The Minister of Labor, Elisabeth Borne, announced on Wednesday January 19 to the representatives of the employers’ and employees’ trade union organizations that the government was considering extending “for two more weeks” the rule providing for a minimum of three days of telework per week to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic, we learned from the ministry.
The Minister explained to the trade unions that “the health situation, even if it seems[ait] move towards a plateau, do not seem[ssait] not to date allow an immediate lifting or relaxation of telework measures”, we added from the same source. These measures must still be confirmed on Thursday, following a health defense council.
Since January 3, the company health protocol provides that employers set “a minimum number of three days of teleworking per week, for positions that allow it”. This rule was initially put in place for three weeks.
“Last push”
During the meeting with the social partners, the minister said she hoped it would be a “last push” and that the health indicators would then make it possible to “Switch back to a recommendation (and no longer an obligation), with a target of two to three days of teleworking per week”, the ministry said.
Employers would have liked the government to waive the obligation without waiting two additional weeks. “We regret this decision which will weigh on certain sectors of the economy and on employee morale. We would have preferred an incitement to coercion”, reacted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) a spokesman for Medef.
Same story on the side of the Confederation of SMEs. “Companies, frankly, are playing the game, and both employees and employers are worn out by this situation [de télétravail obligatoire]. We would have liked to move from obligation to incentive”, underlined to AFP the president of the CPME, François Asselin.
Curbing Omicron Variant Thrust
The Prime Minister, Jean Castex, had called in December to promote teleworking, at the rate of two to three days a week. Just before Christmas, on Europe 1, Mme Borne had invited companies “to prepare to strengthen telework from January 3”. The employers’ and employees’ trade union organizations themselves, during a meeting on December 20 with the Minister, had cited the extension of telework as one of the “levers” possible to slow down the thrust of the Omicron variant.
If teleworking is indeed covered by a company agreement, the executive can impose a minimum rule under worker protection measures. In the fall of 2020, the company health protocol had thus imposed teleworking as a rule for several months, even specifying that it should be “raised to 100% for employees who can perform all of their tasks remotely “, before being relaxed in stages.
In November 2021, around 25% of employees regularly teleworked, according to figures from Dares, the statistics department of the Ministry of Labor, published on December 23. At the height of the crisis, in the spring of 2020, this figure had risen to 40% – which means that there is indeed room for maneuver on this question.
Despite the reinforced government guidelines, telework did not progress noticeably in early January, according to a Harris Interactive poll for the Ministry of Labor published last week. During the week of January 3 to 9, among working people who could telecommute easily, 60% had thus telecommuted at least partially (58% in mid-December), the figures increasing more in Ile-de-France (going from 62% to 69%).
The government has since provided penalties for companies that do not play the game, with the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccine pass adopted on Sunday by Parliament. The text provides for the possibility of administrative fines for companies that do not comply with health instructions, in particular with regard to teleworking. These fines may go up to 500 euros per employee, within the limit of 50,000 euros.