It is not just hospitals and the state apparatus that are preparing for stage 3 of the coronavirus epidemic. Large companies, too, organize themselves in this perspective. The most explored avenue is the massive use of telework. This is at least the solution for which EDF, PSA, the banks and the insurance companies that we interviewed are preparing.
With a number of employers winking amid the mobilization against the pension reform: "Thanks to the strikes in December! They enabled us to verify in situation that telework does not affect our performance. We can So put that back, and even, faced with the coronavirus crisis, move to a larger scale, "said one of them.
Noémie, for example, works in a real estate group in Paris. On Wednesday, at the request of the HRD, all the employees, or 1,000 people in total, were asked to stay at home to test the device for a day. "We are going to test the remote connection to have access to the network and the documents we work with every day. We must also verify that the remote meetings work. It is not a question of stopping to work!"
Telework deployed on a large scale is no longer a human challenge, but a technical challenge. The "pipes" must be sufficiently calibrated to pass the millions of data that employees will send from home.
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Strict supervisory measures where telework is not possible
In companies where telework is not applicable, supervision measures are increasing. In the PSA factory in Sochaux, the largest in the group, employees now work to the rhythm of the precautionary measures taken by management. In the canteen, one chair out of two has been removed to make room between the employees. Their temperature is taken at the entrance to the factory and a special leaflet invites the 8,000 people who work on the site to take responsibility, and respect essential hygiene rules. "Two days ago, I ran into my boss, I wanted to say hello to him. He said to me: 'the next time you do that, I will punish you'," reports a worker.
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"We were given a paper towel roll and a bleach spray. Each operator cleans his tools to remove the virus if the person before is contaminated," said another employee. "If an epidemic breaks out in the factory, it can have a financial impact on the group." Finally, all visits from people outside the site have been suspended until further notice.