Focus on the impact of the pandemic on the way of working

As we are coming back to the office under a hybrid working model, one of our greatest challenges will be to maintain the good things we acquired during the pandemic, while we recover the things we lost when we stop working face-to-face.

Everyone had different experiences with the pandemic, and I see some of my team members eager to come back while others would like to keep working from home. However, there is a company’s culture, a work style and the team connection that is not easy to acquire or maintain, in a remote scenario.

Also, I am convinced that there is a lot of knowledge that each of us acquires from day-to-day interactions, and from observing others do their jobs. All of this is easier when we are all together at the office.

So, how do we find a balance that allows us to stay connected as a team, and with other members of the company while having the flexibility of the remote work? I believe that to find this balance, everyone will need to make some compromises and be flexible.

In fact, flexibility will allow us to experiment, adjust and hopefully get the best of the remote and in-person work. However, what we have also realised is that the labour legislation in some Latin American countries in which we operate does not regulate a hybrid working model. During the pandemic, many countries in the region adopted special legislation to regulate the remote work. The pandemic accelerated the issuing of several regulations in this matter. However, the current existing regulation is too rigid to allow the flexibility that a hybrid working model requires. In some cases, it only regulates remote or in-person work, not allowing a combination of both. In others, the legislation set forth requirements that are not easy to comply with in a flexible hybrid setup.

As many companies are implementing a hybrid working model, we should expect that this trend will promote the issuing of new regulation that will give employers the flexibility to negotiate with their employees a work scheme of their preference, while protecting the rights of the employees.