking and distancing measures hampered its development in 2020. If Paris is well endowed in terms of surface, diversity of supply and numberof operators, it remains below New York or London.However, coworking appears to be an alternative or complementary solution to offices reduction projects or flex office strategies for companies.They offer employees an opportunity to find a work environment, not too far from their home without being the home.Because for many in large cities, the kitchen, the bedroom or the living room have become the place of the exercise of their work.

These coworking spaces also respond to the financial effort requested to companies who wish to reduce their real estate costs (charges, rate, rentals) and which are starting to learn from telework.

The hybrid company is being definition, its perimeter, its practices will evolve, yet there are already new managerial practices inherited from the lessons of containment and telework. In the second step, the very structure of the premises of the company willAlso evolve towards more collaborative spaces.

Caroline del Torchio et Jean-Denis Garo (*)

6 minutes

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