Tribune. 1er September, the obligation to telework linked to the pandemic was abolished. But this unprecedented experience of several months has shown that teleworking (at least part-time) made life easier for many employees, especially pregnant women and mothers of young children, with reduced transport times reducing their time. fatigue level.
Our research show, however, that, despite this very specific health context, these women had to fight to obtain concrete authorization to work from their homes. French managers were particularly reluctant to allow them to telework, often asking them for rewards, such as additional tasks, to be granted this “favor”, or encouraging them to come to the office, despite the health situation, if they wanted to obtain then such or such previously planned career development.
Pregnant women and mothers of young children interviewed as part of our survey very often claimed to have been made guilty by their managers for having made requests to telework, even though they testified to working longer and more efficiently from home.
The reluctance of managers
Assertions, which are moreover confirmed by a recent study carried out in Germany, establishing that teleworking women in practice devote more hours per day on average to their professional tasks than when they are in the office. At the end of the so-called “compulsory teleworking” period, many collective agreements have just extended the conditions of access to teleworking prior to the health crisis, but the practice within French organizations remains visibly complicated.
In general, French managers seem to be more and more reluctant to these practices, 25% of them declaring to be hostile to them in 2021 against 18% in 2019 (Telework Barometer 2021, Malakoff Humanis), including when management general is in favor. These managers are reluctant to “let go” and are particularly suspicious, as we have shown, of women. Frequently, financial bonuses or promotions that the participants in our study expected to obtain were not granted to them.
Their most rewarding tasks were often assigned to others in their absence, even though, on a recurring basis, they told us that they had worked extremely hard not to disorganize their team, to the point, for some, of having very close to overwork. This observation prompts us to make several recommendations.
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