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23 July 2024
For the second year running, Arctus publishes its Hybrid & Augmented Work Observatory.
The study has two main objectives: to measure how organizations are adapting to the hybridization of work, and to identify the signals that will drive change in companies over the next few years.
To enrich these results, a number of experts were invited to take part in webinars, combining the findings of the New Normal of Work Observatory, an illustration of the hybridization of work at Kaliop, an ESN with innovative practices, and some ideas from futurist Frédéric Josué.
Here are some lessons learned from the field and from our experts.
By 2024, the number of teleworkers will be on the rise, with more people declaring that they telework at least one day a week.
For Aurélie Dudézert, of the Observatoire du New Normal au Travail, the framework for teleworking is uncleareven when telecommuting agreements are negotiated. There's always the question of how to really work remotely. This comment reminds us that many managers have transposed their collaboration habits without thinking about reviewing them.
A number of companies, including Kaliop, have updated the teleworking charter introduced during the pandemic. The charter has been reviewed and rewritten in a collaborative manner, with the aim of both improving quality of life for employees and enabling the company to reap the benefits.
There's no going back on telecommuting, but it's important to clarify and redefine work interactions in this hybrid setting.
If the loss of team cohesion is the first risk associated with hybrid working, the limitation of spontaneous interactions is next, followed by the difficulty of integrating new arrivals, according to the results of the hybrid work Observatory.
Proof of the importance of face-to-face contact and the need for IRL (In Real Life) interaction, at Kaliop we come to you for 3 months at least 4 days a week to immerse ourself in the company's culture and meet all coworkers, before eventually working remotely on a more frequent basis. This is further confirmation, if any were needed, that what can be exchanged and shared in the office “in person” can never be transmitted remotely. Telecommuting is a sine qua non for many employees, especially young people. New recruits should make sure that the companies they are planning to join have an organized approach to hybrid working.
Looking to the future, Frédéric Josué points to theadvent of ultra-high-speed technologies such as 6G and spatial computing, which will bring physical and virtual spaces together through augmented reality (without the need for helmets).
The company and its spaces will be projected into a place in which the employee will be immersed. The latter will feel fully engaged in this collaborative workspace, with what we call the consensual suspension of disbelief.
Respondents to the observatory are generally satisfied with the technical working conditions offered by their employer (83% satisfied or very satisfied), use, in descending order, videoconferencing solutions, collaborative workspaces and document management tools, ex aequo followed by the intranet.
At Kaliop, we ensure that working conditions at home are optimized : 2 screens for developers and one screen for other populations are provided. Headsets are also provided, supplemented by a monthly contribution towards expenses. Finally, office workplaces have been redesigned to take account of the switch to flex office without reducing the number of workplaces, and to take account of the fact that telecommuting continues, notably with customers, which justifiesthe redesign of offices to allow individual interaction with the outside world (phone box) or several people working together on collective projects.
Looking to the future, Frédéric Josué points to theadvent of ultra-high-speed technologies such as 6G and spatial computing, which will bring physical and virtual spaces together through augmented reality (without the need for helmets).
The company and its spaces will be projected into a place in which the employee will be immersed. The latter will feel fully engaged in this collaborative workspace, with what we call the consensual suspension of disbelief.
Generative AI brings a new dimension to hybrid working
The enrichment of the employee's toolbox is deployed first with the more systematic use of the extended search engine (RAG), followed by translation, thenoffice assistant (e.g. Copilot) and finally text, image and video production.
asily accessible, generative AI solutions are used by 70% of respondents , while only 30% of companies report in-house use. This shadow IT indicates that employees want a solution to their productivity problems. Employees also fear the impact of this technology on their work, and we can see that CEOs are slow to reflect on its impact on work says Aurélie Dudézert.
Finally, while these tools encourage the deployment of employee autonomy and could lead to a possible increase in productivity, they are likely to come at a significant cost to companies, in terms of training, fixed costs , andenvironmental impact points out Frédéric Josué.
As we can see, new challenges lie ahead for companies , whether in terms of management, training or, more broadly, new ways of thinking about work, because technology is profoundly changing the economic system.It's up to us to be creative, demanding and ambitious, because in these times of transformation, opportunities are legion.
Would you like to discover all the figures and trends from the 2024 Hybrid & Augmented Work Observatory? Download the full report now.
Find out more about the experts interviewed:
Founder of Arctus, Partner
Founder and director of Arctus, Isabelle is also an author and speaker. Since 2007, she has shared her perspective and sheds light on the internal transformations that organizations are going through through studies and observatories such as the Hybrid Work and Digital Management Observatory, the Intranet & Digital Working Observatory or the creativity. She is also an administrator and an active member of AFCI, the French Association of Internal Communication Professionals.
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