The practice of occasional teleworking increased almost threefold between 2019 and 2023, according to a study by Dares (Ministry of Labor) published on Tuesday, November 5. The share of employees practicing teleworking at least occasionally, i.e. a few days or half-days per month, increased from 9% to 26% over this period, with a high point during the Covid crisis. According to this study, 42% of employees say they have experienced teleworking at least once between March 2020 and early 2021, a period marked by the first two confinements.
The intensive practice of teleworking, three or more days per week, has also increased, but to a lesser extent. If it concerned 1% of employees in 2019, before peaking at 18% in 2021 during the health crisis, it is only a reality for 5% of employees in 2023. Intensive teleworking is gradually being replaced by regular forms of teleworking moderate (one or two days a week) or occasional.
The increase in teleworking is mainly driven by executives, first and foremost engineers followed by executives in administrative, accounting and financial services, and sales and technical-commercial executives. According to Dares, the progression of teleworking “is also accompanied by an increased representation of women”, of the most qualified, mainly in the private sector and on permanent contracts.
According to the study, around a third of employees wanted to continue or start teleworking in 2023. Among those who do not telework, more than one in ten employees consider their position teleworking and wish to adopt this practice.
Concerning the working conditions of teleworkers, Dares notes that teleworkers have more autonomy and work less intensely when they are remotely rather than on site. “On the other hand, the support they can obtain from their colleagues or superiors is reduced,” particularly in the public service.
Teleworkers are generally in better health than other employees who do not telework, are less frequently sick and continue to work more when they are sick, especially women. The practice of teleworking promotes the balance between private and professional life, especially for men. On the other hand, domestic work is not better distributed between women and men, except among couples with young children. “Whether they telework or not, women are more preoccupied with the daily management of their household than men, an indicator of the mental burden placed on them”adds Dares.
Methodology: The results of this study are based on three separate Dares surveys, the first on working conditions, the second on the experience of work and unemployment during the health crisis linked to covid-19 and the third on the experience of work and unemployment since the health crisis, covering 20,687 employees, 15,344 employees and 23,662 employees respectively. They only concern people in paid employment in mainland France aged 20 to 62.
According to its criteria, an employee is considered to be a teleworker if he declares that he practices teleworking at least occasionally, that is to say at least a few half-days per month. In 2023, 6.1 million employees will work remotely, compared to 2.0 million in 2019.
