BMany of the current debates in the areas of work and employment can be linked, in our opinion, to a weakening of the use of time in professional life. A “model of haste” marks the evolution of work in industrialized countries over the past thirty years, with its features well described by statistical surveys and researchers from several disciplines: shortening of deadlines, accumulation of more time constraints. or less (in)compatible with each other, unforeseen tasks, more dispersed schedules, acceleration of changes and mobility.
In business decisions or public policies, this model is often considered untouchable. This is evidenced by the scarcity of debates on this subject. The intensification of work, long denied, is now seen as inevitable: such is economic competition or, in administration, the “rationalized” use of public funds.
However, if we are interested, for example, in the difficulties of recruitment and retention, we are immediately confronted with the temporal conditions of reception and the transmission of professional knowledge. We can think of this caregiver, unwilling to supervise a new colleague, because she herself lacks time for that and because she is hesitant about what to show her: how to do a “beautiful toilet”. » to the patient, or how to be expeditious?
Unhappiness of supervisors
If we want to better understand the unpopularity of raising the retirement age, we must bear in mind that the repetition of emergencies, in the work itself or in its transformations, is more problematic when age advances, because it compromises the implementation of the resources of experience. This is why many executive assistants, for example, find this job demanding when they are over fifty, and try to move to a calmer role – but at the cost of less interest in work. So many reasons not to want to extend your professional life…
If we are concerned about the signs of discomfort among supervisors, we must pay attention to the contradiction that they must manage between, on the one hand, an increasingly rigorous battery of performance indicators and, on the other hand, increased responsibility for the quality of life at work of their teams. Which results, among other things, for administrative service managers, in “leave their door open”in order to be approached at any time by subordinates, but also, and consequently, to extend their hours to isolate themselves and deal with thorny issues, early in the morning and/or late in the evening.
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