Plans to all return to work from the office are real and happening this time. Although many of our people were already working hybrid, 1st of April officially marks the start of our Hybrid Work Model and, as we speak, more people have already come back to their office desk, safely.

Of course different countries will require different timing, but we plan to spread the hybrid model within our entire organisation soon, aiming at getting back to all working together on premise, sharing knowledge and socialise, to feel part of a team and a joint story.

Truth is, the last months of 2021 were filled with intentions of bringing our people back to the office at the beginning of the new year. Against previsions, the omicron variant and its severe impact – higher degree of contagiousness resulted in more people getting ill, more frequently than before – hit hard and the idea of returning to headquarters was necessarily pushed back.

However, managing the latest wave of Covid-19 with fewer people in the office and others working fully remote was yet again a challenge we emerged stronger and more hopeful from, equipped with newer insights on how to respond and keep our people safe while in-office, in case further unexpected events occur. Now that the state of emergency has come to an end along with the remote work emergency plan, we expect that the hybrid model will be increasingly adopted.

Today, our model dynamically integrates on-site and remote working activities.

Certainly, our daily reality will still increasingly benefit from virtual collaboration tools to secure seamless virtual connectivity among people and teams across all types of environments. But, human interaction will be a rising priority we cannot do without, as we believe it to be fundamental to navigate uncertainty and defeat confusion, tension and unpredictability. Also, beyond emergency, remote working offered an opportunity to take a step forward in terms of work-life balance, which enhanced, and we firmly agree on its invaluable importance.

We designed a model that gives our people the possibility to have it all; it allows to work in a flexible way on a voluntary basis, it favours work-life balance and guarantees organised people turnover that results in more safety, while preserving socialisation. Our hybrid model leverages on greater attention to our people, responsibility, mutual trust and flexibility.

Indeed, we renovated our headquarter offices to foster easy collaboration and encourage interpersonal exchange, but still keeping fair distances, this way complying with health and safety regulations and reassuring our people that they are safe.

This model we are currently implementing is part of a different reasoning we adopted, as far as the workplace is concerned. We understand that the business changed completely and how people live the workplace, how they intend the concept of working, how they relate with colleagues, it has all transformed just as well.

In Objectway we see transformation as an opportunity, that’s why we embraced ongoing flexibility to reshape the future of work. This never normal scenario is daily intensively training our capability to react quickly and respond to whatever change, whenever. As people are coming back to the office, we remain vigilant, we aim at monitoring the situation, adjust to changing conditions and manage risk. And after all, who said these changes could improve the way of working long-term.

At the end of the day, digitalisation has changed both space and time. It has blurred those that once were strictly dividing lines between workspace and your own house, between physical and digital space. Since these changes are not going to fade, let’s take the good from them. Our purpose is to empower our people with what we can call “digitality”, the capability to be digital and agile. Committed together we can navigate the current working scenario and work our way towards the future.