"Telecommuting is an opportunity to hire people, not for how they are, but for how they perform. It is an opportunity to hire more women," said Las Heras. Likewise, work spaces will have to adapt to the new needs: "The days we go to the office are for generating relationships, immersing ourselves in the culture and co-creating," said the academic who has developed a study on telework during the months of the pandemic at IESE's International Center for work and Family.
For her part, Antonia Casado, Director of Human Resources and Organization at Fundae, stressed the importance of training employees in technological tools: " training is a core topic. In public sector companies there is no experience in teleworking, as there is a great hierarchical dependence", she pointed out.
his change must be gradual and requires a change of mentality, as Pilar Rojas, senior leader of Repsol, recalled: "Telework is not a right, but responds to the nature of work". Thus, according to Rojas, the business must have a value proposal for each employee subject ; and the solution is based on self-management.
FLEXIBILITY TO RETAIN TALENT
However, it is not a new reality, as there were many companies that already practiced it, as is the case of Eusebi Llensa, CEO of the technology company Outvise. Llensa highlighted remote work as a competitive advantage for attracting talent: "If we don't offer candidates flexibility, we will lose a lot of talent. In addition, telecommuting broadens my range of possibilities as an employer. If I need someone who speaks German, I can hire someone directly from Germany.
In the roundtable, moderated by Javier Arellano, academic director of the Master in Human Resources and Digitalization at the University of Navarra, the speakers agreed that in addition to a transformation of mentality, a new management style must be adopted. "Measuring objectives is easy in transactional jobs, but in creative jobs, measuring productivity is more difficult," said Llensa, who clarified that productivity must include creativity, value proposal and the contribution of each employee.
"If not, we will end up with digital presentialism," said Rojas, who also contributed as core topic ingredients for this new management model : autonomy, trust and responsibility. "We will have to think of different ways of measuring employee performance," said Las Heras, proposing an orderly transition that encourages staff autonomy.
