[PUBLI] Teleworking, webinars, videoconferences, collaborative work platforms, here is how the anti-Covid measures have definitively changed our perception of work, without forgetting the methods attached to it.

The health crisis has had a considerable impact on the world of work. The individual and collective commitment of employees, health, the change in managerial style and adaptation to new requirements in terms of collaboration are some of these consequences. Faced with the urgency, the need for adjustment has proven to be a real challenge for companies. Other crises have been added to the health crisis: economic, environmental and social.

This crisis has, according to observers, offered the opportunity to stakeholders to question the long-term impacts of an experience like that of the Covid. A questionnaire conducted with 155 teachers, researchers, business leaders, consultants, HRD, etc. nationals of 16 countries, allowed to identify all the contours of the question. Using arguments, these gray eminences deconstructed a series of assertions.

But according to the latter, the humanization of management and the perspective of proximity are the main achievements of the health crisis. Experts go further by indicating that this situation has seen the emergence of new models. Thus concepts such as the organization of work and life at work have been rethought. Another thing, respect for gender and equity between people are now more in line with the bringing together of the various links in society.

During the first lockdown in spring 2020, remote work experienced a meteoric rise in many organizations. Certainly, many organizational problems have been observed such as: loss of password, difficulty in connecting to their company’s VPN, low level of connectivity due to poor network coverage.

However, it is clear that this new organization of work allowed several entities to survive. Those responsible for managing information systems (DSI) have recognized that it is thanks to teleworking that they have been able to verify that the IT architecture, set up in the various companies, could keep up. However, in most companies, the implementation of this new way of working required a period of acclimatization of at least a week. Once this stage has passed, most systems have reacted effectively to numerous requests from staff, both internal and external.
The upstream sizing of IT infrastructures can justify the ease with which systems have adapted to the new situation. Areas such as accounting, purchasing, events, hospitality or the sales department have greatly benefited from the facilities offered by teleworking to remain in business despite the confinement. In addition, the fact that the average use of big data infrastructures is around 30 to 40% has helped to absorb the load.

In each crisis, you have to know how to draw lessons in order to adapt them to everyday difficulties. ” The first lesson we learned from this crisis was to get man to stop believing that he is the sole master of the universe to the point of having absolute control over it ” , says a participant in the study mentioned above. Certainly, there will be enlightened minds to think that this is only an epiphenomenon, but it is false.

Occupational health, safety and even hygienic conditions have seen an improvement never seen before. In addition to the ventilation of the offices, the reception services have been reorganized in such a way as to reduce, as much as possible, the opportunities for contact between users and staff. In order to prevent the spread of the virus and better protect the population, wearing personal protective equipment has become a requirement for many social categories. Supplies in protective equipment at RS Components as with other suppliers, it was possible to order masks, protective gloves, visors, protective suits and shoes, etc.
Another consequence of the crisis is that managerial strategies have been reconfigured in order to adapt them to a situation that is both unprecedented and abnormal.

We have thus seen the emergence of new concepts such as videoconferences, webinars, teleworking or even the accelerated computerization of organizational processes. Finally, the strategic, marketing, technological and human orientations have been redefined so that their implementation makes it possible to relaunch the economic growth of companies.

Given the inability of large countries to curb this crisis, the evidence of equality for all, in the face of death, has never been so noticeable. From now on, an emphasis must be placed on notions such as the sharing of wealth or power, the legitimacy of leaders and even respect for gender. This also supposes a new vision of the company oriented towards more partnership and collaboration between the different actors. The objective pursued in this perspective is nothing less than to preserve the human species in its nature and diversity.
From a managerial and organizational standpoint, the turn taken by the health crisis is remarkable for its singularity. The containment of nearly 3 billion people has caused the economic system to stagnate. Consequently, a lasting marking of management methods is to be expected. Long remained underexploited, human valor is making a dazzling breakthrough under the cover of the health crisis. Digital innovation and virtuosity are its main foundations, which allow the development of collaborative digital tools.

The new managerial approach is therefore intended to be more attentive to the individual skills of agents. Solidarity between peers, valuing empathy and strengthening resilience are the main challenges on which business executives will be judged after the coronavirus health crisis. In addition, the concepts of corporate social responsibility and quality of life at work will take on more meaning from now on. They will therefore have to be translated into reality as part of the implementation of local management with a more human face.