A flexible working model called Bayflex was implemented in March this year, drawing on the experience of the pandemic.
How does Bayflex work?
- Chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer has about 5,500 workers in Brazil. The program is available to 3,300 employees in the administrative sector, such as analysts and managers.
- This represents 100% of the administrative area and 60% of the total workforce.
- Every employee makes an arrangement with his manager when he works from home or from the office.
- In other cases, the manager agrees with his team on a date when everyone will come into the office for a meeting, for example. If someone can not, it is possible to participate by default,
- All workers receive an office allowance for the purchase of equipment such as a monitor, mouse or office chair.
- The program is experimental, but it can become permanent.
- An internal survey conducted in September with 1,597 employees showed that they agreed with the business model.
What do employees think?
- In early 2021, Marcela Santin, 29, Transformation and Culture Consultant, left São Paulo for Maringa (PR) to live a quieter life.
- It says distance doesn’t get in the way. From home, his work routine starts at 8:00 AM and ends at 6:00 PM, except for shorter Fridays (until 1:00 PM).
- He flies to São Paulo at least once a month, mainly to attend meetings and company events.
- He says the face-to-face experience is still incomparable, but he considers he has gained quality in life.
- Today he lives in an apartment that is three times the size and faces a garden. I learned to slow down the frantic pace of work.
Love the flexibility of getting up, the peace of mind of having breakfast and then answering emails. I also appreciate the possibility of working in Maringa, on the beach or anywhere else. It’s more than a hybrid business, it’s wellness and mental health.
Marcella Santin
Rita Andrade is a single mother and is enjoying her time at home with her 7-year-old son
Photo: personal archive
Rita Andrade, 34, planning and demand analyst and person with a disability (PCD), you save at least an hour and 20 minutes each day you decide to work from home. You personally go to the company two to three times a week.
He works in Belford Roxo (RJ) and lives in Parada de Lucas, a neighborhood in northern Rio de Janeiro. Andrade is a single mom and has more time to follow the development of her son, Duffy, 7.
Another advantage is avoiding slow traffic and not being able to get to the company.
I don’t have a left leg and I use a stick to get around. If I plan to go [à Bayer] It’s Tuesday, but I wake up and it’s raining hard, I work from home.
Rita Andrade
Thiago Massari only goes to Sao Paulo if his meeting schedule is full
Photo: personal archive
- Bayer Integrated Communications Leader Thiago Massari, 40, moved with his family to Santos (on the Sao Paulo coast) in September 2020, three months before he joined Bayer.
- He spends more time at home than in the corporate office.
- Being in a leadership position, Masari with his team and other leaders determines when everyone will work face-to-face.
- He goes to São Paulo only to enjoy at least a full day of meetings and meetings; Sometimes he stays up to three days and then returns to Santos.
- According to him, there is no problem if the employee is not able to come in person, if he has another obligation.
I don’t see loopholes for that to happen. If it is not possible to be there, the collaborator participates in the meeting from the computer, wherever they are.
Thiago Massari
“I like to see people, live with them,” says Miler Xavier, who goes to Bayer’s four times a week.
Photo: personal archive
- Although he can work from home, Miler Xavier, 29, a junior marketing development analyst, prefers to brave the traffic of São Paulo to be in the company four times a week.
- He lives near the Bayer headquarters in the Southern District and usually drives to the company from Monday to Thursday.
- For him, remote work does not replace the experience of face-to-face conversation with colleagues, which is only possible in person.
- Xavier is an exception as he is always the only one on his team who visits headquarters too many times.
- Instead, he seeks relationships with people in other areas.
I love to see people, live with them, have that connection. I feel like I can produce [no escritório] More because I have more distractions at home.
Miller Xavier
What does the company think?
Bayer Human Resources Director in Brazil Andre Kraide, He lists some of the main draws in the early months of Bayflex adoption:
- Employees have found a balance between working from home and the office.
- Trust between manager and employee is essential for the model to operate with transparency.
- The high level of approval seen in the surveys makes the company consider making Bayflex permanent.
- The potential reduction in operating expenses will be assessed after the first 12 months.
I joke that five years from now we’ll say everyone worked in an office. You will feel kind of Jurassic era.
Andre Cryde
Bayer employees in a company survey cited the difficulties of a home office🇧🇷 See answers below:
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