No, not all employees dream of returning to the company and are not eager to see their colleagues again.
While stage 2 of deconfinement opens this Wednesday, June 9, a date which marks the end of 100% teleworking and the return to the site of employees who have hardly set foot in the office for a year, Le Parisien -Today in France has collected the testimonies of teleworkers who dread this moment.
Because despite the government's calls to favor a remote working mode, many companies are already insisting with their employees on the need for a gradual return to the premises before the summer holidays.
"It makes me ch…!"
“Michel, 55, gets angry.
This computer scientist in a box of about forty people who lives and works in the Paris region is preparing to resume two days face-to-face then three days on July 1.
He does not see the point of doing "twice 1 hour and 20 minutes of public transport per day".
In his field, he argues, “you can do a lot of things remotely”.
"I bought noise-canceling headphones that isolate me from the ambient hubbub"
For all that, does this anxiety-provoking climate prevail among returning employees? Eric Chevée, vice-president of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME), wants to play down: “People are rather happy to come back to their workplace. However, there is a real question about how to ensure compliance with health standards. We are already starting to hear among employees:
I do not want to work alongside a colleague who does not want to be vaccinated.
"
In the Paris region, many of them reconnect with the hours spent in traffic jams. On Wednesday morning, the real-time traffic calculation site Sytadin recorded more than 340 km of traffic jams in Ile-de-France. “Not to mention the RER D which still works so poorly,” breathes, annoyed, this resident of Essonne.
Others have returned to the office a few days ago.
And in a certain number of those who confide willingly, but anonymously, it is the reunion on the open space set that irritates.
Like Mehdi, employee of a Parisian communication agency, who was disillusioned from his recovery day.
“I thought I was going to blow a lead, he balances.
I'll have to put up with my boss who wants to keep control, each other's little quirks, the toilet doors not closed.
If I could avoid that… ”
Many of the employees we met fear the constraints of working in an open space after months of calm at home.
(Illustration) olivier corsan
At Juliette, 30, an employee of a bank located in La Défense, the most difficult thing was to find the sound of the voices of some of her colleagues. As soon as she arrived, she spun into a DIY store to find "a noise-canceling headset, a comfortable model that isolates me well from the surrounding hubbub". Of course, when she arrived, her colleagues laughed at her. “They felt like I was snubbing them. Me, I needed to concentrate. After a year at home, we appreciate the calm. "
Assessment of a first day at the office after a year of working from where she wanted?
“Not great”, summarizes Laure, 32, customer relations manager for a luxury brand.
“Already, we had to wear the mask for a full day and that's complicated to manage.
"And then, she had taken a liking to working solo in front of her computer screen since March 2020." A colleague came to talk to me when I didn't want to… Impossible to dodge it when I could have been able to do it very easily by telecommuting!
"
Karine would dream of "doing telework on demand"
Paul, too, is in no hurry to get back to his business district: “Having to be kind, say yes to the Friday night drink, these are things I have escaped for a year. As for Karine, 40 years old and two children, she will not resume 100% face-to-face before September. But she is already “terribly” worried about “the social comedy that you have to play in the office and that requires a lot of energy”. This communications manager is “aware of having been one of the privileged”. In the future, she dreams of "doing teleworking on demand".
In addition to these fears and requests, there is the question of reorganized premises that we are discovering for the first time and above all the fear of seeing surfaces decrease in the months to come.
“We are being told about the flex office, but what will it do in concrete terms?
“This employee in the Lyon region is alarmed.
Read also Employees do not want to return to the office as before and are inclined to telework
For some, more rare, it is the fear of the virus which is a brake.
The barrier gestures not respected put off this employee contacted on the social network Twitter: “At work, and especially in the cafeteria, many people do not wear masks and do not pay attention to social distancing.
It scares me.
"
For his part, the work psychologist and founder of the firm Ekilibre, Jean-Christophe Villette, invites employers not to neglect the psychosocial risks associated with returning to work after confinement.
“Employees have lived through a year of unprecedented health crisis.
One in two people is in a situation of psychological weakening.
Returning to the office can awaken many of the tensions put to sleep by distance.
"An opinion shared by the president of the CFTC, Cyril Chabannier:" The resumption in face-to-face must be done gradually, he underlines.
Getting people to work who have not seen each other for a year requires support and a lot of social dialogue.
"
The rules of returning to the office
The new government health protocol defines the following precepts:
Teleworking remains the rule.
To fight against the pandemic, it must always be privileged.
But more necessarily 100%: each company must define a minimum number of days, via social dialogue.
The return to the office must be gradual until September 1.
In the office, wearing a mask remains compulsory.
The employer must ensure that the premises are well ventilated.
Each employee must have a meter around him.
Meetings by audio or videoconference should be favored.
In canteens, the occupancy rate must be 50% maximum,
with no more than 6 people per table.
The space between tables should be two meters unless a wall is installed.
Take-out baskets should be offered.
The restaurant should be ventilated for a few minutes every hour.
Pots are allowed.
Preferably "in outdoor spaces and not bringing together more than 25 people".
What about refusals to come to the office?
If an employee is on the list of vulnerable people, he can ask to remain teleworking, asking the occupational doctor if necessary. For other situations, everything depends on the goodwill of the employer ... "Without valid justification, sanctions could be considered," warns Dahlia Arfi-Elkaïm, lawyer at JDB Avocats, who however advises against imposing return by force. .
