Margaux Fodéré with AFP 1:56 p.m., February 01, 2023
Agents of the Union for the collection of social security contributions and family allowances (Ursaff) in Picardy will be able to test the 36-hour week in four days for a year, an experiment on well-being at work, according to the minister delegate to Public Accounts Gabriel Attal, Tuesday in L'Opinion.
"Overall, the French are in favor of more freedom in their organization, even if not all of them want to accumulate 35 hours over four days", declared Gabriel Attal to the daily
L'Opinion
, confirming that the agents of the Ursaff (who work 36 hours a week) from Picardie can, if they wish, test the four-day week.
"I believe that many French people today aspire to work differently," said Gabriel Attal.
"The 35-hour week in four days, which 10,000 French people are already experimenting with in a wide variety of economic sectors such as industrial recycling or IT, can mean less time spent in transport, less stress, and ultimately more well-being at work".
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"Not the priority" for some agents
However, such a measure does not resolve the question of the working conditions of agents.
In any case, this is what an activist from the CGT Ursaff Île-de-France denounces: "The four-day week, as it appears, does not necessarily seem to me to be the priority today. In any case, the colleagues, that's not what they're talking about today. They're talking about salaries, they're talking about pensions, they're talking about the deterioration of working conditions," he explains.
"When you have departures who are not replaced, necessarily the workload rests on the colleagues, which in fact degrades the living conditions", he adds.
The idea of the four-day week is also not new, it has already been tested in other companies, particularly in the private sector.