How are managers managing the extension of teleworking since March 2020?

What are the impacts of the 2020 health crisis on managers’ missions and their working conditions? A vast survey was carried out and several thousand executives were questioned.

Since Covid, there have been numerous studies on the effects of teleworking, they are often targeted at employees or employers. But between the two, the managers are a little forgotten. How are they coping with this remote working revolution?

franceinfo: What are the impacts on their missions and their working conditions? The CFE-CGC, the executives’ union, carried out the investigation…

Sarah Lemoine: This vast survey will be unveiled on Wednesday April 24, during a conference organized by the CFE-CGC. Several thousand executives, at all levels of responsibility, were questioned, some of them during individual interviews. What emerges is that the massive expansion of teleworking is forcing hybrid managers (i.e. those who also work part of their time remotely) to completely review their way of managing for four years. Which is not obvious in a corporate culture where distrust of remote work is structurally very strong.

Is the question of trust still there?

How can you trust a colleague you can’t see? The subject remains very present throughout the hierarchical chain, particularly between senior executives, who still work face-to-face, and hybrid managers, and between the latter and their team. According to the study, those who managed to change their posture were those who were already confident. Those also who have been seriously supported by their organization, but they are a minority.

Many managers have had to adapt on their own. A third also claims to have not changed their practice, due to not having been trained on how to lead a team remotely. This is a subject on which we must continue to work, believes Maxime Legrand of the CFE-CGC, because if people feel monitored, it is a source of tension and inefficiency. And in this case, it is not a very profound transformation of work.

Has the extension of teleworking added weight on the shoulders of managers?

Their feelings are ambivalent. After being brutally confronted with teleworking during lockdowns, hybrid managers are now mostly in favor of it. But it involves a lot of effort. It’s maintaining team cohesion, managing in an ultra-personalized way, “let Paul know that Jacques works as much as he does”, explains Maxime Legrand.

Which causes a form of wear and tear, in the long run. 71% of managers surveyed say they are subject to anxiety. The CFE-CGC concludes that they must be better supported, recognized and trained, at a time when younger generations are sometimes hesitant to engage in this role.