Lhe remote working revolution is a textbook case of the diffusion of structural innovation in the economy. Its generalization is a major development that disrupts all dimensions of work: productivity, integration, union representation, management, etc.
The technological possibilities – deployment of broadband and videoconferencing applications – had existed for several years, but they were very little used due to work organization based on past habits. They spread naturally when the need suddenly emerged. The confinements imposed by the pandemic have not only led the world of work to appropriate these tools, but above all they have lastingly changed behavior.
An international survey, conducted at the end of 2021 by Nicholas Bloom and his team among employees with minimal initial training in twenty-seven countries, reveals that remote work represented 1.5 days of work per week (“ Working from Home Around the World », August 2022). Even taking into account differences in age structure and education level, the differences between countries are significant. More than 2 days in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada, the time devoted to remote working represented only 1.3 days in France, Austria or Spain.
The French telework less than others but are satisfied with their situation. When, in the same survey, they are asked about their wishes for the future, they maintain an average of 1.3 days per week and stand out from other countries by their lack of appetite for the possibility of a transition to 2 or 3 days a week.
Time saving
Part of the explanation is found in the analysis, by the same team of economists, of the use of the time savings generated by remote work (“ Time Savings when Working from Home », January 2023). For France, researchers estimate that a teleworking day saves more than an hour of time, essentially by eliminating the journey between home and work. But they also estimate that 44% of this saved time is used… to work in one’s main job or another job, and only 26% is devoted to leisure.
Here again, the French differ from the others, who devote a lower part of their time savings to work: 31% in Germany and Spain, 35% in Austria and Sweden and 38% in the United Kingdom. We thus find a phenomenon well described by Maëlezig Bigi and Dominique Méda in one of the chapters of What do we know about work? (Presses de Sciences Po, 608 pages, 22 euros): compared to others, the French attach more importance to their work, but suffer from relatively worse working conditions.
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