Published on 13 November 2023
The Observatory of the New Normal at Work, headed by a researcher at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School, has published its third white paper. This year's study underlines the erosion of community in companies. This detachment is being fueled by the use of digital tools to the detriment of oral communication, and by the uneven implementation of teleworking.
Teleworking remains the focus of concerns over the "new normal" in the workplace, not least because its implementation varies from one company to another, but also between people within the same organization.
The “new normal at work” encompasses all the changes in the professional world linked to the integration of digital and collaborative tools, accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis. Since 2022, the Observatoire du New Normal au Travail (Observatory of the New Normal at Work) has been characterizing and reporting on these changes while proposing support solutions for companies. For its third edition, the study continues to report on annual trends in recurring themes, while examining new questions arising from previous findings.
“Last year, we saw a shift from the notion of ‘team’ to that of ‘tribe’. This year, we therefore wanted to explore the theme of ‘community’ and asked the members of the Observatory: ‘How would you define a colleague today?'” explains Aurélie Dudézert, Professor of Management at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School and co-founder of the Observatory, along with Florence Laval, a researcher at IAE Poitiers.
Four main themes emerged during the course of the discussions: community in the workplace, the company and flexibility, management methods, and work from the perspective of the tools used. These themes confirm a striking development that occurred between 2022 and 2023: the emergence of a profound weariness in response to the ongoing changes. “We observed a pronounced disenchantment which did not, as in the previous year, relate to doubts and disappointments about the proposed ways of working, but rather about what companies themselves actually represent,” analyzes Aurélie Dudézert.
In 2022, members of the Observatory were still expressing dissatisfaction with work organization methods, marked by underlying issues linked to the mastery of technological tools and their robustness. In 2023, these issues were swept aside by a tendency to strongly question the idea of “working together”, with individuals distancing themselves from the notion of community embodied by the company, and management lacking the tools to counteract this.
One of the reasons for this repudiation of “working together” is the difficulty of communicating in the age of the new normal. The paradigm shift dictated by the arrival of the COVID-19 crisis precipitated the adoption of digital tools. Firstly, interactions by electronic means are often a source of misunderstanding and discomfort. Secondly, these interactions have taken precedence over oral dialog, fostering a production-oriented attitude to work, without any “time-wasting” contact with colleagues. “Except that this socialization is essential for collective action!” explains Aurélie Dudézert.
However, the loss of collective bonds is the result of a global phenomenon that originated well before the COVID-19 crisis. “This crisis was a traumatic experience for the majority of the population, but even before that, people were already seriously questioning the meaning of work“, says the researcher. She does not take this to mean disengagement or a lack of motivation: “Individuals are committed to their tasks but no longer care about the collective vision or what they bring to the company. There’s no longer any attachment to the organization.”
However, while the notion of community in the professional world has waned, the emotional dimension has intensified. “People pull together, but only work with colleagues they like.”
Teleworking, and its role in the erosion of community, is invariably a source of controversy concerning the new normal. In addition to the usual problems of communication and understanding, teleworking is now the source of a growing sense of inequity and even injustice, due its highly variable implementation from one company to another, from one business to another, and even from one contract to another.
Tensions naturally arise in factories over the imbalances between the members of management teams who are allowed to telework and the workers who are not. This observation applies not only to industry, but also to the banking sector, for example. “Many people are unable to telework,” says Aurélie Dudézert. “Sometimes this is due to the nature of their activity, and sometimes it is due to their personal living conditions.”
The workers who are able to telework have their own problems to contend with, such as the addition of a sometimes unsuspected mental burden. For example, people who permanently work on site are likely to place greater demands on staff who are authorized to telework but who are more assiduous than others in visiting the site, even if there is no hierarchical link between them. Another example that affects the feeling of community is the reduction in workspace to compensate for a reduced presence on site. The sale of premises generally leads to “flex office” solutions, which further exacerbate the employees’ feeling of no longer “belonging” to their company.
Despite the complexity of implementing telecommuting, a return to permanent on-site working seems neither conceivable nor relevant. In light of these conclusions, the Observatoire du New Normal au Travail has drawn up a set of recommendations focusing primarily on the reconciliation of on-site and remote working. The researchers and their community also agree on the importance of senior management and human resources getting to grips with this issue. “In the new normal, everything has changed: space, time, relationships… It is a paradigm shift as strong as Taylorism, and support for that took a great deal of time to implement,” explains Aurélie Dudézert.
On the question of community, despite a rather gloomy picture, most individuals are satisfied and make the most of the situation. Engaging employees in powerful, high-stakes issues, such as the environment, could help to breathe new life into the notion of community and associate the company with something other than its productive role. “But this also has to be meaningful in relation to the organization’s activity,” warns the researcher.
The lessons learned this year have encouraged the two founders of the Observatory in their efforts to make this a permanent scheme. “The people interviewed feel a great sense of relief at being together and sharing what they’re going through, which generally counterbalances a great feeling of solitude and difficulty in talking about all these issues within their organization. That’s why we need to maintain this reflection on work practices, collaboration and management in organizations,” stresses Aurélie Dudézert.
The Observatory consists of around twenty people of all ages, both men and women, employees and managers, from private and public organizations in France, of varying sizes and locations. These people are all involved in digital transformation, working in support or technical functions, and some are even involved in units created within their company in order to redesign working methods and ensure optimal adaptation to these changes. Aurélie Dudézert nevertheless acknowledges the underrepresentation of “blue-collar” workers in this sample.
The Observatory’s work is based on qualitative methods and notably the analysis of group interviews. Each year, discussions are initiated by a specific question on which members of the Observatory share their experience and situations either observed or experienced. The data is subject to statistical or textual analysis.
This year, the Observatoire du New Normal au Travail expanded its range of services to include a website providing access to an online monitoring space, a series of podcasts, and a discussion forum for communicating with members. “The idea is for people from outside the observatory to also share their experiences,” hopes Aurélie Dudézert. A mediator assists the researcher and her co-founder, Florence Laval, with the management of these distribution media and the coordination of the community.
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