Interview with : Pierre Sangrones, Senior HR Manager, AXA

How has the widespread use of teleworking worked out for your company?

Pierre Sangrones - I've been working in human resources at AXA for three years, at Brussels. The HR department management committee is made up of a small cross-functional team, which also manages certain transformation projects. AXA has been a forerunner in Belgium when it comes to teleworking for several years now. It was one of the first companies to introduce two days of teleworking per week for the majority of employees, and this has been the case since 2017 following a transformation concerning new ways of working launched in 2015. Of course, some functions can only be performed on site, and there are special arrangements, but when Covid arrived, it was quite simple for us to transform ourselves into a full home office, because the infrastructure was already in place.

Even if teleworking was already part of the corporate culture, its sudden generalisation must have posed new challenges...

Pierre Sangrones - It was indeed a special situation, life came to a standstill at various levels, so it was not "usual" teleworking. Employees have had to reorganise their lives, some having to look after their children during the day and work in the evening. For many, this was quite complicated, particularly the fact of being deprived of contact and interaction. Perhaps the biggest challenge was loss of everything informal.

We felt that employees needed to see their colleagues and that they missed the "surprise" interactions, at the coffee machine for example.

How has this evolved over the months?

Pierre Sangrones - We were able to operate because we had the basic infrastructure, and at the start the teams were enthusiastic about the idea of being totally remote. But over time, they missed not being able to return to the site. Over the long term, we felt that the employees had need to see their colleaguesthat surprise" interactionsFor example, at the coffee machine. We carried out a number of in-house surveys, including three mood checks between April and September to get a better idea of how our employees were feeling. During the first lockdown, the state of mind was fairly positive. positive. We also wanted to know if they felt connected to their team, and between April and September there was a drop of 10 % on this point, from 84 % to 74 %. This is still a good result, but it shows that employees were beginning to lose touch. We have therefore launched a number of initiatives to bringing informality back into employee relations.

For example, in what ways?

Pierre Sangrones - In particular, we took advantage of the fact that we were sending out a health pack - with masks, gel, etc. - to include a "special action". - to include a "special action", each with the name of a member of staff whom the recipient was asked to call, and with whom he or she could communicate. share a virtual coffeeWe also put a lot of emphasis on management, asking managers to take time out to make sure their teams were feeling good. We tried to reduce the workload a little on the less essential points. We can also count on our wellness servicewho was very active, available to deal with many employees' questions and provide them with psychological support.

Have you also noticed an impact on setting up the home office, a problem linked to the confusion between personal and professional spaces?

Pierre Sangrones - The break between private and professional life no longer exists. The rituals that used to allow you to disconnect when you got home after a day at the office have disappeared. The office is always at homeAnd then there are the travel restrictions linked to the crisis. We can see in some companies that employees are increasingly working in shifts, and are no longer turning off their computers. Disconnection mechanisms need to be put in place.

How does this work from a managerial point of view?

Pierre Sangrones - This is another dimension of Axa's transformation: we're moving away from the 'command and control' approach of the expert manager towards a 'hands-on' approach. more modern managementwith a leader who ensures employee autonomy, recognition and resilience. give employees a framework of trust. It doesn't happen overnight, but it's the culture we've been embracing for some time now.

Do you feel that the company needs to be embodied, with a physical office?

Pierre Sangrones - The office involves a number of rituals in everyday life, such as talking about the weekend on Mondays, sharing lunch or a coffee break... It's also about a rich meeting place. For example, Axa pays a great deal of attention to diversity, at all levels: religious, ethnic, generational and so on. The office then becomes a place where you can meet different profiles, something that can be lacking when you're cooped up at home.

How can our relationship with the office evolve?

Pierre Sangrones - We need to move away from the traditional "9am-5pm" model towards one that offers greater flexibility. We also need to rethink the meaning of "why go to the office".. It's about responding to a specific activity, to a need, and not just about presenteeism. So you need to find the right balance between working remotely and working on site.

Knowing how to be human with a digital touch, and vice versa

Do you think that teleworking is driving employees away from major cities?

Pierre Sangrones - Yes, we've also seen this phenomenon in Belgium, a tendency to leave the cities after the initial confinement to go and live in greener surroundings, with more space. Employees feel that the last few months have shown that teleworking is viable, and that we are not going to go back to the old way of doing things. As a result, they feel that they don't necessarily have to live in the same town as their office. It may also be an opportunity to repopulate areas that have been somewhat neglected, as long as all the technology is in place.

What will be left of this experience once the crisis is over? Can the office disappear?

Pierre Sangrones - I think we're heading for a hybrid model. The manager must expect to have part of his team on site, another at home, and teams that meet for a more or less formal activity, a brainstorming session, a co-creation workshop, etc. Employees will go to the site with a precise reason, a sense of purpose, and not just for the sake of it. be present. Human and interpersonal skills are also going to play a much bigger role in business in the future. It will be more important than ever to know how to be human with a digital touch, and vice versa.