After a peak of 18% in 2021, at the height of the health crisis, the intensive practice of teleworking in France, i.e. three days or more per week, fell to 5% in 2023. If employees, however, remain attached to hybrid work – the at least occasional practice of teleworking has progressed between 2021 and 2023 – employers want to see them return to the office. A phenomenon that goes beyond the borders of France. From January 2025, Amazon employees will have to return to work on site, like those at Disney. Ubisoft, the French video games giant, asked its staff to be “at least three days a week in the office”, which provoked strike pickets on October 15. Appointed to head a new ministry of “government efficiency” by the next President of the United States Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (who made his fortune in biotechnology) want an end to teleworking for federal civil servants Americans. “Since Covid, we have all experienced a brutal revolution in work. We had to equip ourselves, organize ourselves and we all got a taste for it!”, however analyzes Sylvain Langellier, general manager of the Networking Premium Group (NPG), leader in professional networking. “However, returning to the office is the taboo of the moment,” he emphasizes.
However, returning to the office offers human resources a valuable opportunity to spot an employee who is not doing well. “It’s difficult to realize that an employee is on the verge of burnout when he stays at home,” says the expert. Passing each other in the corridors, taking the room temperature, (re)weaving social bonds are all moments that were natural between colleagues before 2020. And this, even if real estate prices continued to soar, pushing many employers has adopted the flex office, a mode of organization sometimes perceived as dehumanizing and potentially a source of conflict, particularly if someone else “took your desk”. “This can develop conflicting relationships, but it is part of human relationships,” says Sylvain Langellier.
Furthermore, people geographically distant from places of power find themselves excluded from strategic decisions and promotions. Easier to get information from a colleague than to glean it from Teams. “The question of geographical distance arises; those who are reluctant to come there risk being left behind,” points out the specialist. Transport, for its part, allows you to have a decompression chamber between professional and private life. “There is therefore an interest in rediscovering all this corporate life,” concludes Sylvain Langellier.
The cost of returning to the office
Some executives are happy to come to offices redesigned differently. A glimmer of hope for employers who fear tension: in winter, one in three employees prefer to work on site rather than at home (Deskeo, creation of workspaces, November 2024). First important criterion: the search for heat. For 68% of respondents, the priority is in fact an adequate temperature, while for 17%, it is good lighting while 15% of respondents consider it essential to have comfortable armchairs. Development efforts still need to be made: 59% of those questioned indicate that the lighting in the office is “not really sufficient”. However, “the ability for workers to do their tasks when and where they want is what interests them most,” indicates a recent global study from Owl Labs, a specialist in hybrid collaborative technologies. According to Owl Labs, imposing 100% face-to-face work and the absence of flexibility on hours or place of work are among the company policies that most put off employees in France, the United Kingdom, the United States and from Germany.
If you are one of the employers who want to see their teams return to site, know that those concerned believe that better remuneration would be the argument most likely to encourage them to do so: this is the feeling of 48% of the French people surveyed. Other criteria put forward: shorter travel time, reimbursement of travel costs between home and work and the provision of free food and drinks. “Open bar”, or nothing? 61% of employees would like free hot drinks during winter, additional radiators or blankets (17%), a cozy relaxation area and light therapy lamps (11% tied), according to Deskeo. Finally, 34% of them would “very much” like their office to offer them activities specific to the season. Notice to managers: initiatives such as Secret Santa and a competition for the ugliest Christmas sweater should motivate the most reluctant to find the company address.
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