The digital revolution and the evolutions of Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 have created a whole new type of work organisation and worker: the hyper-connected employee, subject to a constant flow of information. This emergence of new ways of working has greatly transformed the way companies and their employees operate. More flexible and adaptable to change, in a position of anticipation and strategic preparation, able to respond present at all times.
In the present day, the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is an example of the deployment and importance of these new digital working methods and their positive as well as negative effects. The epidemic is having a very strong impact on activity in France and around the world and is therefore having repercussions on economic growth. To limit the damage, companies are increasingly turning to teleworking solutions. Digital can then be an important part of the solution. For illustration, a few days ago, the French Secretary of State for Digital Technology, Cédric O, called on companies in this sector to mobilize in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic by making their services available free-of-charge or at reduced rates. OVHcloud (a French company specializing in cloud computing services) responded in March by putting online a platform, Open Solidarity, which lists the tools available to companies to work efficiently and serenely at home.
“Open_solidarity. This initiative is a collective and open impetus, of digital self-help, whose goal is to facilitate the availability of free solidarity technology solutions. Thus OVHcloud is committed and provides, free of charge and without commitment, throughout the crisis, webcloud, baremetal, private cloud and public cloud infrastructure services to host software publishers, start-ups and service companies”. Michel Paulin, CEO of OVHcloud
The aim of this platform is therefore to enable the company to offer its teleworking, communication, health and other solutions for SMEs and individuals, free of charge and without commitment. The company has its own fibre optic network established throughout the world and has one of the largest server parks in the world (more than 260,000 hosted physical servers) enabling it to extend its services internationally. This solidarity initiative is a miracle for companies that had not yet equipped themselves for remote work.
But what about data protection ?
Teleworking makes it possible to support the Business Continuity Plans, it nevertheless represents a risk for the services of unprepared local authorities, especially for individuals working with their personal computers. Therefore Atempo, the European leader in professional digital heritage protection solutions, has joined Open Solidarity to offer a 100% sovereign and free cloud backup solution to any professional organization. Companies will thus be able to continuously protect the data on user workstations while teleworking and guarantee the continuity of their business thanks to a solution with the ‘France CyberSecurity’ label.
Teleworking while ensuring privacy and data protection is at the heart of the issues. The solidarity wave that is emerging from all sides to develop and make available this new working method is proof that it is becoming economically indispensable nowadays in particular during exceptional events. However, this new work organisation poses problems in terms of its efficiency.
This strong increase in telework, especially during the confinement period, also results in a disturbance of the work-life balance. Telework could then be the ultimate stage of so-called “blurring”. The term “blurring” defines the gradual blurring of the boundary between professional and private life. At issue is our increasingly digital lifestyle. The multiplication of connected objects in our environment makes it more and more difficult to distinguish between private and public. Until recently, it was easy to forget about work once you left the office. Urgent tasks (or not) being carefully managed or postponed to the next day. Now, in our ‘all-digital’ society, the immediacy of exchanges is leading people to become more impatient and to process information immediately. Individuals manage the uninterrupted flow of their private life just as they manage the uninterrupted flow of their professional life.
According to some specialists, the stress generated at work by this hyperconnection, which is called ergostressy by the sociologist Yves Lasfargue, leads to a certain discomfort. With all the tools at his disposal, the worker no longer has any excuse for not being efficient and productive, to the point of confusing the two spheres professional and private. It would be tempting to see telework as an invasion of one’s private life through work, or the loss of professionalism through the inclusion of the private. But it should not be forgotten that teleworking is a sign of greater flexibility in companies to the benefit of both, the company and the employee. Telework continues to grow around the world and allows us to limit the economic damage in these difficult times.
Charlotte Liber
References :
COVID‑19 – One Team – One Company – #Open_solidarity from OVH Website : https://www.ovh.com/blog/covid-19-one-team-one-company-open-solidarity/
Palomo, Morgan. Atempo rejoint open solidarity : l’initiative solidaire lancée par OVHcloud pour aider à sécuriser les postes utilisateurs en télétravail pendant l’épidémie de Covid-19 from Docaufutur : https://www.docaufutur.fr/2020/03/26/atempo-rejoint-open-solidarity-linitiative-solidaire-lancee-par-ovhcloud-pour-aider-a-securiser-les-postes-utilisateurs-en-teletravail-pendant-lepidemie-de-covid-19/
Pourquery, Didier. Juste un mot… Blurring from Le Monde : https://www.lemonde.fr/m-actu/article/2013/11/01/juste-un-mot-blurring_3506128_4497186.html
Media Prophets of Prague 
During the crisis, we have no option apart from teleworking which appears to be the best, in order to maintain the normal operation of the businesses. Of coz, it has flexibility and advantages for both employers and employee but still, the formal working environment is required in order to create a professional and teamwork sense of atmosphere where people can interact and communicate physically and verbally through discussion and debate, which seem more meaningful of working life. Teleworking works to keep the operation of businesses during this crisis for developed countries like France but in some third world countries, there are so many people who do not have digital savvy at all. It would be hard to believe that some of the companies which have no capacity in the financing, HR, and technology to go for the digital transformation, went out of the market with this crisis and numerous amount of employee lost their jobs, particularly in third world countries.
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This is a very systematic overview of the shift to teleworking, thanks! I would be curious to know a bit more about the French case. Is the approach to teleworking somehow specific there?
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