The Covid-19 health crisis will have turned our lives upside down and the organization of our society and one of the major facts caused by the pandemic will undoubtedly have been the use of telework. Praised by a large majority of French people but hated by some, teleworking landed in our professional lives in March 2020 even though this practice remained marginal, particularly in France where the deeply rooted culture of presenteeism and fears about a lack of productivity confined teleworking to only around 7% of employees. Overnight, to stem the spread of the coronavirus, it was necessary to get started, often with a lot of system D to compensate for the lack of networks, equipment or training. Despite this haste, it worked and the employees – whose profession allowed it to be done – discovered the joys and difficulties of working from home.
The joys of the beginnings when it came to finding new brands, enjoying avoiding home-office trips, discovering oneself to be more independent and, very often, much more productive. The difficulties also when teleworking was done with the class at the children’s home in an apartment that was too small, next to a spouse with whom we were not used to living 24 hours a day, without ties informal with colleagues at the coffee machine or with increased pressure from middle management confused about their own usefulness.
This year of teleworking has also accelerated the digitization of French companies, activated a reflection on organizations, redefined the personal and professional priorities of employees. and also given back to medium-sized towns and the countryside a new advantage of attracting teleworkers, provided they have reliable internet connections. At a time when the rule of 100% teleworking recommended by the government for companies that could, will end on June 9 with the 2nd phase of deconfinement, the time has now come to take stock, both for employees and for employees. employers and the least we can say is that the return to the office will not mean a return to the professional life of before.
Between 100% teleworking and 100% face-to-face, it remains to invent a hybrid, flexible, almost à la carte form, combining presence at the office and several days of teleworking. This can only be done with real consultation between employers and unions. But this reflection can be an opportunity, an opportunity to rethink organizations to make them more efficient and less corseted, more creative and less uniform.
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