French firms resisted work from home order
ON the evening in October that French President Emmanuel Macron ordered his country back into lockdown, the chief executive of Thales told staff in a memo that anti-Covid measures already in place at the company conformed with the new requirements.
At the time, staff were required to wear a mask at work, stagger arrival and departure times and were permitted to work up to two days a week at home.
Macron had urged everyone to work from home full-time if they could – but the order was not legally binding and the final decision was left to employers.
Sensing a reticence at Thales, several unions complained to the labour inspectorate, hard-left CGT union said.
“The message from management (was) ‘we’re putting in place remote working but we must protect revenues’,” said Gregory Lewandowski, a Thales delegate at the CGT. “You’re left feeling that revenues were more important than health.”
Thales denied being reluctant to allow home-working, saying employees able to fulfil their tasks outside the workplace were permitted to do so up to five days a week.
Across France, some companies, from blue chip majors to small caps, pushed back against the call for fulltime remote-working, according to interviews with employees, trade unions and a top labour ministry official. Employees and union officials described management concerns about productivity and earnings.
French firms had been quicker than some European peers to recall employees to the office after a first Covid-19 confinement. An AlphaWise survey showed that by late July 83% of office staff in France were back at the workplace, compared with 34% in Britain.
Keen to maximise productivity, some French employers were reluctant to let staff go again. And often employees, weary from the isolation of the first lockdown, wanted to split their time between home and office.
“We had to bang our fists on the table and say no, this is how it is,” a senior labour ministry official said of the days that followed the president’s October 28 announcement. Health authority data in late October showed that one in every five Covid-19 clusters under investigation originated at the workplace, second only to care homes.
Google mobility data for France shows people are making more journeys to the workplace during the second lockdown compared with the spring confinement.
Macron also allowed more categories of workers – such as construction workers, engineers and nannies – to keep working during the second lockdown. Even so, a poll from November 12-17 by Deskeo, showed 77% of respondents saying their employer had required them to be in the office every day, or several days a week.
And France has seen some of the highest infection rates of the second Covid-19 wave in Europe. “You cannot have such a strong virus rebound without infection at the workplace,” said epidemiologist Martin Blachier.
One woman employed by a war veterans’ group said her manager called her requests to work remotely full-time “tedious”. “I now feel I’m playing Russian roulette (with my health),” she said.
When Macron changed his call to full-time remote working, human resources directors vented their frustration to the labour ministry. Officials say a sharp fall in infections since mid-November indicates enough workers are now staying away from the office. But it’s been a battle.