Teleworking in the French Private Sector: A Lasting But Heterogenous Shift Shaped by Collective Agreements (2019—2024)

Abstract

Teleworking has been widely adopted in France since the Covid-19 crisis. This study traces its evolution from 2019 to late 2024, using worker and employer surveys, firm agreements, and administrative sources. After peaking during lockdowns, telework stabilized at 23% of the private workforce, mainly among managers, with no recent signs of decline. Textual analysis of agreements shows a dominant hybrid model of two days per week, confirmed by the Labour Force Survey, with most workers satisfied. Telework correlates with firm characteristics (more common in large firms), job composition (managers influence non-managers), housing (larger homes, longer commutes), and individual or household traits (men telework less, partner's telework increases likelihood), highlighting key telework dynamics. These correlations hold under different specifications, including firm fixed-effects models.

Keywords: gender, firm agreements, telework, family, housing

JEL Classification: L23, J52, J81