To try to curb Covid contamination, teleworking becomes mandatory at least three days a week from this Monday until January 22. “Personally I can’t, I live in a shared apartment and my roommate is there all day and there is only one living room”, explains Baptiste, employee in customer service of a mutual insurance company based in Bordeaux.
“You have to be seated, calm, there shouldn’t be too much noise. In my bed with the coffee and the cigarette, it’s not very professional to answer customers”
“We’re a little bit broken up”
Compulsory teleworking is, on the other hand, welcome for Hervé, manager at the Gironde Departmental Council. “Personally, it suits me very well because it allows me to avoid transport”. For many employees and administrative agents, the measure “do not change anything”. “It’s a continuity” for Marion, manager of retirement homes.
“You have to be careful not to spend your day at work because you can start very early and finish very late”
“We were already three days away from teleworking, we will go to four days, says David who works in public administration. We are equipped, and teleworking is not the same thing when the children are at school … If we have a space at home, with a good Internet connection, that is not a problem. “
“Complicated for teams and clients”
For most employees working from home, one of the main difficulties lies in the loss of cohesion between colleagues. “It’s a constraint, I regret it, I do it reluctantly”, says Anne. Chartered accountant in the Arcachon basin, Romain has equipped his team with computer equipment but it remains “complicated”. “In accounting, this is a pivotal period for us. The first five months of the year, we are on the closing of the balance sheets on December 31st. So we have this presence, I would say, mandatory in an agency because clients expect us to be received and to have advice. “
_ “We have the kids in the room, we are constantly in demand with the children so it’s quite complicated”
“There are certain positions such as courier services which cannot be teleworked”
President of the Médef de la Gironde, Franck Allard claims to have “recommended to its employees and especially managers to increase to four the number of telework days per week” within the insurance group he heads, Filhet-Allard. “We are in a profession where teleworking is easily set up, and then the first confinement allowed us to train”. The boss of the Girondins, however, regrets that the government is brandishing the threat of financial sanctions against recalcitrant companies.
“In life, I think it’s always unpleasant to have threats”
Franck Allard ensures that Gironde business leaders also respect the legislation on teleworking (the same protection in the event of an accident at work, the maintenance of the restaurant voucher, respect for breaks and the right to disconnect…). “Of course they respect them”. “If a boss wants a high-performance company, employees attached to their company, it is a balance to be found and it is not by doing just anything.”