Three years after establishing the partnership between BNP Paribas BivwAk! and ESCP, Marie Guillaume, Director of BivwAk! By BNP Paribas, Claire Maldera, HRD, BNP Paribas Wealth Management, Bénédicte Monneron, HRD, BNP Paribas International Retail Banking, Frédéric Thoral, HRD, BNP Paribas Personal Finance and Michel Milair, HR Solutions Manager - Skills and Data Management at BNP Paribas Group Human Resources, have demonstrated their ongoing support of the project by renewing the Reinventing Work Chair for three more years.

Headed by Professor Emmanuelle Léon, the Chair deciphers the changes going on in work today in order to prepare more effectively for the work of tomorrow, a perfect example of cross-fertilisation.
For several years now, BNP Paribas has been carrying out in-depth research on these subjects and it shares ESCP’s conviction that digital transformation goes hand-in-hand with strong demand for changes in working methods and, more generally, in the way professional activities are performed. 

BNP Paribas and ESCP were ahead of the times when they launched the Chair in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic that made the future of work a focus of debate and of the challenges for organisations. 
Research projects and articles, teaching, conferences, research and Master theses, workshops, and more... The Chair has been involved in a wide range of activities, recognised by over 80 articles in the media.

With its team of 26 researchers in Europe and around the world (ESCP, University of Montreal, UQAM Montreal, University of Gothenburg, HEC Montreal, University of Sussex), the Chair has worked on twelve research projects around the four key themes of transformations in work and management:
●    Flexibility at work
●    New work relationships
●    Virtual teams and organizations
●    Roles & competencies

3 white papers have also been published (in French).

Students from the Master in Management (MIM) programme have had the possibility of exploring the Chair’s exciting topics in depth, with a 30-hour class on “Shaping the future of leadership in the digital era”, offered as part of the specialisation in “Digital transformation: understand, contribute, manage”. By investigating the past decade’s organisational changes and their influence on management, engagement and performance, students are better prepared to enact more responsible leadership.

Another highlight was the prize for the best master thesis, awarded in 2021 to Catalina Schweitzer for her paper “Leadership in the New Now - Rethinking Leadership in the Context of the Global Pandemic: a Grounded Theory”. And in 2020, to Eymeric Guinet, for his thesis, “Entreprise libérée : la « libération » à l’épreuve du profit et de la performance” (The Liberated Company: the trade-off between ‘liberation’ versus profit and performance)

BNP Paribas has also entrusted ambitious consulting projects to professionals from the MBA programme, such as “On the road to digital sobriety: measuring the impact of BNP Paribas’ transformation hub” and “Why do diversity & inclusion really matter?”.

Among its priorities for the next three years, “the Chair aims to explore new fields, including the question of digitalisation in local territories (web 3.0, integration and socialisation, performance monitoring, work-life balance, knowledge-sharing, and so on) and the question of the engagement and development of social capital in the context of NWOW. While a new chapter is beginning for the Chair, our objective remains the same: to better understand current changes in order to anticipate the work and management of tomorrow, in close connection with companies’ concerns”, explains Emmanuelle Léon.

For Vincent Lecomte, CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management: “we are experiencing strong and accelerated mutations of our ways of working. This is why it is essential to be able to benefit from applied and cutting-edge research to anticipate changes and adapt our organisations accordingly. Our performance and growth depend on our capacity to understand the needs and drivers of motivation of our employees and managers. The Reinventing Work Chair feeds our strategic thinking and our programs around smart working and employee experience more generally.”

Michel Milair, HR Solutions Manager - Skills and Data Management at BNP Paribas Group Human Resources adds: "We are happy to start a new cycle with the "Reinventing Work" Chair. Exiting the health crisis and returning back to the office has accelerated the development of hybrid modes, and pushed many teams and managers into new challenges in terms of daily organisation. The feedback and shared experiences cross companies are valuable benchmarks to look ahead and try to provide answers and solutions adapted to these new challenges. It will not be easy but we are convinced that our collaboration with the Chair will continue to lead us into the right directions."


 

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