Sanofi has managed the daunting task facing managers around the world: getting employees back to the office with little fuss.
That’s an impressive feat for a company that said last year it was doing “everything in AI.” $50 billion French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi is rapidly transforming its operations AI-first model. Thousands of employees use its automated app every day, powered by German startup Aily Labs.
The company’s managers can quickly identify manufacturing capacity in factories around the world and schedule meetings with colleagues using its AI agents, reducing communication barriers in Sanofi’s multinational operations.
However, despite all this global digitization, the company has reinforced the need for face-to-face contact to drive innovation.
At the ‘Serendipity’ office
Sanofi employees work three days a week in the office under a hybrid model, typically coming in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Speaking luck In Paris, Sanofi’s chief digital officer, Emmanuel Frenehard, said the change was essential to bring innovation to the company as workers weathered the upheavals of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asserting that AI was a work enhancer rather than a job provider, Frenehard reiterated the value of humans in the future of work, but only if they could work together in person.
“This technology is energizing. Technology will not overtake us. Technology will not take our space. Technology will complete us. So really, you still need humans to be able to drive that,” Frenehard said luck.
“And you need something very special, what humans have called serendipity,” he added.
“When you work from home, every part of your day is scheduled because that’s how my calendar is. There’s no moment of, ‘Hey, did you think about that?’
“How many great inventions were programmed? How many big innovation moments were scheduled? They are not They are conversations, they are challenges. And so it is very difficult to achieve that (working from home).
“Now you go back to the office, when you’re away in one of our biggest existential crises to keep something going, because you do.
“To create new innovations, I think it’s difficult to some extent, and we told people that, we’ll give you flexibility, but on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you’ll be together, because that’s where you’re going. be the most productive.”
Frenehard said that when Sanofi implemented this change, very few candidates dropped out of the hiring process.
“But I think we were opposites,” he said. “I think the opposites are becoming normal.”
In fact, a group of companies have broken the whip of workers who went from a distance during the pandemic. Several large companies have joined Sanofi in calling for employees to return to the office in hybrid mode.
Others, however, incl Amazon and iPhone challenge Nothingworkers have been asked to return to the office five days a week or face the sack. The news is usually not well received by the employees.
A common reason for these RTO mandates among principals is the intangible innovations that come from in-person collaboration. Frenehard’s eloquent explanation of these trends may explain why Sanofi employees have been willing to make a comeback without much fanfare.
Sanofi’s AI recruitment drive
Because of the AI overhaul, the nature of the talent Sanofi is looking for has changed to hiring data scientists and engineers. This leaves companies struggling with tech teams in an increasingly competitive job market.
Mainly, Frenehard says, the sought-after tech workers, which Frenehard said he had no problem recruiting because he didn’t push back on Sanofi’s RTO orders.
“You can work for a bank or a digital fund. You can work on TikTok, that can be fun. Or you can work and really see the impact you have on people’s lives,” Frenehard said.
“It took us a while to find that voice in the public. But at this stage we don’t have a problem with hiring, since the COVID, there is a better awareness in our industry that health is important. He is better aware that the medicine that saves lives is very important.’
