The pre-pandemic model of work that focused around the office after the coronavirus will be a thing of the past. It will be replaced by work in a mixed model – which is flexible in terms of whether employees perform their duties from their own home or from a corporate open space.
A Microsoft study shows that over 70 percent employees want a mixed work model to stay with us after the coronavirus pandemic. 65 percent of respondents, however, miss the time spent with colleagues – that is why 66 percent. employers are considering making changes to their corporate spaces to better adapt to new needs.
The director responsible for customer and employee experiences at Billennium (IT sector), Mateusz Janiec, admitted that before the coronavirus pandemic, his company put a lot of emphasis on work in the office.
- Our policy assumed that remote work was a benefit. In this way, it was possible to work a maximum of one or two days a week, although there were rare occasions when it was possible full-time – he said.
According to Janiec, at the outbreak of the pandemic, Billennium practically switched to remote work overnight, which was possible thanks to the characteristics of the tasks performed by the company. – We communicated using Microsoft Teams, our teams are also often dispersed all over Poland and even the world – said Janiec. He added that almost all the equipment used by employees could be taken home with them to create a workplace for themselves.
In mid-May 2020 (after two months of the first lockdown), the company conducted a survey among its employees, which showed that 83 percent. of the respondents indicated the benefits of remote work, such as saving time on commuting, 50 percent. assessed that at home it can better focus on work, and 44 percent. appreciated the flexible working hours.
Better efficiency – as reported by Janiec – was confirmed by the company’s internal reports and productivity indicators.
As the company’s representative added, BinarApps was not banned from coming to the office during the pandemic, the company only formulated incentives to work remotely.
- First of all, we had in mind that not everyone has the right conditions at home – said Cichowicz. During the period of intensified remote work, we put a lot of emphasis on communication with employees so that they would know what is happening in the company – he emphasized. As he added, the company conducted many activities aimed at supporting employees in the psychological sphere.