In recent years, teleworking has been well established in French companies. It has even become a prerequisite for certain employees. But recently, several companies are backtracking and trying to better regulate this new pace of work. This is why several unions are calling on Ubisoft’s French employees to go on a three-day strike starting October 15 to protest against a return to face-to-face work of at least three days per week. A report by Loreena Duret.
Videoconferencing, for some people, is reminiscent of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the height of the crisis, teleworking became established in many companies and was often sustained. Today, those who benefit from it do not plan to go back. This is the case for Natalia Markow, she is an employee in a company and, for her, teleworking allows her to do tasks that require reflection without being disturbed. “ It’s good to be calm and not have employees coming to ask us questions every five minutes, she observes. It also allows me cohesion between my personal life and my professional life. And it also avoids the 30 minute drive, so a better quality of life all the same. »
From the business side, this mode of operation initially seemed to be the perfect solution. Four years later, they are reversing course, arguing that we must rediscover the collective, this team spirit which has sometimes disappeared. “ We can clearly see that [le télétravail] harms collective productivity, collaboration, analyzes Benoît Serre, vice-president of the National Association of HR Directors. With teleworking, there is a distancing that is established with respect to the company, but also with respect to colleagues, with respect to the common project that a company could constitute. Collaboration dynamics are less obvious, less natural, or less effective when you’re behind Teams screens rather than when you’re all together. »
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The possible physical and psychological consequences of teleworking
Today, teleworking is largely taken for granted, yet it can have repercussions on the health of employees. “ Everyone appreciates teleworking. There is no desire to go back at all. The only challenge is to become aware of the problems that this can bring, underlines sociologist Marianne Le Gagneur. For people who telework a lot, there are more sleep problems, there are more back pains because we work longer. »
In addition to these physical consequences, teleworking can lead to psychological disorders, due to the isolation of employees. For Benoît Serre, this is one of the reasons why it is important today to renegotiate the agreements signed urgently between 2020 and 2021. “It’s an opportunity to re-discuss them and try to assess how they worked. The pluses, the minuses, he explains. Does this imply that teleworking will decline? I don’t believe it. I think this implies that teleworking will be organized. If we don’t do it, then he will back down. »
According to INSEE, in 2023, around 47% of French companies have integrated some teleworking. This is double what it was before the pandemic.
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