The coronavirus crisis has resulted in an explosion in telework in France. Previously exceptional, it has become a norm during confinement, and this teleworking will continue over time with the new sanitary rules respected. Unions and employers will therefore have to negotiate to supervise this new form of remote work.
The crisis resulted in an explosion of telework. Unions and employers will now have to negotiate to frame it ...
Yes, and these discussions will hold surprises. A few weeks of confinement have indeed changed everything. By showing that in many professions, it was quite possible to generalize telework. And that it could become the norm, not the exception. Suddenly, the unions which, before the crisis, were rather demanding, are now saying that all this may be going too fast. And for their part, the departments, which tended to brake before the crisis, see better the advantages of telework, especially in terms of real estate cost since if it becomes widespread, it saves square meters of office space. In short, it is clear that there is a fundamental trend here. Before the crisis, 3% of employees teleworked one day a week. Since then, we are at 20% every day.
What can employers and unions negotiate on?
The problem with unions is that they are faced with employees who see telework as a new freedom and who take a liking to it. And suddenly directions that gear. The social network Twitter offers its employees the possibility to put themselves in telework as much as they want, for life if they wish. Others like Google or Facebook announce that the current regime will continue until at least 2021. In short, there is a trend towards generalization, which worries the unions who see it as a risk of dis-socialization, as we say in FO. There is also a risk of losing control over their troops. The negotiation between employers and unions must aim to frame what appears to be a new freedom: not simple ...