Home office is approved by 80% of business managers in the country

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic situation due to the new coronavirus in March, companies from all sectors have had to adapt their work dynamics to social isolation measures. They adopted remote work, which was not a reality for 51% of Brazilian companies until then. After the initial shock, 80% of managers said they liked the new way of working, according to research by ISE Business School. "Changes that would occur in five or ten years are already happening," said Cesar Bullara, director and professor in ise's people management department. According to him, the new reality is here to stay. Of the companies that have not yet adopted the home office, 65% are family control and national capital. The other 35% are multinational. In the view of Amelia Caetano, a consultant specialized in remote work at the Portable Work Institute, multinationals were already better prepared, mainly from a technological point of view, for this reality, while national companies had invested little in this sense. For her, unexpected events, such as coronavirus, have this ability to "anticipate" the future. According to Adriana Santana, director of human resources at the national nutrition company Elanco for Brazil and the Southern Cone, social isolation has required constant adaptation. "We were already working more flexibly in the company, but that's a challenge, because now the four of them are at home," said she, who is married and has two children, ages 9 and 10. To organize family and professional life in the same space, Adriana said it was necessary to set barriers. "It was difficult but I blocked a few hours of the day for moments with them. For my children, it was confusing to suddenly have parents at home and, at the same time, not have our full attention." Despite this type of difficulty, the research showed that almost 90% of managers considered that remote work helped improve family relationships. According to data from ISE Business School, flexibility was pointed out as one of the most developed competencies in this period - it was cited by 81% of respondents. The ability is only behind resilience, the ability to overcome difficulties, mentioned by 82%. Other characteristics mentioned were self-discipline and trust, in addition to the construction of a more frank relationship between bosses and teams. For remote work specialist Amelia Caetano, managers need to prepare to keep up with tasks and deliveries, not the amount of hours worked. "Many leaders have found themselves in this new situation and are seeing that it works," he said. Renato Camargo, leader of payment company Recarga Pay in the country, sees some difficulties in remote work. For him, not having the collaborators around makes the job difficult. In the opinion of the executive, the sensitive moment requires a new attitude of the leaders. "We need to take more care of the management of the behavior and mental health of employees, reducing the concerns with goals." According to the survey, 60% of respondents said the home office helped improve efficiency and productivity. Although the data indicate a positive trend, Amelia stressed that people are not at their best stage of productivity, because the unpredictability of the pandemic brings anguish and emotional difficulty. These factors were pointed out as "high" and "very high" of people heard by ISE. According to Elanco's HR Director, companies should be concerned about ensuring that employees find a balance in the home office. "At home, the tendency is to stay, work harder. People can't do that. And the example comes from leadership," said Camargo, of Recarga Pay. On the adherence to remote work by post-pandemic managers, Natalia de Castro, professor of people management at ISE, said the current circumstance should change the labor market. "When interpreting the survey data, we have to keep in mind that it is a reality still in progress. It's not something we've been through. We're looking at the future a little bit," he explained.