Telecommuting is likely to have long-term positive effects on business productivity. This is the observation made by the National Productivity Council, attached to France Strategy, in a report which assesses the performance of France during the health crisis.
Eight out of ten teleworkers want to continue
Part of the report is devoted to the acceleration of telework over the past two years. While in 2019, 4% of employees practiced it regularly, this proportion rose to 27% in January 2021. Now, eight out of ten teleworkers say they want to continue teleworking, notes the council.
The use of occasional remote work is well on its way: nearly 38% of jobs in France would thus be teleworkable in the long term. According to analysts, one percentage point of the share of teleworkers in total employment would, on average, improve overall productivity by around 0.45%. Extrapolating to the longer term, the report says that expanding telework from 5% to 25% of total employment could improve output by around 9%.
This is a very optimistic analysis, but analysts prefer to remain cautious, claiming that it is a “first estimate”, to be confirmed once the situation has stabilized.
A positive perception of the hybrid model
Based on the previous two years, the perception of telework among the employees concerned is rather good. The CNP is based on an OECD survey according to which managers and employees have an “overall favorable” opinion of telework, both from the point of view of business performance and the well-being of individuals. According to the report, this argument is not negligible in the calculation of productivity since “efficiency gains are partly determined by employee satisfaction”.
However, 100% telework is not recommended. Analysts argue that employee satisfaction “can potentially increase when the rate of adoption of teleworking remains low”.
Beyond a certain threshold, teleworking can weaken communication and reduce social interactions. So there is a middle ground to be found. For the CNP, the ideal to be achieved would be between two or three days of teleworking per week. These estimates are rooted in the inverted “U” theory, presented by economists Antonin Bergeaud, Gilbert Cette and Simon Drapala. According to them, there is an optimal duration of telework located at an “intermediate level” to maximize productivity gains.
Something to delight, therefore, aficionados of the hybrid work model, to which organizations are increasingly aware.
Persistent Challenges
In the face of all these perspectives, there is theory… and there is practice. And in fact, the report does not fail to recall that the effects of teleworking on productivity remain heterogeneous depending on the nature of the tasks. Digital tools have their limits when it comes to maintaining close and frequent coordination between teams.
While some sectors such as information, communication and technical activities are distinguished by a large share of teleworkers, this is not the case for all employees, especially when it comes to carrying out “urgent and complex” tasks. , notes the report.
In addition, the rise of telework could even be a brake on the training and integration of new recruits in the longer term. According to the OECD, around 70% of managers believe that training staff in a teleworking environment is more difficult and that employees learn less “on the job”.
Reduce labor costs
The report also takes into account the consequences of telework on the cost of work. According to a study by the Banque de France cited by the CNP, companies planning to telework more in the future are 14% more likely to move.
However, the restructuring of land could push some to “reassess the location of their employees and reduce labor costs if these employees were to be located in lower cost areas”, according to the report.
Across the Atlantic, such harmful effects of permanent telework are already feared by American Google employees who decide to settle in less expensive cities.