It is certainly still too early to set anything in stone, while we are still in crisis. There are nevertheless two basic trends that seem to share all of the 23 leaders and members of executive committees of Ile-de-France organizations interviewed as part of a qualitative study conducted by The Boson Project.
First, a swing back. After the enthusiasm for the telework of the first confinement, limits emerge in its imposed form: isolation and psychosocial risks, social inequalities, dilution of the collective and the feeling of belonging, difficulties in carrying out certain tasks, sometimes even loss of motivation and disengagement. For all these reasons, the pandemic will not have the skin of the office. Then, there is no going back on the achievements of teleworking which, if it is chosen and not suffered, presents unprecedented gains in comfort and sometimes in productivity.
Third place
Between the imperatives of the collective – which implies a unity of time and place to meet – and the benefits of a new freedom allowed by teleworking, the consensus of a balance of two teleworked days per week emerges. We must also deal with the emergence of a new variable: the third-place, which would present both the advantages of proximity and the ergonomic, material, social and even psychological comfort of the office (separation of personal life and professional life, ease of disconnection).
Teleworking generates many positive externalities: together with the environmental benefits of smoother mobility, there is a greater demand for local shops and services, gains for local taxation, and even potentially the development of jobs in the municipality. for the operation of the third place. This local territorial re-anchoring – which the prospectivist Carlos Moreno conceptualized under the name of the “quarter-hour city” – could provide a mix of uses and activities.
Spatial hybridization and urban revitalization
The rehumanization of urban spaces could thus be favored by third-places of work – hybrid by nature – especially since they are effective facilitators of links and sharing between premises. Today, many employee representation bodies and human resources departments are asking to include in teleworking agreements the possibility of having recourse to third places to work, and the financing by companies of this service to the employees.
The organizations best equipped in land and real estate network seek to develop, internally, their own coworking spaces in offices, agencies, technical centers, or even stores. Senator Bargeton’s bill “tending to facilitate access to local offices and the maintenance of social life for remote workers”, as well as other legislation and case law should not be long in providing a favorable framework for the emergence of these spaces. Finally, on the employee side, development must be accompanied by information campaigns so that these new opportunities are seized. Following the example of Issy Media, which set up an operation to promote third places in the territory of Issy-les-Moulineaux, at the end of 2020, the role of territorial players will be key.
Emmanuelle Duez is the founder of The Boson Project and of the WoMen’Up association, which mixes themes of gender and generation.
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