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Sandrine Abreu, HR Manager at Ecocert, talks about the implementation of Jooxter within the company and Ecocert teams. She talks about how employee relations have changed following the introduction of telecommuting and flex office within their organization.
Ecocert tells us about its organizational model and the challenges of hybridization within the structure. The benefits are numerous: improved productivity and collaboration, trust-based management and flexible working. This new concept of "sharing" premises and offices enables them to occupy their space more fluidly. They have adopted Jooxter and flex office and don't want to go back!
Ourspace management andoptimization solution integrates with HRIS tools, facilitating day-to-day HR, internal talent management and organization .
What do you do at Ecocert and for how long?
I joined Ecocert five years ago. We created the position of HR Manager for the Ecocert France subsidiary in charge of food certification.
I'm in charge of all human resources (HR) tasks, including recruitment, training and coordinating works councils, which is a pretty broad remit. And managing individual situations too, after employees have left Ecocert.
How has Ecocert changed in 5 years?
At Ecocert France, there were 280 of us when I arrived, and today we have 420 employees. That's quite a growth in terms of population. The other subsidiaries have also expanded. A large part of our development in terms of remote working methods has been due to the covid19 crisis. We've been able to adapt.
How have Ecocert's working practices changed in the wake of the covid19 crisis?
We had to equip the employees, who were basically sedentary, so that they could get to grips with telecommuting. Some of the employees already had equipment and were working remotely, since we are present with our auditors throughout France. For the others, a support process was put in place so that they could work from anywhere.
Did you implement an HR teleworking policy before the health crisis?
So, no, we didn't have a telecommuting policy. Before the first lockdown, telecommuting was granted very exceptionally, for pregnant women for example.
In reality, it was a full-scale test for us, and we adapted. We were able to continue our business by teleworking.
Previously, we had already discussed the introduction of teleworking. When we came out of confinement, we adopted it, and our approach to teleworking changed.
We subsequently negotiated a telecommuting agreement to keep up the momentum.
Flex Office development at Ecocert
Indeed, the flex office was a sine qua non of telecommuting. The overallworking environment was approached differently.
We're going to work from home. But how? The problem was tooptimize the premises for employees who came on site. And that's why we turned to an application like Jooxter, to manage the flex office.
From your HR point of view, how can teleworking help foster social ties between teams?
So it still takes some effort to manage the flex office and make sure it's always cohesive. We came up with the idea of making managers aware of the need to at least hold face-to-face team meetings with everyone.
At the same time, we made sure that there was still plenty of face-to-face time for people to talk to each other. We have continued to do this, even when telecommuting. For example, we have organized team cafés, so that people can talk informally with their teams.
However, it's a vigilance that we've kept up by being careful, because it has upset a lot of things. At the same time, we try to plan convivial get-togethers.
Thelayout of the premises has been rethought.
The aim is to encourage exchanges when they're here, on site, but also to ensure that each team has its own zone.
Ecocert, a place to exchange ideas or to concentrate
Today, we still have this system of "flags", by team. As a reference point, if my team is here, then I move here with them. But in reality, we don't prohibit ourselves from changing, to interact with another department for example. And in that case, I can go next door to "X" so that I can spend the day with him, and that's going to generate interaction. It's still a process to be fine-tuned.
I think these are habits you need to get into. To take full advantage of the benefits of the Flex office.
Sandrine, as an HR specialist, what are your habits with Jooxter?
I usually book in advance, for the week, so I plan my status, sometimes several weeks in advance. So I put the status, we'll say "theoretical" to the month and then, on the other hand, I readjust rather to the week. I decide on my status as I go along, because my schedule can change a lot.
We really try to adapt to the business. In other words, if we have a meeting, we have to be as face-to-face as possible. So if we have to go to a meeting, we book it, even though we may have planned to telecommute a fortnight before.
A teleworking agreement and a flexible HR policy
We've left a lot of room for flexibility, but it's more about flexibility when it comes to choosing teleworking days. There aren't really any fixed, imposed days. People organize themselves with their two telecommuting days, but they'll try to look according to the activity.
For example, if the teleworking day is Monday and there's a meeting on that day, we cancel it.
Do you use Ecocert's "Where are my colleagues" feature?
Yes, it's interesting when we want to organize a face-to-face meeting with a colleague, we check on the app. We check to see if someone is there on such and such a day.
When I'm planning a meeting and I'd like it to be face-to-face, I'll see if the person has planned to be there that day.
Employee involvement in Ecocert's eco-responsibility policy
We are all involved in this ecological process at our own level. For example, once a year we go tree-planting. I've been there myself.
It takes us out of the corporate context, but it also reminds us of the need to do this kind of activity. We also have a vegetable patch, which I think is great.
It's not uncommon to hear a colleague say "I've been picking zucchini", so it's quite nice to have this kind of discussion. We also have honey that we can eat, harvested by our colleagues, and a henhouse.
How has the Jooxter application been received?
It was easy to get to grips with.
When it comes to new software, it's sometimes difficult to get people to accept it. I mean, especially as we've had a lot of new tools recently. So it's always perceived as an extra tool, so our worry was that it wouldn't be accepted. But in the end, everything went well.
We still have some way to go when it comes to managing the tool. That's all there is to it. Particularly when it comes to sharing status, it's not yet taken for granted. Employees mainly reserve their office space.
So there's a process of making employees aware of how to use the tool and certain functions. Support is important, as is follow-up by managers.
Improvements to the application are much appreciated, as they help employees. Evolution is essential and Jooxter has been able to adapt its application to users' needs, but this must continue.
Don't hesitate to contact us if this article has aroused your interest. Here you'll find another Ecocert testimonial with a more real estate angle.
