Le retour sur le lieu de travail postpandémie et la fidélisation des employés : le rôle, les défis et les inquiétudes des gestionnaires de proximité dans cette nouvelle transformation

Abstract

In 2022, when telework was well established in organizations, the Quebec government ended mandatory health measures, and simultaneously, removed the requirement for companies to maintain teleworking at 100%. For many companies, the abolition of these measures triggered a process aimed at bringing employees back to their workplace, that inevitably led to new challenges, new concerns and all the related uncertainty. The objective of this article is to take a look at the process and management of returning to the post-pandemic workplace. More specifically, we seek to understand how proximity managers implemented organizational directives and organized the process of returning their employees to the workplace in such a way as to maintain and rebuild their commitment. This article is an extension of an initial research approach carried out in 2021 on workforce retention at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results presented in this article are based on the analysis of thirteen semi-structured interviews conducted between April and December 2023. They show how proximity managers succeeded, or failed, in finding a balance between organizational expectations and employee needs, and show the challenges and concerns encountered, and their roles in the post-pandemic return to the workplace. They also lead us to note that the involvement of proximity managers with their employees and their presence during this return period were essential elements in helping the employees find their bearings within the organization, so that they felt fully invested in the success of this return.