the concept of “free time” must be clarified according to the Economic, Social and Environmental Council

At the request of the government, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council worked for six months on new forms of organization of working time.

After numerous hearings, and an online survey to which 10,000 citizens responded, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) recommends in particular clarifying the notion of “free time”.

franceinfo: Why this need to work on new forms of organization of working time?

Sarah Lemoine: The first observation is that the standard working week, from Monday to Friday, during the day, at fixed times, and for 35 hours, is no longer the norm at all, contrary to what one might believe. It only concerns 36% of employees. Which means that 64% work atypical hours, Saturday, Sunday, night, or staggered hours.

Then, private and public workers and self-employed people who responded to the CESE survey express a very strong desire to control their life time. With notable divergences on the subject of disconnection for example. If half of respondents want not to be disturbed outside of collective working hours, another half want to be able to decide when they disconnect, particularly those who have children. “Which suggests that the right to disconnect as it was conceived is already “has been”, underlines Christelle Caillet, co-rapporteur of the EESC opinion.

Finally, 75% of those surveyed feel that their working days are becoming more and more intense. What the EESC translates as “an emergency to slow down”with the need to train managers, and evaluate the workload, during mandatory annual interviews.

The urgency to slow down, is that where the notion of free time comes in?

With digital tools, teleworking, nomadic work, day packages, part-time work, fragmented work, but also on-call duty – which is considered rest time – gray areas are favored. Free time must be considered as time distinct from working time, outside of any professional constraints.

However, it has no legal definition and cannot be protected. This is an anomaly for the EESC, which recommends that this notion be first included in the social charter of social rights at European level. Time to mature the debate, before a possible revision in the French Labor Code.