All highlight mainly the hybrid work model that is here to stay, in addition to the advancement of technology and the change in relationships
On March 11, 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) officially declared the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has been two years since the world turned upside down. But those who survived are seeing the population overcome the barrier, thanks to the efforts of the scientific community. The world has changed, if for the better, nobody knows. It is known, however, that some things were out of order and nothing will be as before.
Marcio Toscani, co-CEO and COO of Leo Burnett Tailor Made and ARC, believes that the main change in the period, and the most visible, was remote work. “People started to work from anywhere on the planet. This directly impacted the agency’s operation, which began to use tools such as Teams, Zoom and other communication platforms more frequently. There was a drastic reduction in travel and displacements, especially international ones”, he recalls.
For him, some things are here to stay. And they are not few. “The use of technology for meetings is one of them. We will also have a return to the office, but it will certainly not be like before the pandemic, as there will no longer be a mandatory 100% physical presence in the office”. But he regrets the physical absence of the team, because, for him, “it is essential for the activity”. “It is very healthy for the day to day of an agency for people to meet, exchange experiences, discuss ideas in an ‘analog’ way”, he says.
In Toscani’s opinion, even the professional made his mood a little worse. “The moment work invaded the house, without asking permission, it messed up everyone’s lives. We were not prepared for this new reality and we need to socialize, debate ideals and listen to people”.
Regarding the future, the executive believes that the pandemic scenario is improving, but the great concern now is the international situation, with the conflict in Ukraine. “The world economies were on an escalation of recovery and with the war we can have an even greater impact.”
Antonio Fadiga, partner and CEO of Artplan, believes in the idea that every crisis generates opportunities. For him, in the last two years, there have been several evolutions and he cites the benefits of multidisciplinarity, which promoted a greater integration of talents, with a direct impact on deliveries; the use of technology to make internal processes viable, which resulted in agility in discussions and decisions; from the increasingly effective performance monitoring, from the acceleration of creative data, with data as the fuel for everything, generating insights for the clients’ businesses; and the empowerment of the people management team.
According to him, some changes are here to stay, starting with hybrid and collaborative work, which “is much more agile and flexible”. “For us, there is no more room for the traditional work format, with 100% of the staff in the offices. We don’t care where the work is done, but the quality of the deliveries, and that doesn’t matter where our teams are”, he points out.
Miss
But Fadiga says he misses people, walking around the agency. “This is sorely missed. I believe that physical contact will never lose its importance. We miss eye to eye in the most restricted periods of the pandemic and, now, with the gradual return of face-to-face activities, we see how healthy this contact is for relationships, oxygenation of ideas and exchanges between our teams and partners. Certainly, these meetings will come back, combining with remote work”, he analyzes.
About the change in the profile of professionals, comparing the before and after, he says that everyone has changed, “both in the personal and professional spheres”. “We have changed a lot the way we see things and experience our experiences. From a professional point of view, we are experiencing a phase of hard work, adaptations, experimentation, union and commitment. The balance has been very positive, with excellent performances in the way of working and in the deliveries of our teams, even at a distance. People managed to manage their daily routines, seek tools to think and execute ‘outside the box’, to help each other. The lessons learned have been valuable”, he assures.
Fadiga also comments that, far beyond the performance of the people on his team, the priorities are health, well-being and safety. “Therefore, we sought to carry out several actions that would alleviate the delicate moment we have been through. We have an open channel of communication and we keep very close to our employees to provide the support that each one of them needed”.
He also talks about his impression of the future. He declares that, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the industry, it is impossible to dissociate awareness and responsibility from choices, from creative exercise, from day to day. “I see a path based on the exercise of dialogue, empathy with consumers and an increasingly intense search for the purpose of brands. The future of agencies will be – and must be – even more inclusive and diverse. Not to mention that technology and advertising will continue to walk together, more than ever.”
at a distance
Monica Szanto, director of culture and management at DPZ&T, comments that the agency has remained in a telework system since the beginning of the pandemic. Even with the great advance of vaccination in the state of São Paulo, they chose to extend the 100% remote scheme so that the team does not take risks in their displacements, or even within the agency. “It is a cautious look that privileges the health of our employees, more than anything else. In December and January, for example, we canceled any and all ideas aimed at get-togethers due to the Covid-19 cases that increased in the country,” she says.
The great thing about this whole story is that remote work works. According to her, the DPZ&T team “demonstrated this – one professional complements the other on a day-to-day basis with a lot of determination, union, exchanges of creativity and knowledge”. “A robust relationship that we also share with our customers. We still don’t have a set date for returning to the office, but when everyone is safer, the hybrid model will prevail, as we value the flexibility and quality of life possible with this model, as well as the combination of autonomy with commitment. and responsibility”.
She also analyzes that another advantage of the remote system is the possibility of hiring professionals from other states. “As we work with communication, we are responsible for mirroring Brazilian diversity in each campaign we put on the street. And we know that this representation will only be well done if we know different cultures and customs”, says Monica.
Júlia Melges, head of people and culture at B&Partners.co – The Brandtech Network, takes the conversation to another side and says that the isolation situation undoubtedly accelerated the process of digital transformation, the culture of the use of platforms by companies and opened doors for new positions and professionals. It was also clear that we expanded our market, starting to hire people from different regions, making the workplace much more plural”.
In her words, humanization has never been so questioned and they were forced to create new forms of relationship and contact. “Before everything happened in one place, you arrived at your place of work and you would immediately understand if your colleague was well or healthy. Nowadays our contact is through the screen, we had to learn to make it more human, as there are many new feelings involved”, she reports. For her, empathy for each other has been the first topic on any meeting agenda, and she says she makes sure everyone starts a meeting with the question, “How are you? And your family?”. “Another point we’ve talked about a lot is the home office, which in the communication culture has always been something on the agenda, a lot in theory, but not in practice, however, it has proven effective for many cases”.
For her, the change in the form of recruitment and selection is a great example of what is here to stay. Julia comments that it is now possible to do an interview at any time and in any place. And this is effective for the interviewer and for the interviewee, mainly because of the displacement. “The commute has come to be considered a waste of time and people recognize that”. According to her, everyone started to reflect more deeply on what has value in their lives. “And, clearly, as has been said a lot, the hybrid model today has become a new behavior and will not cease to exist”.
