The disadvantages of work are numerous: difficult working conditions, loss of meaning, lack of recognition, accidents, occupational diseases. The collection of proposals based on the results of labor science, “Work Better”, aims to enumerate measures to improve the quality of work in France.
Thomas Cutro and Coralie Pérez have shown that it is especially the work organization and the vertical and distanced forms of management that explain the deterioration of the working situation. To better take into account the perspective of those who actually work, produce goods and provide services, Thomas Cutro and Coralie Pérez propose to elect “real work representatives” and give workers a say in their work. Employees should be given half a day per month to meet during working hours and discuss the conditions and organization of work. The results of the discussions should be communicated to management, which should respond to the findings.
F.-X. Devetter and Julie Valentin are looking for solutions to the fragmentation of work in so-called “systemically important” professions, especially since the COVID-19 crisis. These professions, more than others, often face a greater fragmentation of work (part-time, atypical or staggered working hours, days with alternating hours of work and unpaid leave, travel times and “start times” that are not taken into account), which leads to wage cuts and people’s exhaustion. FX Devetter and Julie Valentin’s proposal aims to regulate and limit this fragmentation by setting a minimum duration of each working hour (at least 3 hours), granting paid leave before the start of work (30 minutes) and increasing staggered working hours. Introducing the day or Saturday.
Christine Erhel and her colleagues have shown that the quality of work is objective and not a subjective impression. Rather, the quality of work in Europe can be assessed and compared based on six main criteria. On this basis, it was shown that the situation in France is mediocre. Starting from six objective aspects that measure work and job quality (wages, employment conditions – type of contract, job security, working conditions, training and career, balance between working time and family and professional life, participation and collective representation), she said, the IAEA proposes to create an index based on administrative and specific survey data and make it accessible to everyone within the framework of a monitoring body for quality of employment. The CEO of a technical e-commerce company acknowledged this proposal in Le Monde: “If there are indicators on the quality of the workplace, there is a good chance that they will be taken into account.” Try to meet the basic parameters that affect the score improvement.
