{"id":4093,"date":"2022-12-25T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T14:38:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T14:38:03","slug":"benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey","status":"publish","type":"wilo","link":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Benevolence: Ep.1. The story of an outward and return journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The<\/em> question opens Olivier Truong and Paul-Marie Chavanne’s La bienveillance en entreprise: utopie ou r\u00e9alit\u00e9<\/em> (Eyrolles). In today’s quest for well-being in the workplace, the notion of benevolence has become an integral part of corporate discourse.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

” The<\/em> experts from the business world have spoken. The solution to the contemporary phenomenon of disengagement in the workplace is called benevolence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was once a simple human quality is gradually becoming the modern management mantra of the 21st century. A new ” paradigm shift<\/em> “, as the phrase goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the concept remains vague in practice, as situations and requirements vary from sector to sector. In the “muddle” of management advice, Wilo brings you a series of 3 articles on professional benevolence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 1: the return of benevolence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE DISEASE OF THE CENTURY : DISENGAGEMENT AND WORK-RELATED STRESS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growing presence of benevolence in corporate discourse is a response to the growing disengagement affecting modern economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the annual barometer of quality of life at work (Malakoff M\u00e9d\u00e9ric), presenteeism – doing attendance for attendance’s sake – rose from 9% to 16% between 2009 and 2018. The source of disinterest is a job that is ” nervously tiring<\/em> ” for 70% of those surveyed, and a ” lack of sleep<\/em> ” for 51% of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for this work-related stress have been well known for some years: a brutal transformation of work organization due to the arrival of new technologies, a context of ultra-competition in a majority of sectors, and increased quantification of performance targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’M NICE BUT I TAKE CARE OF MYSELF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faced with these upheavals, corporate management has taken an authoritarian turn, focused on increasingly quantified objectives and increasingly dematerialized relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors of La bienveillance en entreprise call this managerial drift ” the shredding machine<\/em> “. Sometimes hypercentralized, sometimes hypercompetitive, internal organizations have sacrificed certain psychological limits of the human being on the altar of results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sacrifice has been accentuated by the emergence of a “virile” pro-entrepreneurial discourse, where formulas such as “go the extra mile” and “don’t give away anything” must be applied literally in order to “succeed”. In this modern reinterpretation of the self-made man, benevolence seems out of place. Even deleterious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This cult of results has produced some edifying moments, such as a French CEO declaring ahead of his redundancy plan, ” I’ll make the departures one way or another, through the window or through the door<\/em> “. And there’s no shortage of examples, from Donald Trump to Elon Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE RETURN OF BENEVOLENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But like all trends, hard<\/em> or fast management<\/em> has run out of steam. Burn-out, disengagement, turnover… the upsurge in psychosocial risks has prompted entrepreneurs and managers to change their strategy to ensure a certain stability in their teams while maximizing performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A semantic shift has taken place across the Atlantic, particularly among start-ups, where management’s benevolence towards its employees has become an increasingly common element of language. Slow management<\/em> was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a host of events, workplace design and relaxation facilities, tech companies have opened up a new field of thinking in the corporate world: that of mentally unburdening employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question of the attention paid to employees has also been the subject of development, with a multiplication of points between managers and employees. The discourse, both internal and external, has placed “fulfillment” at the heart of modern corporate concerns, riding the wave of CSR policies. ” Putting people back at the heart of the company<\/em> ” is the credo of the modern manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This benevolent management approach has been the subject of numerous books and articles. We recommend reading at least two of them: The Progress Principle<\/em> and La bienveillance en entreprise: utopie ou r\u00e9alit\u00e9<\/em> (quoted above). The former is characterized by its methodical approach, aimed at managers, while the latter stands out for its empirical analysis of benevolence (and its absence) in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On paper, slow management<\/em> offers all the keys needed to respond to the malady of the century. A qualitative approach to work, non-hierarchical human interaction, flexible working environments… all the ingredients are there to ensure a healthy, efficient work rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But reality has caught up with the promoters of benevolence. While they spearheaded the movement, tech companies found themselves in the headlines for their bad practices: Apple won for paranoia, Amazon for drudgery and Google for sexism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the GAFAs, the entire startup nation<\/em> has come under fire. In early 2017, The Economist<\/em> published a scathing piece entitled “The other side of paradise”, denouncing the cynical gap between a discourse that had become ultra-benevolent and practices that were still archaic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months later, Mathilde Ramadier threw a paving stone into the French pond with Bienvenue dans le nouveau monde<\/em>, a testimonial drawn from her four years of startup experience. In an interview with L’Usine digitale<\/em>, the author explains her approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” I wanted to liberate the word of those (…) whose story is rather one of failure, in this great story of success that startups stage.<\/em> “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week :<\/strong>
Ep.2. Is benevolence a communication lever or a performance factor?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Further information <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate benevolence: utopia or reality?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEDxAtlanta – Teresa Amabile – The Progress Principle<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benevolent management: those who talk about it the most, do it the least<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does benevolence at work really exist?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book that exposes the dark side of start-ups<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[375],"tags":[379,376,353,378],"class_list":["post-4093","wilo","type-wilo","status-publish","hentry","category-management-en","tag-kindness","tag-management-en","tag-professional-services","tag-qwl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBenevolence in the workplace: Ep.1. The story of an outward and return journey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The solution to the contemporary phenomenon of disengagement in the workplace is called benevolence: "Tous bienveillants".\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benevolence in the workplace: Ep.1. The story of an outward and return journey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The solution to the contemporary phenomenon of disengagement in the workplace is called benevolence: "Tous bienveillants".\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"eliott & markus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-05T14:38:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Benevolence in the workplace: Ep.1. The story of an outward and return journey","description":"The solution to the contemporary phenomenon of disengagement in the workplace is called benevolence: \"Tous bienveillants\".","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Benevolence in the workplace: Ep.1. The story of an outward and return journey","og_description":"The solution to the contemporary phenomenon of disengagement in the workplace is called benevolence: \"Tous bienveillants\".","og_url":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/","og_site_name":"eliott & markus","article_modified_time":"2023-09-05T14:38:03+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/","url":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/","name":"Benevolence in the workplace: Ep.1. The story of an outward and return journey","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-25T16:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-05T14:38:03+00:00","description":"The solution to the contemporary phenomenon of disengagement in the workplace is called benevolence: \"Tous bienveillants\".","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wilo\/benevolence-ep-1-the-story-of-an-outward-and-return-journey\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/","name":"eliott & markus","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/#organization","name":"eliott & markus","url":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cropped-em_fav_2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cropped-em_fav_2-1.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"eliott & markus"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wilo\/4093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wilo"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wilo"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wilo\/4093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4792,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wilo\/4093\/revisions\/4792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliott-markus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}