France is European champion. Not in a sporting discipline, but in office presence. According to a study conducted by the real estate consulting firm JLL, the French are well ahead of their neighbors with an average of 3.5 days in the office per week. However, the same people are not ready to give up teleworking, being now attached to this hybrid organization, which gives them real freedom. “In all our research on the subject in recent years, we have found that teleworking has almost become a social asset,” notes Flore Pradère, research director on new working methods at JLL. The Paris region seems to follow this national trend in view of the latest “Workplace” study carried out by the Ifop polling institute for the 100% Ile-de-France office property company SFL (73 employees, 400,000 m² of assets), unveiled this Thursday.
Balancing professional and personal lives
The 1,300 Île-de-France employees surveyed consider that 2.3 days of teleworking and 2.6 days of presence in the office per week constitute the ideal split. Flexibility that allows them to reconcile their lives professional and personal. “The end of the office, no one believes it”thus affirms to The gallery Frédéric Dabi, general director of Ifop and author of the survey.
“Employees have understood the pernicious nature of teleworking. There is a real impact on efficiency and mental health. They no longer accept 100% teleworking or 100% office, but want to build their own work schedule. What they are asking for is a Netflix office,” continues Frédéric Dabi.
A Netflix office or an à la carte office. 79% of respondents – compared to 66% in 2020 – say that the possibility of teleworking has become a criterion of choice for their next position. 66% also believe that companies will always need offices, compared to 57% in 2020.
“What they are looking for is freedom. Employees want to be able to work when they want, and from where they want,” explains Dimitri Boulte, general director of SFL and sponsor of the study.
“Covid-19 has accelerated the blurring of the boundary between professional and personal life,” continues this office real estate professional. These two spheres even have ” bursts “, agrees pollster Frédéric Dabi. 59% of Ile-de-France respondents request access to their workplace 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, just as 58% of them plead for access to new services within their company, such as hairdressing. , massages or drinks.
A place to socialize
In the absence of equipment, employees take time out during the day for their personal lives. 62% of the panel goes for an errand in the neighborhood (compared to 61% in 2019) and 53% goes to a medical appointment (compared to 40%)… This is why, if they had the possibility, they preferred to work 80% in neighborhoods including offices, businesses and housing.
In fact, the workplace is no longer just a place of production, but a place of socialization, particularly among young people. Among those under 25, who represent less than 10% of the panel, 70% consider that with the time freed up by artificial intelligence-type technology, it will be necessary to take more time to talk to each other at work. The general director of Ifop Frédéric Dabi describes the office as ” place of life “. Despite the advent of social networks and videoconferencing, the primary interest of the office remains the creation of social connections.
“Young people seem to have better integrated the idea that there are going to be strong changes,” adds Frédéric Dabi to La Tribune.
The same Workplace study from 2019 said nothing else: 25% of office workers said they needed more interactions in the office.
Artificial intelligence: a threat to jobs?
This is the first time that the barometer addresses the issue of artificial intelligence. The results show that one in two young people (53%) consider that AI will have replaced the majority of jobs within ten years, compared to 40% for the rest of the respondents.
“This new technology is only just beginning,” believes Dimitri Boulte. “It is still too early to understand all the consequences of its use. But young people seem more familiar with new technologies and more lucid about the impact they can have on their daily lives,” continues the boss of the SFL property company.
Despite the fear that employees may feel regarding this innovation, there is no “feeling of panic”agrees Frédéric Dabi.
“We are witnessing a revolution that will change the office, of course, but workers seem to anticipate the profound transformations brought about by this technology,” concludes the IFOP pollster.
