Hybrid workweek featured as part of return to work in the new normal

The hybrid work week, with two or three days of teleworking, is presented as one of the employment trends of the new normal after the pandemic, according to several experts agreed on Monday during their intervention at the International Conference of the World Employment Confederation (WEC ), organized in Madrid by the Association of Employment Agencies and Temporary Employment Companies (Asempleo), its Spanish counterpart.

Teleworking appears as an opportunity for both companies and employees, although it will require changes in current work structures and greater preparation of the next generations, as pointed out by digital transformation expert Peter Hinssen.

Hinssen recommended accepting change with agility, innovation, creativity and an open mind.

The global head of Research at JLL Work Dynamics, Marie Puybarand, insisted that the return to work will be hybrid and invited companies to consider the work week with two or three days of  telework , since 60% of employees are willing to adopt this measure.

Like Puybarand, LinkedIn’s Director of Search and Staffing for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Adam Hawkins, highlighted the advantages of teleworking to attract new talent, and stressed that this modality requires respecting the rights of the worker to decide from where and when you want to work.

The other theme that has focused the opening of this conference, which will last until Wednesday, is the flight of professionals and the “war for talent” between companies, an expression used by the president of WEC, Bettina Schaller.

Schaller opted to develop a national strategy that adapts the educational system to the demand of companies and the skills that the future labor market will demand.

For her part, the professor of Social Sciences at the University of Nebrija, Jesica Bayón, pointed out that the companies are responsible for this drain of talent, since they are not managing the qualities of their employees well.

This also causes frustration among workers, as noted by the professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Santos Ruega, for whom in Spain there are 27% of employees overqualified for their position.