It’s time to adapt. France multiplies heat records in full this month of July, and with them, complicated situations for employees. The answers generally go through a modulation of the day or presence in the office.
Privileged telecommuting, staggered hours
Employees prefer the use of remote work, which allows them to stay at home and avoid painful trips on public transport. A remedy that employers are often more willing to accept.
The measures and the room for maneuver then differ according to the sectors: the tertiary sector is much more flexible, and Jean-Christophe Sciberras points out “executives who leave earlier, around 5:00 p.m., and arrive earlier”, when the construction industry is Quickly adjusts with staggered hours earlier in the morning, starting at 6am. Traders, on the other hand, have lower margins.
The same observation in industry, with one consequence: productivity cannot always fall. “In a chain, the pace is set by the chain and not by the employees,” says the social relations expert. In other settings, more flexible hours lead to reduced working time in many cases. And the fatigue caused by the heat reduces production even more.
Permanent change in practices?
However, the climate in the companies is relatively calm, constituting the heat wave an experience lived by all. “Dissensions are less between HRM and employees than between generations”, emphasizes the leader of Newbridges. Thus, the youngest are more involved in ecological issues.
But the centrality of the theme of heat does not necessarily lead to fundamental changes. The heat wave, the second this year, is still suffered by companies, not all of them determined or capable of adapting in a lasting way to the recurrence -although unattractive- of these heat waves.
What the job code says
No obligation regarding office temperature is formally included in the law. It only requires that the air be renewed to “avoid excessive temperature rises”. Remember that the standard established by AFNOR in terms of thermal comfort establishes the normal temperature of an office between 20 and 22 degrees, and below (between 14 and 18 degrees) that of a work space that requires physical effort.
Heat is taken into account for difficulties only after 900 hours and for activities that themselves produce this source of heat. However, an employee can exercise his right of withdrawal, under strict conditions: a “work situation which he has reasonable grounds to believe presents a serious and imminent danger to his life or health.”
Source: BFM TV
