2023-04-21 16:00:41
THE proselytes of capital proclaimed it loud and clear: the secret of a successful business is flexibility (for others). The most inflexible economist in France has considered the question.
Photo caption: YOU WORK_ Adam Neumann is the idol of flex-boys. We owe him the collapse of his WeWork co-working box. He returns with two new start-ups. We look forward !
We all know the doctrine: You have to be flexible because the world is changing faster and faster “. Being flexible means being mobile, able to do several jobs, adapting (to different paces, methods, schedules and working hours). It is the opposite of long-term anticipation and therefore of investing in training over several years, since everything you learn will surely be obsolete. Flexibility can range from the fact of asking to telecommute for a few days to, for example, agreeing on the eve of retirement to have to work longer. Flexibility is therefore sometimes desired, especially when it offers more freedom to employees, and sometimes endured when it is imposed. In the case of the pension reform, it would be, we are told, imposed by the financial markets which risk increasing the interest rates on our public debt. In general, we note that the term “flexibility” was more often invoked when it was a question of breaking protections than to give more autonomy to employees.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MONTH
In 1983, Ivon Gattaz (father of Pierre Gattaz) declared before the assembly of the CNPF (renamed MEDEF): “ 1983 will be the year of the fight for flexibility “. In 1996, the economist Michel Godet (civil servant with his professorship guaranteed for life), in an interview with the newspaper Releaseargued that it was necessary focus on the flexibility of the labor market “. In 2015, Pierre Gattaz, then President of MEDEF (like his father), in an interview in The echoes argued: ” This is the fundamental subject for the country: the flexibility of the labor market “. In 2015, Emmanuel Macron, when he was Minister of the Economy in a supposedly left-wing government, let go in an interview with the Parisian « The State must continue to give more flexibility to the labor market ».
When we think of flexibility without taking into account the balance of power in the world of work, we can think that it is also a question of giving more autonomy to workers. For example, my son is sick one day, I decide not to go to work and if I meet my goals for the month, then there is no reason for me to catch up on that day. Another example, it is often agreed in most companies to respect schedules, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (at least). Taking transport times into account, these timetables are often unsuited to those of schools. Giving employees more flexibility would give them leeway over their office hours, for example. Why impose conventions, more like surveillance, if the job is done? The world of work in form has changed very little, on the other hand the protections have been withdrawn one following the other.
FLEXIBILITY RHYMES WITH PRECARIOUSNESS
As the world is changing at high speed, or so it is said, it was necessary to adapt employment contracts. Hence the creation of contracts such as CDD (fixed-term contract), temporary work and internships. Flexibility has indeed been applied to the world of work in France: since 1980, temporary work has multiplied by five, fixed-term contracts by four and internships by three. Over the period 2000-2021, no less than 270 reforms were carried out in areas relating to the labor market (unemployment insurance, minimum social benefits, support for job seekers, etc.). The result is that today, 87% of new hires are on fixed-term contracts. Other countries have gone even further, such as the United Kingdom, which has created “zero hour contracts” (permanent contracts without guaranteed hours paid or minimum wages). These contracts pushing the adaptability of the employee to the maximum have met with great success since there have been more than a million signed. Ditto in Italy, which invented one-hour work vouchers worth 10 euros to adapt the worker, to the hour, to the needs of the company. 115 million vouchers have been sold since – a real success. The term “flexibility” constantly put forward seems rather to rhyme with “precariousness” for a major part of the population.
Par Thomas Porcher
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