ABSTRACT
This chapter hands the virtual floor over to actors in the professional sphere. They were asked to discuss the changes that have occurred during the pandemic and analyse their communication on the job – both with colleagues and with clients and external partners and contractors. Face-to-face communication is compared with online communication in its many forms. Each of these managers works either in the digital sector (such as software or digital content production) or in sustainability (fair trade, the ecological transition, corporate social responsibility). Collectively, they therefore provide what may be considered a representative snapshot of workplace communication within these rapidly growing, iconic sectors of the moment. Their observations bring to light a number of phenomena, such as digital inequalities, pragmatic issues of online communication (for instance, politeness, misunderstandings), the need to recreate a human dimension in online work relations and negotiations, the challenges of hosting webinars and other online events and the emerging space that is likely to be dedicated to hybrid events.
