Is teleworking a driver towards more sustainable lifestyles?

Health measures to combat Covid-19 have led to the widespread use of teleworking: it is estimated that a quarter of employees have teleworked during lockdown, which is broadly in line with Ministry of Labour estimates of the proportion of the working population likely to telework (30%, or 7 million individuals). From an atypical practice, largely reserved for managers,1 teleworking has thus become a common practice, also shared by employees, in the wake of the pandemic. This episode seems to have repercussions: according to an online survey conducted in April 2020, 58% of people would like to work remotely more often than before the health crisis. Companies with operating methods as different as the car manufacturer PSA or Facebook have announced that they will make teleworking the new standard. Finally, as a final sign that confinement has put teleworking back on the political agenda, the French social partners launched a joint reflection on June 5 to carry out a diagnosis of this practice at the end of September.