Telework: preventing social tensions between blue and white collar workers

Preventing blue collar/white collar social tensions

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Findings

36% of the working population can - potentially - telework. These are mainly executives or intermediate/intellectual professions. Not surprisingly, workers, salesmen, care professionals (home help, maintenance workers, carers - often low-paying jobs) cannot telework. 2/3 of the working population are therefore not eligible to telework. How can you prevent social tensions when implementing hybrid work in your organization?

Our solutions

• To restore equity between tele-fragile and tele-robust workers, the introduction of flexible working hours for employees who are ineligible to telework may be favored as a compensatory benefit for professionals who are not eligible to telework.
  

• This benefit can also take the form of additional days off, meal tickets allocated to non-teleworkers.
  
• Some decision-makers are also considering the implementation of a four-day week for tele-fragile employees.
  
• In its latest report, Terra Nova invites organizations to "create an obligation for medium and large companies to devote a dedicated budget to improving working conditions for non-eligible positions. The dedicated budget would be estimated by the difference between the quantifiable savings due to telework (savings on floor space and other overheads) and the additional costs borne by the company (purchase of equipment for teleworkers, third-party premises borne by the company, etc.).
  
  This budget would then be allocated in part to the improvement of jobs not eligible for telework, either to make them at least partly eligible for telework, or to reduce their drudgery. The calculation of the budget and its use would be discussed in the CSE meeting and could also be checked by the Chartered Accountant appointed by the CSE during his annual mission of analysis of the accounts."
  
• The think tank also urges policymakers to "address the factors that are a barrier to blue-collar telecommuting." According to the paper, "For example, the barrier of aging 'in-house' IT applications that cannot be used remotely is often identified. Similarly, the lack of computer skills of some blue-collar workers hinders the dematerialization of their tasks. The fight against illiteracy is thus an essential response."

Good to know

The prospect of risks of social tensions must be qualified: social dialogue is often very fluid when it comes to work hybridization. Employers and employees are measured on the use of remote work and keep in mind the psycho-social risks linked to this way of working, which is far from being appreciated by all employees.

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Telework: Ensuring Equity Between Blue and White Collar Workers

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Two years after the beginning of the epidemic, the foundations of the employee/employer pact have been transformed. Flexibility, trust, a better work/life balance and freedom to organize working hours: these are the new credos of the majority of post-covid workers. Hybrid work will be the norm with 2 to 3 days of telework in 2025, according to the latest survey conducted by ANDRH and the BCG firm.

Whether it is full, regular or occasional, the use of telework seems to be a must today to boost the attractiveness of companies and their employer brand. If teleworking has many advantages - savings on travel time, lower CO2 emissions, freedom of organization for the employee - it also involves various psychological, social, insurance, managerial or organizational risks.

How can they be avoided? What mechanisms should be put in place to best support the hybridization of work in organizations? How can we make hybridization an opportunity for organizations rather than an obstacle? Discover here our advice and best practices to adopt to meet the challenge of hybrid transition.

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