Olympic Games 2024: teleworking on the program for employees in the Paris region

During the Olympic Games, “ 

the important thing is to telework

”: the slogan has been displayed since Monday January 29 in various train stations and metro stations in Ile-France, one more incentive while transport in the Ile-France region is often presented as the Achilles heel of the sporting event.

In France, companies were encouraged to implement teleworking to encourage the confinement imposed by the government to fight Covid-19 (illustration). GettyImages.

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With this new government campaign, Ile-de-France workers are warned, but not necessarily surprised. For several months, to avoid the embolism of the RER, buses and metro this summer, the former Minister of Transport Clément Beaune and the president of the region Valérie Pécresse have been urging “ 

all those who can to telework

” during the

Olympic Games

, from July 26 to August 11.

During the 2012 London Olympics, a third of London workers were at home

In a letter revealed by

Le Canard Enchaîné

, the prefect of the region Marc Guillaume warned that “ 

the saturation thresholds will be regularly exceeded

” during the Games for 11 metro lines, five RER lines and five Transiliens. During the

2012 London

Olympics

, a third of London workers had to stay at home to relieve public transport. For civil servants (there are more than a million in Ile-de-France), a circular from the former Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne already gave the color last November. While agreements in the public service provide for a maximum of three teleworking days per week, Elisabeth Borne recommended going beyond, relying on an article authorizing it in the context of “ 

exceptional circumstances

”.

In addition to teleworking, ministries will be able to decide on working hours and impose leave. Public employees will also be authorized to place more days of leave than usual in their time savings account (CET) in 2024.

Hoteliers and restaurateurs worried

There is no consensus on the government's incentive to telework, particularly among hoteliers and restaurateurs. “ 

For us, it is serious to call for teleworking. These are fewer customers

,” regrets Franck Delvau, president of the Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (UMIH) Paris Ile-de-France. “

 We saw what this looked like during Covid. Restaurants, cafes and bars found themselves without customers in certain neighborhoods

,” he continues. And it is not certain that foreign tourists will fill this shortfall. “ 

We are only told of 1.1 million foreign tourists, but in Paris, in a normal summer, there are more than three million

,” he recalls. In the United Kingdom, the number of foreign tourists was 5% lower in August 2012 than in 2011, during the London Olympic Games, according to the British Office of National Statistics (ONS).

According to the Labor Code, teleworking can only be implemented if the company and the employee both agree. In exceptional circumstances, the employer can impose teleworking on the employee, even if the employee refuses. The Olympics are not within the scope of exceptional circumstances. Only a judge could qualify the Games as an exceptional circumstance, as has already been the case for the Covid period.

If the French government wishes to impose teleworking, it can decide to do so by order. But such a decision could trigger political and union protests.

With

AFP

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