The relaxation of teleworking begins, on Wednesday, June 9, a return to normal for employees. Telework is still a part of “The prevention approach” against Covid-19, but is no longer the rule. One day, two days, three days on site: there are as many back-to-school scenarios as companies’ responses to questions of work autonomy, territorial mobility and employee health. The public service has already decided on three days of teleworking per week. In the private sector, the underlying trend is showing a very gradual and negotiated return, with the objective of re-mobilizing everyone by the start of the school year in September.
The new health protocol, which comes into force on June 9, specifies that each company must determine, through social dialogue, a minimum number of teleworking days per week for activities that allow it. The ball is therefore in the companies’ court. They have carte blanche to go beyond one day of presence per week. But whatever their size or their sector of activity, the first steps of the return are felted and cautious. “They measured that they would have difficulty in bringing back employees. Some are afraid, others have developed good habits from a distance and are installed in a kind of telecommuting comfort. They do not envisage a major turn of the screw to bring them back until the September deadline ”, explains Aymeric Hamon, associate lawyer at Fidal, a business law firm.
The negotiations that are opening with the social partners consist in determining the presence of employees on site rather than a minimum number of days teleworked, and not necessarily from June 9. “We positioned ourselves on June 14, because we are planning the organization at the start of the week. We aim to bring employees back for at least two days face-to-face, against one currently, on a voluntary basis. It is a first, intermediate step. Our ambition is to go to a minimum of three days during the summer, but everything will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. Employees must be reassured about compliance with health security. We are going to do a lot of communication ”, explains Frédéric Gautier, HR Director for Europe at Dassault Systèmes.
“Summer will be a period of transition”
Until then, the presence of 4,000 employees on site was capped at 20% of the workforce at the software specialist, as at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, an organization of intermediate size (1,000 employees) which decided to do nothing change until the end of June. “The new teleworking agreement, whether regular or occasional, has just been negotiated in December 2020 [plus de 1 000 accords de télétravail ont été négociés ou renégociés dans les entreprises depuis la crise liée au Covid-19], explains HRD, Eric Lechelard. We are not going to jump with both feet on the date of June 9. The social partners have already been told that the status quo will be maintained until the end of the month. The summer will be a period of transition with a gauge proposed to 50% of the workforce. “
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