This text is part of the special booklet Defining priorities on the large table of commitments
Among the unsuspected effects of the pandemic, which have taken many by surprise, are those that have profoundly upset the world of work. Who would have thought that the house would suddenly turn into an office, that colleagues would be scattered everywhere and that meeting rooms would most often have a virtual form?
Some predicted, even hoped, these changes, but for the vast majority of people, the thing seemed impossible before March 2020. 2017. Transformations that could have taken ten years have taken place in less than two years. »
If we must take note of these upheavals, the danger would also be to accept them all without analyzing them, and without recognizing their repercussions on the human level. Because they are numerous, and Luc Vachon calls for caution “in the face of telework which causes isolation and no longer operates at all as a cut between our job and our personal life”. And he is also worried about the upheavals that are already taking place in terms of working conditions.
As creativity unfolds in all areas, it may also be felt in this one. “Some will manage to find loopholes in the regulations, which will create precariousness, he worries. We are in danger of witnessing an increase in employment statuses, and of what could be called bogus self-employed workers. The phenomenon is also very present in the sharing economy, a sector recognized for not always sharing its profits fairly. “There are many protections related to the status of employee which are lost, watered down, with these transformations”, notes Luc Vachon.
The work of the future and the future of work
What will the job market be like in 5 or 10 years? Here again, the present pandemic remains an excellent lesson in the humility to cultivate in the face of predictions. But certain trends are already emerging, and the CSD is determined to take part in the reflection, in order to better take action.
“Several theories are being discussed, according to Luc Vachon, such as the one that the changes will not be so significant. Others claim that of the jobs of 2030, almost 50% do not yet exist. This may be variable geometry, but there is still a limit to what new technologies can accomplish, in the agri-food sector for example. »
And if these technologies make life easier for companies to a certain extent, everyone still has to be able to jump on the bandwagon. “There are still a little more than 40% of workers who experience difficulties in literacy and numeracy, deplores the unionist. Faced with these major transformations, we must use all means to help them resume a learning path, to develop their skills. We cannot accept that a fringe of the working population be further marginalized and weakened. In this context, the work environment thus becomes a real factor of exclusion.
Not to mention that these same technologies, which are evolving at very high speed, also cause their share of stress and overwork. “We have the impression that these have lightened the tasks,” emphasizes Luc Vachon. They are either equally important or more important. No wonder we are witnessing a meteoric rise in various psychosocial risks. Fortunately, they have just been included in the Act to modernize the occupational health and safety system [sanctionnée en 2021]. »
If the predictions are often risky, if the future sometimes turns out to be worrying, Luc Vachon is of the opinion that we must reflect now on our priorities as a society. “The unbridled consumption, the GDP which calculates neither the environmental costs nor the distribution of wealth, that must be part of our major reflections in the coming years. Not to mention that we must also review the place of work in our lives, and consider it as a tool for valorization, socialization, personal development, and not as this place of all discomfort, while they are in strong growth. If work weren’t so important in people’s lives, it wouldn’t affect them so much. »