Telework
Jérôme Gence
Winner of the 2020 Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award
A survey conducted in 2019 reported that up to 60% of office workers and executives were bored at work. The subject of boredom at the workplace may be taboo, but the risk is real, and the prevalence is twice as high with Millennials than with Baby Boomers.
I wanted to report on the way new technologies can change working practices, so set off to Bali, a favorite destination for young westerners hoping to find fulfilment by working at a distance. There the digital nomads in coworking spaces explained why Bali, the “island of the gods” had become “Silicon Bali.” Whatever their work, as web developer, web designer or community manager, a few hours of telework can see them achieve the goal that is increasingly inaccessible in western countries, i.e. to have economic independence, to be part of a community and to be able to enjoy the present in a world where the future is so uncertain.
Preview
But in the West, many companies are still reluctant to give work to these digital exiles, preferring to have staff in view, under control, their feet firmly planted at their desks rather than paddling in the water.
Next, just as the idea of telework was being acclaimed as a solution combining with the emergence of artificial intelligence and the prospect of universal income payments, an invisible enemy turned up to change things entirely. In France, before the first lockdown was announced, in just one month, from February to March, the increase in the number of Google searches using the keyword “Télétravail” [Telework] went from 88,000 to 860,000. Companies had no option other than teleworking if they wanted to keep operating. What had been an image of nonchalance just a few months earlier became a compulsory experience. In France, 7.5 million workers found themselves at home, working and attending virtual meetings. Groups formed and the country was suddenly divided between teleworkers and the rest. But once the initial euphoria of drinks with friends via Zoom was over, the first problems were coming through in messages from the latest converts to telework, complaints such as feeling isolated and lonely, getting aches and pains, grumbling about having to be available online all the time to make up for physical absence.
The report shows teleworking practices in Bali and Europe, before and after the pandemic, in a world which never stands still. What trends and new behavior patterns will now appear with the companies and their employees? How will France make its way back to the workplace, or will it be telework?
Jérôme Gence
I wish to thank all the people who, in the course of the report, let me share in the experience of their day-to-day life. Thank you for your trust, and thank you to Annie Boulat, the members of the jury of the Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award for 2020, and also Cyril Drouhet, picture & features editor of Le Figaro Magazine.
