Challenge is to rethink the home office, says CEO of Sankhya

The labor market had to reinvent itself during the pandemic, with remote work becoming reality. THENow, the challenge for companies is to bring employees back to work face-to-face, especially those who prefer this work model, evaluates Felipe Calixto, CEO of Sankhya, company that offers technological support to business management.

With 50 business units, the company has more than two thousand employees, and the CEO points out this as one of the main management challenges at this time of recovery.

As a technology company, the migration to the remote model at the onset of the health crisis was not difficult for the company. Even so, Calixto says that the emotional part was impacted by the entire scenario at the time. “We all suffer from suddenly staying indoors.” The financial impact came as a result of the brake on activities, especially among clients who worked in the events area, recalls Calixto. “We had to adapt very quickly and manage to grow, even if in a smaller proportion than expected”.

The resumption, according to the CEO, is still in process. “Everyone got used to remote work, so we are going through a period of adaptation with professionals, most of them in the technology area, returning to the office. In general, people with a more introspective profile, who like to work in isolation”.

As part of this rehabilitation, Sankhya has promoted actions and events to readapt these employees. “Socialization is important”, says the executive.

Calixto assesses that the technology sector is “delighted” with the facilities that were accelerated in the period, including this remote work model, but that the topic still generates polarization. “Many companies defend the home office 100%, and there are many that defend the return to the traditional model in the office, but the pandemic has taught us that it is possible to reconcile the two models”.

The CEO himself says he prefers reconciling the two models, the so-called hybrid, since, according to him, there is already research showing that creativity and innovation were somewhat lost at a time when teams were more isolated. “I’m one of those who like to create together with people. So I think that some activities will be better resolved if it is in person. And others can be much easier to do remotely, and without any problems.”

domestic scenario

Regarding the moment of political and economic uncertainty in the country, Felipe Calixto says that the company has “the philosophy of protagonism”, that is, regardless of what happens in the country, the company and its executives have to do their part. “We do suffer the impacts of the macroeconomy, but we have to remodel our strategy to adapt to this. So I think it will be a positive year and that we will manage to grow, not only Sankhya, but also other companies, since I see that Brazil is accelerating, I see a strong warming.”

Calixto is optimistic for 2023. “I think that next year the country will recover with strength in the economy”.

For the technology sector specifically, the executive believes that another “giant” challenge is to transform the business model. “Our market is relatively new, it’s about 30 years old, but it needs to undergo a very big change in the way we deliver our product to our customers, and Sankhya has been investing a lot in this over the last three years, and I think all our competitors will have to think about a less painful system implementation process”.

*Text published by Ana Carolina Nunes