Remote Work After COVID: What Comes Next?
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Whether you work in HR, head up an IT department or manage a team, the forced large-scale rollout of remote work is a key phenomenon in the workplace. A (r)evolution that has given rise to new practices and additional expectations among employees. So what does the future hold for remote work?
The extract from our infographic below sets out the key questions:
Remote Work: A Sudden, Massive Surge Driven by COVID-19
While remote work has been around since (at least) high-speed internet arrived in French homes (in other words, the mid-2000s), only a small number of French employees were benefiting from it.
In November 2019, the DARES put the share of French employees working remotely at 7.2%, a large proportion of them “occasionally”.
Barely six months later, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 30% of French employees had shifted to remote work (source: Odoxa, April 2020). An enormous shift, in just a few weeks.
One figure illustrates just how sudden and massive it was: the explosion in the number of downloads of video conferencing apps in France (weekly comparison between the second week of March 2020 vs. 2019)
Zoom: 22 times more downloads than in 2019 over the same period.
Teams: 16 times more downloads than in 2019 over the same period.
Hangout: 23 times more downloads than in 2019 over the same period.
In total, over that week, App Annie counted 62 million downloads of business apps, largely video conferencing ones (i.e. +90% compared with 2019 over the same period).
Read also: [Remote Work] How to stay motivated every day?
A Work Model Quickly Adopted (and Already Demanded) by Employees
After just a few days of lockdown, a Deskeo survey showed that 76% of French workers forced into remote work already missed their offices.
The reason: the combination of “lockdown + remote work”, which a significant share of employees found very hard going. Cramped living conditions, no way to find quiet or privacy, a sense of isolation, a lack of equipment designed for remote work, and so on.
However, after a few weeks of remote work, the general outlook changed significantly.
After 4 weeks of lockdown, several studies showed that the remote work experience was now widely appreciated:
- 71% of people who had never worked from home before the health crisis now say they want to work remotely at least one day a week in the future (Colliers International, 15/04/2020)
- 79% of employees who want to work remotely more after lockdown are even willing to give up their dedicated desk for the privilege (Deskeo, 14/04/2020)
But Are French Companies Ready to Change?
So far, only employees have answered the question. Employers are, quite legitimately, still thinking it over; it is still too early for them to take a position.
When they are given the floor, employees suggest that they find it hard to believe in a “remote work revolution”.
Here is what they think of their employer's attitude towards remote work:
- Generally in favour (51%),
- Fully in favour (4%)
- Generally against (36%),
- Fully against (8%)
- Don't know (1%)
Here is what they think of the potential barriers to the growth of remote work in their company:
- presenteeism culture (39%),
- remote work being incompatible with my job (38%)
- lack of trust (17%),
- refusal for no genuinely valid reason (26%)
From our perspective, here are the key questions of this moment:
1/ Will there be a “before” and an “after” COVID-19 for remote work?
2/ How will the story of remote work be written in France?
3/ How much do these new employee aspirations matter from an employee experience point of view?
Leaders and managers of public and private organizations, along with HR and IT department heads, will quickly need to address these questions.
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Would you like to find out more about how remote working practices have changed as a result of COVID-19? Download our full infographic:
Download the Infographic
Access the full infographic to find out more about the remote work boom triggered by lockdown, and discover what employees and employers think of this new way of working.
At Talkspirit, publisher of THE all-in-one communication and collaboration platform that makes teams' day-to-day work easier, 100% Made in France, we have over 20 years of experience in remote work and changing ways of working. Our experts are ready to answer your questions and to support you as ways of working evolve in your company / institution / association: Contact us
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Authors: Benoît Renoul, Hugo Bessaguet
