Covid-19: no telework boom in early January

Europe 1 with AFP 9:08 p.m., January 11, 2022

The use of teleworking in the face of Covid-19 did not progress significantly in early January, according to an interactive Harris poll conducted for the Ministry of Labor, which on Tuesday deemed these results "not up to the level of the health situation".

Results "not up to" the health situation

During the week of January 3 to 9, the share of teleworkers remained relatively stable compared to mid-December: among those who have worked, 29% teleworked at least partially (compared to 30% during the week of 13 to 19 December), and among workers who can easily telework, 60% teleworked at least partially (58% in mid-December).

In Île-de-France, teleworking has increased more: 69% of workers who can easily telework have done so, against 62% in mid-December.

The number of days teleworked nevertheless increased slightly among workers who declared teleworking, going from 3 days on average in mid-December to 3.3 days.

Faced with the variant Omicron which gallops, the health protocol in the company provides since January 3, for three weeks, that employers set "a minimum number of three days of teleworking per week, for positions which allow it", a number which can be increased to 4 days a week.

The results of the survey were deemed "not up to the health situation" by the Ministry of Labor.

He defends, in view of these figures, the relevance of the administrative fines provided for by the bill establishing the vaccination pass (up to 1,000 euros per employee in the event of non-compliance with health instructions), arguing "that we cannot deal with the protection of the health of employees ".

However, the senators, who began examining the text on Tuesday, have these sanctions in their sights.

"Justified" sanctions

According to the survey, 76% of French people questioned consider these sanctions "justified" in the current context of the Covid epidemic.

The survey also shows that the people questioned feel a little less protected at their workplace with the health protocol, no doubt due to the wave of the Omicron variant: 74% feel protected, against 78% in mid-December.

The survey was carried out online from January 6 to 9, with a sample of 2,007 people representative of French people aged 18 and over, among whom 1,184 active workers are represented.