How companies are preparing to return to telecommuting on a large scale

INVESTIGATION

Crucial day for the executive: in the face of the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic, stronger measures must be taken than the curfew.

According to information from Europe 1, before a second Defense Council Wednesday morning, the government favors the track of a generalized reconfinement.

Exceptions are said to be being studied at Bercy to preserve certain sectors.

But there is already a certainty: telework will become almost compulsory in companies where the activity lends itself to it.

But are they ready, while the economic recovery is still fragile?

Europe 1 investigated.

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A return to school means a return to the office

If all the French, or almost, have experienced teleworking during confinement, the situation has changed a lot since the deconfinement.

According to the latest survey by Dares - the statistics department of the Ministry of Labor - the September start was synonymous with a return to the site: 70% of employees have returned to their offices.

As a result, only 12% are still teleworking full time today.

Even if, in large cities where the health situation has already deteriorated for several weeks, partial or complete teleworking concerns up to 30 to 50% of employees.

But that's not enough to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

"When you are on a post where you can telework, you have to telework," Labor Minister Élisabeth Borne asked again on Tuesday.

In the days to come, the incentive could give way to an obligation.

Many companies will therefore have to backtrack and send employees home.

But the situation looks different from that of March.

Big companies are ready ...

To take their pulse in this uncertain period, Europe 1 has contacted dozens of companies.

A very heterogeneous observation emerges.

First, there are the large companies, which are not worried.

In March, they had to deploy teleworking for thousands of employees in a few days.

An experience that served as a crash test, they say.

In the insurance and banking sectors, for example, everything is ready.

At BNP Paribas, 60% of employees are still teleworking today, at least part-time.

So going further will not be a huge effort. 

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Some groups have also set up a unit dedicated to the organization of work in times of Covid.

Objective: react as quickly as possible after the government's announcements.

This is the case at Orange.

"We put 60,000 people in telework in the spring. We will do it again without problem if necessary," we are told at the operator.

"It will complicate our life a bit in terms of organization. But, in a way, we have learned to telework so it will be less painful than in March", summarizes Benoît Serre, vice-president of the Association. national HR department.

... but SMEs are less optimistic

On the other hand, SMEs look down on the idea of ​​going back to total teleworking.

Their business was hit hardest by the economic crisis, so as soon as possible they brought their employees back to the site to get the machine going.

And for many, the fear is that teleworking will break the fragile recovery that began in September.

Despite everything, reluctantly or not, all companies say it: they will adapt.

Thus, according to a survey conducted for Europe 1 by the Center for Young Leaders, more than a third of companies that can already plan to switch back entirely to telework in the coming days.

Without going that far, although teleworking remains flexible and not compulsory, this survey shows that companies are anticipating other measures to continue operating on site in compliance with health rules: stricter rules for lunches with colleagues (33 %), a turnover of teams in the offices (30%), rearrange work schedules (27%), accelerate the digitization of work tools (24%) ...

Concern for the physical and moral health of employees 

Companies will therefore try to adapt as best as possible to future health constraints.

And that still raises the question of the impact on employees.

Teleworking worked in March, but not everyone experienced it well.

It will therefore be necessary to be even more vigilant than in the spring against psychosocial risks.

"Whatever they are, these measures will be imposed on tired companies and employees", underlines Benoît Serre, of the ANDRH.

"There is the anxiety caused by the virus, that linked to the future of his business and then that, sometimes, concerning his relatives. What worries us the most is the risk of exhaustion, of burn- out… "

And here again, it is in small businesses that a second round of generalized teleworking risks leaving its mark.

A study carried out by CPME this summer clearly showed: for more than 80% of SME owners, teleworking limits team cohesion and increases the risk of isolation.

And, according to figures from the Ministry of Labor, in one in two companies where teleworking is possible, it is still perceived today as an additional difficulty in terms of organization.

Hence the unions' call for internal negotiations in each company on the return to teleworking.