Dear everyone,
To avoid any confusion, we decided a few weeks ago to change our brand name and we’re excited to now be called Semana !
While it is an important milestone in our development, our vision remains unchanged. And we’re working hard to become the best workforce management platform dedicated to remote working.
With 30% of employees experiencing remote working in 2020, the office is officially no longer the only place where we can work. Whether it’s at home, in coworking spaces, in an office hub or subsidiary, more and more options are now available to us. Offices will soon be transformed into a network of workspaces that employees can choose depending on the nature of the tasks they need to carry out, their business priorities as well as their individual preferences. As a result, organisations will gain flexibility, efficiency and over time will improve the wellbeing of their employees.
However, Covid didn’t kill off the office. It simply accelerated the rise of a more hybrid organisational mode in which offices play a central role. We don’t believe either that one approach will fit all companies. Each organisation is different and will have to shape its remote policy according to its industry, culture, size, and so on. Even within an organisation, the remote policy may be adapted to the constraints of each individual based on their function, seniority, personal situation, etc.
Of course, this will raise a number of new challenges. Many HR managers have shared their concerns with us about the potential impact of remote working on socialising, creativity, culture and motivation. Leaders will have to reinvent the way they manage their workforce in order to minimise these negative impacts. They’ll need to ensure employees are well equipped to carry out their work outside of the office, ensuring at the same time they don’t feel isolated. This in turn will transform the way we communicate, favouring the rise of an asynchronous writing culture, not to mention the impact it will have on project management. Finally, it will also have an influence on the organisational rules we agree on as a group, leading to more autonomy and trust given to employees whose performance will be increasingly measured by their output and impact as opposed to their presence or engagement.
We feel incredibly passionate about all these questions! Our goal at Semana is to provide solutions to companies to overcome these new challenges and eventually thrive within this so-called “new normal”.
We’re looking forward to building this together.
CEO and Founder of Semana