Remote working in France: a question of trust?

By Carol Pender

 

Already endorsed by the National Assembly and now about to go before the Senate, a new bill is currently being voted on in France that should make it easier to work from home.

 

Remote working has had difficulty establishing itself in France, where only 7% of employees currently work from home, compared to 13% in other European countries. With so many advantages associated with flexible working – be it a better life-work balance, lower capital expenditure or a reduced carbon footprint – this raises the question: why haven’t the French embraced working from home?

 

Aside from the technical and security issues companies must address in order to facilitate remote workers, maybe the answer lies in a simple lack of mutual trust and also a lack of ambition.

 

In France, it’s not unusual for people to stay in the office later than necessary just so they appear to be working late and create the right impression. They could, of course, be chatting online or surfing the net, but who’s to know? 

 

The prevalence of open plan offices (or ‘open spaces’ as they’re known here in France) has only made matters worse.  Last year, two ex-open spacers published a book called ‘L’Open Space m’a tuer’ – literally, ‘Open Space killed me’.  Alongside discussing the jargon used by this new generation of workers, the book talks about the growing need to nurture your visibility within a company i.e. to be seen as a good little soldier beavering away. Not quite so easy if you’re working from home...

 

And from an employer’s point of view, remote working means that he or she can’t keep a close eye on you, instead they simply have to trust you’ll do a good job.

 

Then again, shouldn’t trust be the basis of any productive, healthy relationship to begin with?  And surely, as long as the work gets done and deadlines are met, it shouldn’t really matter where your desk is located.

 

If this bill is finally adopted by the French government, it will be interesting to see if it has a real impact on working methods. After all, just because you can, doesn’t mean you will…sometimes changing a person’s mindset is the hardest part.

Comments

[James Dalrymple]

Hi Carol,
Interesting post, especially for someone - like myself - working in France. As a teacher and someone who runs a website, I generally eschew the kind of working culture you refer to. I have no intention of joining it in the future either as long as it remains so formal and hierarchical. The formality, coupled with an emphasis on qualifications that creates clearly defined cielings for most employees, can make for a somewhat stuffy, old fashioned working environment.
James

[Carol Pender]

I completely agree with you James. I generally love living in France but there are some stark cultural/social differences that can be pretty irritating and frustrating at times - the most striking ones for a foreigner working here are the type of professional and educational 'discriminations' you mention. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that this tunnel vision on the ideal academic route and career is about to change anytime soon. Luckily, there are still enough wonderful things about France to make me want to stay!:)