Editorial | 2-minute read
Frédéric Duponchel
Managing partner, Accuracy
Thirty per cent of jobs are ‘remote-workable’.
That is the conclusion of a French study led by the Ministry of Labour during the first lockdown, an unprecedented period during which the use of remote working became the norm overnight for many sectors of activity.
One year on from the birth of this revolution, and thanks to the feedback of over 450 colleagues, I would like to share with you some invaluable lessons learned.
A setting conducive to concentration
Despite a certain feeling of distrust and thanks to our extraordinary capacity to adapt, remote working has proved itself. It facilitates, when the home allows it, a setting that favours the concentration necessary to perform certain tasks like drafting reports, for example. It also proves to be efficient in the following concrete cases: short interactions with colleagues; presentations of simple documents; and meetings with a limited number of participants, well-prepared content and a predictable flow.
An obstacle to learning and creativity
Remote working imposes a certain distance, however, no matter what technological tools are chosen or how frequently they are used. This distance slows down the smooth running of a quality learning process. Indeed, such a process can only take place in direct contact with the realities of the job. The apprentice has to be able to observe, question and understand best practices to be able to get to grips with them. Remote working also diminishes creativity by depriving us of the precious interactions that take place outside of the nitty-gritty of the job. It is these interactions that make up the life of an office, a team, a company. An unexpected comment here, a nod or shake of the head there, an encouraging look … so many exchanges that make it possible to call something into question or to be audacious and which allow us to innovate together.
Group erosion
Ultimately, if a company is understood as simply the sum of its parts – or rather the sum of isolated individuals – it is meaningless. Remote working deprives us of this key aspect of the group, of this shared project nourished every day by our interactions, our agreements and disagreements: conviviality, giving us a sense of belonging and being useful.
The food for thought on this topic is vast and, as the health crisis continues to affect us and obliges us to adapt once more, I invite you to share with us your feelings on this new way of working.