Most often reserved for executives since the end of the Covid pandemic, teleworking has become more desirable, allowing employees who benefit from it to improve their working conditions and their health, according to two studies published Tuesday.
Before the health crisis, remote working only concerned less than one in ten employees, most often one day a week at most, according to the responses of several tens of thousands of employees to three surveys on working conditions and work experiences, which served as the basis for the analysis by Dares, the research department of the Ministry of Labor.
During the pandemic in 2021, nearly a third of employees were affected, mostly three days a week or more. In 2023, there are only 26%, of which four-fifths work one or two days, or occasionally.
Between 2021 and 2023, the share of executives among teleworkers increased from 45% to 61%, while that of intermediate professions lost ten points, from 36% to 26%. It is 12% among employees and only 1% among workers.
Some 2.2 million employees in telework positions do not telework but would like to do so, according to the study, which specifies that this pool "is concentrated in professions where the practice of telework is most often well established", such as secretaries, accountants or bank and insurance employees.
In total, a third (34%) of employees want to work remotely, the majority of them between two and four days a week, with only 8% wanting to do so full time.
"Overall, there is a gap between wishes and practice, which already existed in 2021, but it was rather people who wanted (...) to reduce their amount of teleworking, now they want to do more," Louis-Alexandre Erb, one of the authors of the study, stressed during a press presentation.
– Differences between women and men –
"Teleworkers have more autonomy and work less intensely when they are remote rather than on site," notes a second study by Dares, based on the responses of more than 38,000 people to a survey.
The main place of telework is at 98% the home, and in only 2% of cases a specific space, for example co-working, and 45% of teleworkers have a room dedicated to telework at home.
Compared to working within a group, remote working reduces interruptions to tasks and the pressure felt, with the most frequently cited drawbacks being the lack of discussion or support from colleagues, or the lack of suitable resources made available.
In terms of health, the situation has changed radically in a few years. "Teleworkers had a higher proportion of employees in poor health, with disabilities or with a high risk of depression," the study recalls.
But in 2023, "teleworkers are generally in better health than other employees who do not telework, even if they believe that their duties would allow them to do so."
However, women who work remotely tend to be more presentee than others, i.e. not stopping when they are sick, while there is no notable difference among men depending on whether they work remotely or not.
According to employees' statements, working from home allows "a better balance between professional and private life within couples working from home, especially for men" who devote more of the time saved in transport "to leisure and childcare, while women reserve it more for domestic work".
Therefore, "even when teleworking is practiced, domestic work is not better distributed between women and men, except within couples with young children." It could therefore promote a reduction in inequalities, but only "temporarily."
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