In an unprecedented health context, companies have been forced to make massive use of teleworking. This period has changed the way of working and risks profoundly changing practices that were already in transition. Today, 85% of teleworkers wish to keep the possibility to work from home (1). However, in the face of this craze, questions remain: is teleworking still a good experience? If so, under what conditions? How are companies organising themselves today to cope with this new situation? We have carried out the survey for you in this article!
Telework: a practice favoured by employees under certain conditions
Telework already existed before the COVID crisis. 36,000 employees (around 39% of eligible staff) regularly or occasionally benefited from it in France on a voluntary basis with a maximum of three days per week (2). Since then, it has been experimented by nearly 5 million French people (3) during the period of containment.
Saving time, savings…the positive points
A study carried out by Opinionway for Jouve, in partnership with Maddyness, during the first fortnight of June shows that the experience has been well lived, but there are points for improvement to be sustained, as shown in the figures below (4).
Teleworking has many positive points and, not surprisingly, commuting time comes first. 63% of the panel believes that teleworking allows them to save time on journeys. Teleworking allows them to organise themselves better (44%) and save money. For 38% of the participants in the study, teleworking allows them to better control their food budget (38%). Finally, 25% of employees feel that they are more productive at home than at the office.
Isolation, psychosocial risks…areas of risk
However, teleworking involves difficulties that the employer must take into account in order to perpetuate this new way of working:
- Lack of contact with colleagues and management;
- The risk of isolation;
- Difficulty in defining the boundary between professional and personal life, which can be a source of stress.
Continue teleworking, yes, but under what conditions?
Again according to the study carried out by Opinionway for Jouve, more than 9 out of 10 employees would like to prolong this experience, but for 51% of them, only a few days a week or occasionally (26%). One of the conditions for the success of working from home is to be equipped with quality computer equipment (45%), an allowance for electricity (43%) and better office equipment.
Teleworking: HR directors and managers advocate a hybrid model
The HRDs note that the lines have moved since the containment. “We’ve crossed to the other side and we can’t go back,” says Audrey Richard, president of ANDRH, the national association of HRDs. According to a survey carried out by the ANDRH (5), 85% of the HR directors think that the development of telework in a sustainable way is desirable. Like the employees, they advocate “a hybrid model combining face-to-face and teleworking”. 60% of HR thus envisage having more than a quarter of their employees teleworking with an average of 2 days per week (6).
For HR managers, the benefits are as follows (7):
A better response to employees’ expectations (93%)
An increase in productivity (64%)
A reduction in the company’s carbon footprint (61%)
The HR directors are also aware that teleworking is bringing about changes: the need to overhaul the managerial system for 93% of the HRDs.
The role of the manager has to evolve in order to be able to manage teams remotely most of the time. With this new paradigm, the manager must maintain team cohesion, make employees evolve, keep a sense of mission and set objectives. A new challenge to take up!
A change in working methods towards greater employee autonomy (87%), more collaboration between teams (59%) and transparency (59%).
In an article from the world, Olivier Girard, President France-Benelux of Accenture states: “Teleworking is not an end in itself. When we are no longer in a health crisis, we will probably not remain at 30% of the French economy in telework, but the organisation of work will have become hybrid, with telework and face-to-face work (8). »
Telework: what models have been put in place?
The companies that have chosen to make it the norm
According to the France Inter site, the automotive group PSA has chosen to make teleworking the norm and office presence the exception. Teams will now only come to work physically for one to one and a half days a week, with the obvious exception of employees employed in car manufacturing activities, which still require a physical presence.
As also shown by a survey of the Europe 1 site, some companies still practice 100% teleworking. At ADP, publisher of payroll solutions, the 2,300 employees have still not returned to the office since the end of the confinement and all practice teleworking.
A return on a voluntary basis
Others opt for the possibility of offering their employees the opportunity to return to the office, but in a limited way. This is the case of Microsoft France, where teleworking remains a priority, but those who wish to do so can return to the office, which can accommodate up to 150 people out of a total staff of 1,800.
And you, how do you organize telework in your company?
Previous Intuition Software News : Extending paternity leave in France : what we know
(1) Opinionway survey
(2) La tribune: a brake on teleworking.
(3) Source: Ministry of Labour
(4) Opinionway study
(5) ANDRH and BCG: “The future of work as seen by HR directors”, June 2020.
(6) Source LCI: “Teleworking: one, two or three days a week, what is the right balance? »
(7) ANDRH and BCG: “The future of work as seen by HRDs” June 2020
(8) Le Monde: “Télétravail, ce qu’en retient les entreprises”, Anne Rodier, 17 May 2020
