Would France be resistant to teleworking?
29% of working people say they have teleworked “at least once a week” in 2021, compared to 51% of Germans, 50% of Italians, 42% of British and 36% of Spaniards, according to an Ifop survey for the Fondation Jean Jaurès published on January 4, 2022. The investigation was conducted in September 2021, several months, therefore, before the government again imposes three days of teleworking per week to stem the epidemic wave due to the Omicron variant.
Fewer in number than their neighbors, the French who teleworked in 2021 therefore also did so less frequently.
Thus only 11% of our compatriots worked remotely 4 to 5 days a week, against 30% of Italians, 28% of Germans and 24% of British.
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France stands out on several other levels.
First, by particularly strong inequalities in access to teleworking, more than among our neighbors, depending on the socio-professional category - the CSP + use it more.
On the other hand, age matters less than elsewhere.
"31% of those under 35 work remotely at least once a week against 28% of those 50 and over," note the authors of the study.
This difference is stronger elsewhere and particularly in the United Kingdom. "
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Career and housework
France may seem to be lagging behind.
But that's not necessarily bad news.
Firstly because "it is in France that the number of days of teleworking desired is the lowest", note the authors of the study.
Only 14% of working people want to telework 4 to 5 days a week and 42%, two or three days.
We therefore want to go to the office and see our colleagues.
The sign, perhaps, that the memory of the painful telework, organized in emergency at the beginning of the crisis, is still alive in the spirits.
Since the start of the pandemic, indicators have multiplied: work overload, extended working hours, increased stress, the risk of depression or burnout, etc.
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Women are particularly exposed to it, especially during class closings. In September 2021, a survey by the Union of CGT Executive Engineers and Technicians revealed that they were more likely to combine work and childcare, to assume this responsibility alone (61%, compared to 31% of men), and that 'they could less often adapt their schedules or isolate themselves to telework. Added to this is an unequal distribution of household chores, as pointed out by another study, this time from the Boston Consulting Group, published in January.
In this area, the French are not worse off than their neighbors.
In 2019, 73% of them took on more household chores than their spouse, compared to 75% on average in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
This is not without consequences on health, mental or physical, as well as on the career: women are more exposed to the risk of going under the radars, due to a lack of time and energy to make themselves visible from a distance.
With a potential impact on their long-term professional progression.
If teleworking has certain advantages, on the balance of life times for example, a bad organization is enough to make it harmful.
And it's a safe bet that not all companies have managed to transform the test since the first containment.
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