Grande Flemme: "Let's stop saying that young people don't want to work anymore

The transformations of the relationship to work "are multiple", said Olivier Dussopt Friday at the opening of the Assises du Travail in Paris, but they "should not let us succumb to the cliché that the younger generations would no longer like to work.

"A large majority of them simply wish to work differently, to work better in short (...) The supposed great resignation or great laziness of the French is a cliché. The right to laziness is a provocation (...) Work remains an essential value of our society," said the Minister of Labor.

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The "Grande Flemme" in figures: 

• 30% of respondents say they are less motivated than before
  
• 40% of 25-34 year olds report being less motivated than before (compared to only 21% of those over 65).
  
• 41% of French people feel more tired than before the Covid crisis after a physical effort, against 54% who do not feel any change
  
• Overhead projector sales have been growing at about 50% per year since 2020
  
• 52% of French people had used home meal delivery at least once in the year (Ifop, 2021)

The Assises du Travail were launched on Friday at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers as part of the Conseil national de la refondation (CNR).

Three themes are on the program and are the subject of round tables: relationships at work, health and quality of life at work and finally democracy at work.

For each of these themes, "a referent will lead the work (...) Events will also be organized in the territories", added the Minister who set "as a goal a formalization of these proposals for the end of February".

They may take the form of "legislative provisions, negotiations or consultations, evaluation work, but also guides to good practice".

The end of the single employer 

On the relationship to work, Mr. Dussopt emphasized that "we have now left the classic model of the single employer. The question of career paths and the notion of salaried employment must be questioned".

"Certain characteristics of work are more particularly valued today," he said. "The ability to take initiative, the autonomy in the work performed are more and more mentioned by employees as meaningful, far from the historical models linked to standardization," he admitted.

Reconciling work and personal life 

"The other major issue is the reconciliation of personal and professional life. In addition to the use of telework, "other levers could be put in place to facilitate this reconciliation, particularly at the organizational or managerial level," he said.

For François Bayrou, Secretary General of the Conseil national de la refondation, in the face of recruitment difficulties, while it is necessary to "overcome this initial feeling that young people no longer want to work", it is also necessary to "understand why the reconciliation of work and fulfillment is no longer possible as it was for previous age groups".

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