Illustration of teleworking.

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Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

  • Telecommuting has become the norm for many employees.

  • While many find themselves there, others suffer from being compartmentalized in their homes.

  • A professor of psychiatry interviewed by

    20 Minutes

    insisted on the need to separate the different times of the day.

Since March 2020, because of the coronavirus, teleworking has imposed itself by force in the life of companies and employees.

Overnight, people used to office life found themselves alone (or with their children) in front of their computer screens.

A large majority has gradually become accustomed to this new life and to the advantages it provides (less travel time, easier to organize, etc.), and therefore widely approves of teleworking.

The government also strongly insists that the device be used to the maximum, as long as the epidemic remains at a high level.

Unfortunately, some can't take it anymore.

Young people, seniors, men, women ... many profiles, very varied, responded to the call for witnesses launched by

20 Minutes

on the overdose of teleworking.

For them, staying at home has become a real nightmare.

“Since the first confinement, I have only returned to the site during the summer,” explains Marion, 36, responsible for a website.

I feel a phenomenon of wear, although my job fascinates me.

However, I have team time: sharing, remote seminars, training, maintenance.

But it does not replace human contact ”.

"I smoke and I drink more"

For this mother of a family, teleworking is far from being an advantage: “I don't free up time for myself.

I just increase my mental load by having in front of me, between meetings, everything there is to do in my house!

I don't consider having the time to run a machine, vacuum or cook for the whole family during my breaks is a great societal advance ”.

Same thing for Alix, 45 years old: “I have been in total telecommuting since March 2020. It is very difficult since September.

Tired of washing machines, of only talking to someone for 5 minutes a day.

I want to go out !

".

“I can't stand teleworking anymore, I lack motivation and human relationships.

I don't know what day it is anymore ”, for her part, laments Marie-Christine, a 61-year-old lawyer.

For her part, Myrtil lives alone in her Parisian apartment.

“In the second confinement, I cried during Macron's announcement, knowing that I was going to be 100% teleworked again,” says this engineer.

My working hours have greatly increased.

I gained weight since I don't move anymore.

I sleep badly because my mind continues to think about work and my body is not physically tired.

I smoke and I drink more… ”.

"Real cuts"

Consequences which do not surprise Michel Lejoyeux *, professor of psychiatry at the University of Paris.

“High-dose teleworking can create real suffering, especially when it is no longer possible to separate the times of life: work, leisure, meals.

We need real cuts.

On Sundays, for example, you should not look at your files, even if the computer is in the living room ”.

Confinement causes real psychic suffering, but also organizational difficulties.

Didier is the laboratory manager.

“We have sometimes reached the limits of what can be done by teleworking,” he writes.

Who has not encountered difficulties in managing teams in the field?

Far from the daily life of the staff, how much "innocuous" information is no longer delivered and leads to blockages or difficulties?

".

"My mental health comes before the rest"

Faced with all these limits, some have decided to end, at least partially, with 100% teleworking.

“I got permission to come back to the office because I'm on the verge of depression,” says Erwan, 49.

Working all day in your bedroom with a helmet is not healthy.

With the curfew, I didn't even go out during the day ”.

"It is extremely important to keep real relationships apart from videoconferences," insists Michel Lejoyeux.

You really have to spend time, every day, with one or two people, at least on the phone.

It can be a colleague you like, a friend.

We have to find this sociability ”.

“I really appreciate these moments,” continues Morgane, who has returned to her business intermittently since the start of the year.

I was able to find my colleagues and realize how a physical presence allows for better communication.

In teleworking, we are only informed of the essentials, what concerns our position or our service, while what we could call "corridor conversations" sometimes make it possible to advance many subjects ”.

For this 32-year-old accountant, 100% teleworking is “no.

A year of effort is already a lot.

And my sanity comes before the rest.

"

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* 

Author of "The 4 time of rebirth"

p

aru in 2020

(E

d. Jean-Claude Lattes, 19.90 euros)

  • Society

  • Coronavirus

  • Teleworking

  • Stress

  • Burn out