The pandemic accelerated the need for companies to craft a new work organization that, today, is progressively becoming the norm: indeed, a recent study carried out by Microsoft reveals that almost three quarters of employees around the world would like to maintain flexible work options. In this new context of hybrid and remote work, we need to rethink the concepts of collaboration and teamwork. How can we “work together” when we are no longer in the same physical space? What are the respective challenges for employees and managers? We take stock.

Preserving employees’ well-being

Working remotely can have an extremely negative impact on employees’ mental well-being due to a bigger workload, feelings of isolation, poor working conditions at home, constant electronic notifications, a loss of social contact… When companies adopt a hybrid framework, they can mitigate psychosocial risks for employees by preserving their right to disconnect and sustaining a balance between their personal and professional lives.

Maintaining team spirit

Encouraging teamwork must therefore remain companies’ predominant concern. A study on teleworking published in February 2022 by Malakoff Humanis indicates that 46% of teleworkers noted a deterioration in the quality of their relationships with colleagues. Thus, although one of the main challenges of the hybrid model is maintaining human contact, it also opens up the opportunity to promote a new kind of management that establishes:

1. A clear framework for collaboration: specific time slots to connect with managers, to send emails, to share work, priority given to phone calls rather than long e-mails, shorter meetings…
2. Team-building events to complement or replace moments of informal face-to-face interactions such as coffee breaks and lunches.
3. A more tailored approach to talent management: coaching for younger or new recruits, less top-down management for autonomous team members, more opportunities for employees to self-manage…

The challenge is significant: companies must prioritize the collective to maintain team cohesion… while also adopting a tailored approach to meet employees’ individual needs.

Efficient tools and high connectivity

Finally, to fully embrace this new model of work, businesses and teams must master collaborative and technological tools. The challenge here is to create a “digital workplace”: a space that connects our physical and virtual workspaces. Google Suite, Slack, Dropbox, Microsoft Teams, fivedays…: these solutions help teams become more productive, support new forms of hybrid collaboration, and counterbalance the latter’s negative effects. The right tools can, for example, limit “Zoom fatigue” and help optimize team meetings [INSERER LIEN VERSARTICLE 1].

Telework and hybrid models are driving employees and managers to rethink collaboration. In this environment, prioritizing individual well-being, maintaining group cohesion, and leveraging technological advances are the keys to promoting amore positive and sustainable teamwork dynamic.

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