Telework, now what?

July 1 marked the return to the situation before the March 11, 2020, the official start of unlimited teleworking granted to both resident and border workers. A major event of our century, the health crisis has acted as a formidable accelerator for home office. Those who dreamed of it have tried it out, those who feared it have tested their prejudices. And the vast majority have adopted it. "10 per cent of employees in the financial sector wanted to return to 100 per cent face-to-face work", says Roberto Mendolia, President of Aleba, the majority trade union in the financial sector. This means that 90 per cent would have preferred to keep at least one day of telework per week – "two or three days per week for the vast majority", comments Mendolia.

For residents, this desire to work from home faces one single obstacle: the agreement of their employer. "It is the employer's right to determine where his employees should go to work", Mendolia stresses. "For its part the employer must provide the employee with an office with a suitable working environment, at the right temperature, equipped with the necessary IT tools." Since the spring of 2020, companies have had ample time to develop teleworking rules, in parallel with a gradual return to face-to-face work.