How PepsiCo is rethinking the office: More flexibility with telecommuting. No assigned desks

(CNN Business) – Regarding the future of work, PepsiCo is reimagining the role of the office and giving employees more flexibility in choosing where to work.

All of this is part of PepsiCo’s new “Work that Works” plan. The office will cease to be the main site where the work is done, and corporate employees around the world will decide with their bosses which days they will be in the office and when they will be away.

There are no limitations. There is not a number of days that you have to be in the office or a number of days that you can be remote, “said Sergio Ezama, director of talent and director of human resources of PepsiCo, Global Groups and Functions, in an interview with CNN Business.

Of the company’s approximately 290,000 employees, about 80,000 work in corporate offices and the remainder in non-corporate settings such as plants, warehouses and sales centers.

Here’s what Ezama had to say about the future of work and finding employees in this job market.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

What was PepsiCo’s telecommuting policy before the pandemic?

Before the pandemic, we had a policy for weeks: people could ask to telecommute for up to two days with manager approval. So if I wanted to work from home for two days the following week, I would email my boss asking for permission and my boss would say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Depending on the location, I’d say that part of the policy, the flexibility policy, was used more at large venues.

Before the pandemic, we typically had a peak of around 65% of our assigned workforce on any given day – people traveling, on vacation, or working remotely weren’t really a significant part of what we saw on a day-to-day basis. Still, I would say the policy was very traditional, with the limitation of days and the approval of the director.

We had people asking for a more structured arrangement like “Can I always work from home on this particular day?” It also required HR approval.

What is the company’s current plan for how its corporate employees will work?

When we started asking our employees about “how do you plan to come back?” … contrary to much of the news that is read, people were not asking us to be at a distance. Our people asked us to choose. They said, “Give me a chance to decide where and how I do my work.”

Let me give you the key ideas from “Work that Works.” The first key idea is that there is no pre-established workplace. That idea of ​​the physical office as a default environment no longer exists.

The second is that it is up to managers and associates to decide where something is going to happen, where it is going to work better. There are no limitations. There is not a number of days that you have to be in the office or a number of days that you can be at a distance.

Third key idea: Although we will spend less time in the office, the time in the office we believe will be more important. And we believe the office will perform critical functions for PepsiCo. One of them is to create and collaborate… research shows that these things are best done in the same physical environment. Everything that is related to innovation, solving difficult problems, all of which we believe will be done well through the office.

The second is the connection. PepsiCo is a very social place, what people told us is: “What I really miss and want to find in the office is a social connection, being with the people I like to work with.”

The third is… the idea of ​​celebrating… we work a lot on our culture, the PepsiCo Way, so celebrating the culture that we have and the brands that we carry we also believe will be done well through the office experience. We believe that the office will become that destination where we fulfill those four functions: create, collaborate, celebrate and connect.

How will the physical spaces of the offices change?

We believe that the office as a physical place is going to evolve a lot. So if you think about having assigned seats, having closed offices, we think that’s a thing of the past. And already, before the pandemic, we started the path to transform our offices into places without assignment, opening the space, the space for collaboration, we are going to see more of that, we believe.

If I think of our headquarters in Purchase [Nueva York], we have transformed two of our largest apartments … My apartment is one that will not have an office. I won’t even have an assigned desk. Every day, I will choose a space and do my work and then maybe change locations within the same floor if I need to collaborate with a few people who may be nearby or work in collaborative spaces.

So the layout is very, very different from the traditional one.

When I get back to the office on July 6, I will pick up my phone and go into the app to reserve an office space. I can access the map of the Human Resources floor and choose where I am going to sit. When I arrive at the office, I get an E-ZPass type ticket on the property, I can order my coffee or my lunch menu also from an application.

Do you hope you don’t need such a large corporate office?

No, it is not. We spend a lot of time trying to understand what it is going to be like. We did a couple of analyzes in the United States, Europe and Asia. We found this beautiful convergence around people and leadership who believe that the average time in the office per week will be around 2.5 days. We do not believe that, by opening this policy, people will never go back to the office, nor do we believe that managers will be irrational, asking people to spend a lot of time in the office if there is no need.

What have you learned from the countries that have reopened and kept their employees coming back?

In China, the country where we have the longest open workforce, when we introduced ‘Work that Works’ the local intelligence was like,’ Oh, you see… people are still generally going to be willing to go back. the office’. ‘It’s a more traditional culture’ and all that.

Last month, looking at the data, it’s already at a good 50% in the office and 50% remote, so it seems our assumption is working fine, again, with the caveat that it’s just one country. .

Let’s talk about the job market. Are you having a hard time finding workers right now?

I think that throughout the pandemic, people found comfort in companies with financial stability, good results, well-known brands.

In an age where safety and security are valued, people look to companies like PepsiCo, large-scale brands and financial strength that I recognize, as more attractive destinations. So we were able to attract people that we probably couldn’t find a year before.

In terms of our own people, our voluntary abandonment [en el primer trimestre] it was extremely low.

The only thing that makes me think, to be frank, is that people have had a lot of time to reflect and see life and work with a little more perspective or a very different perspective. And sometimes what we see when people leave companies is because they are making very different decisions. These are not gradual changes in their lives. These are radical changes like: “I’m going to move close to my parents because that has become very important to me” or people who have said, “Look, you only live once. I’m going to make a drastic change in my career. We are seeing some of those things.

So what we’re trying to do with our management is make sure we understand where people are in those reflections, especially the ones that matter most to us.