With the arrival of Covid-19, the world of work was affected by new habits and disruptions that sent many workers home in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Companies had to adapt to digitization and the hybrid model, and now, in the “new normal”, workers and leaders alike are grappling with rethinking the future of work. For Calicchio, the challenge for organizations lies in taking advantage of the best of office work and work from home.
“We learned, for example, to work 100 percent remotely, to use new tools to stay connected and work collaboratively, to work mainly by objectives, to have more autonomy, to integrate our personal and work lives, since being in the office is not necessarily the same as being more productive”, said Calicchio in an exclusive interview with Merca 2.0.
Work flexibility is not something new, but with the pandemic its adoption has accelerated; organizations had to evolve. As of today, 73 percent of employees prefer flexible work, according to a study carried out by The Work Train Index in 31 countries and with 30,000 respondents.
And in Mexico, 69 percent of Mexicans prefer hybridity, while 21 percent prefer full-time home office and 10 percent would return to offices, indicate data from OCCMundial.
Until now, flexibility has proven to be an important tool to promote the competitiveness of the productive apparatus and guarantee operational continuity; In addition, it allows workers to have autonomy, a better balance between work and professional life.
According to International Labor Organization (ILO), reduces urban congestion, energy use and can create employment opportunities, attract and retain qualified workers.
Despite the great benefits, we must not forget that companies have a physical space where they have to create significant links to strengthen the culture of the organization.
According to the Founding Partner of Blueberry Fox, the office space has to undergo a redesign for the new needs:
“Office space design plays a key role in positive collaboration and connection, but traditional offices often devote more than two-thirds of their space to individual, head-down workspaces such as desks and cubicles,” he said. .
An ideal working model?
The health crisis forced a large part of society to quickly and unexpectedly adapt to remote work, where innovation and technology served as a lever to develop an agile environment.
Although organizations are pushing towards new ways of training and interaction, the decentralization of the workplace can lead to the appearance of stress, social isolation, dissociation from the company, workaholism, mental fatigue, depersonalization, among a host of problems of Health.
With flexible and hybrid work, 40 percent of Mexican leaders think that it can generate a feeling of isolation from their collaborators. On the workforce side, 71 percent of workers believe that developing at home will negatively impact their career growth; and 55 percent fear not connecting with their peers, LinkedIn data indicates.
If we go to the extreme of 100 percent remote work, the Founding Partner of Blueberry Fox assured that teams become isolated in a world of digital work and one of the great risks is to encourage innovation.
“The connections between areas, the exchange of ideas and concepts, sharing opportunities, enriching ourselves with the perspective of the other are fundamental aspects to promote innovation and in 100 percent remote schemes this is not impossible, but it is much more difficult,” he said. .