The business world of tomorrow.... companies seeking a new meaning  

The health crisis has made workers feel a strong need for meaning. It is a long-standing observation and a consequence of the instability that the business world has been experiencing for several years. As Myriam El Khomri points out, “a young person entering the labour market in 2021 will change employers, jobs and status 10 times on average. And a child will grow up to have a job that does not even exist today”. She added: “People find it difficult to look into the future. Therefore, the question of meaning is of paramount importance. It was rekindled during this crisis with the creation of a hierarchy of jobs, between those considered essential and those classified as non-essential”. All the speakers emphasised the need for management to evolve towards a more participatory practice that is based on trust. “A real challenge for companies, and in particular SMEs, according to Philippe Lamb, which, depending on the professional sector, conceals a great disparity in approach”. “This period of widespread remote working has forced us to move from a mode of control to a mode of trust on the one hand, and from control of presence to control of deliverables on the other hand”, says Claudia Noth. For some employees, this change has led them to become too involved in their work, at the risk of putting themselves in pain. “Measuring workloads remotely is not easy. Some people even put themselves under pressure”, says Claudia Noth. Middle management played a key role during this period. While studies carried out before the advent of Covid showed that absenteeism was on the rise and that there was a feeling that there was no more room for manoeuvre, and recent analyses show that middle management has found itself enhanced by the role of support and facilitator that it has assumed during this crisis, despite the excessive workloads.

Companies are places for socialisation. With remote working, recreating a team is becoming a major challenge. “We need to invent common listening spaces, find key moments to meet, exchange experiences with those who have been on the front line and those who have worked from home”, explains Myriam El Khomri. “Jobs have been split up into smaller ones and recreating cohesion in companies is crucial”, she continues. And Claudia Noth adds: “We can organise reflection meetings on unifying projects, for example, during in-person sessions”. Current surveys of Swiss companies show that work organisation is undergoing a hybridisation process that combines on-site and remote working. According to Myriam El Khomri, “we face several challenges: what is the right balance between on-site and remote working? How can we support this work hybridisation? What will be the impact on the management culture and how can it be changed? How should working time and daily rest be organised in this new context?”

This crisis has brought to light a problem of employment opportunities for some employees and raised the issue of career change. According to Myriam El Khomri, “the training received by employees throughout their working lives is the key issue. Companies have a duty to ensure that their employees are employable”. “It is a co-responsibility between the employer and the employee”, says Claudia Noth, adding: “With the development of flexible work, this crisis has unveiled skills that were not thought possible, especially in terms of self-leadership”. Myriam El Khomri concludes: “Now is the time to facilitate career changes. The sectors that are in demand and those that are experiencing difficulties need to be mapped in order to build bridges between companies and thus increase employees' marketability”.

According to Philippe Lamb, the business world will become even more interconnected and people will work more in networks. Claudia Noth insists on the shift from a logic of performance to a logic of contribution where well-being at work takes centre stage. Finally, and according to Myriam El Khomri, the business world of tomorrow will no longer be the world of yesterday... reminding us that, at a time when health and life have been given top priority, the human dimension still remains the most important challenge for companies.