The health crisis has highlighted new expectations on the part of the French with regard to the companies that hire them.
A better work-life balance
The search for a better work-life balance is making itself felt. Before the start of the pandemic, a study published in February 2019 by Malakoff Humanis, entitled Baromètre Santé et QVT, highlighted the interference of work in the private sphere of managerial employees:
- 47% of managerial employees claim to check their e-mail outside the company;
- 36% of managerial employees worked from home outside working hours;
- 59% of managerial employees remained contactable even during paid vacations or days off.
The spillover of professional life into personal life entails certain risks for the psychological and physical health of employees:
- family problem;
- negative thoughts, depression, stress, mood swings ;
-
burn out or burnout syndrome ;
- musculoskeletal disorders ;
- the onset of cardiovascular disease.
The quest for corporate well-being
Well-being at work is an important concern for workers. The term QWL, Quality of Life at Work, is increasingly used by companies. In 2023, 20% of work stoppages were attributed to stress or psychological disorders related to the person's job.
According to the Accord national interprofessionnel dated June 19, 2013, QWL "designates and groups under a single heading actions that make it possible to reconcile both the improvement of working conditions for employees and the overall performance of companies."
VSEs and SMEs were among the first companies to introduce QWL criteria at work, to support their employees in a new vision of their jobs, more focused on a work-life balance.
When looking for a job, more and more candidates want to find a company with values that promote good working conditions. Salary alone is no longer enough in the job market. Candidates are increasingly demanding quality of life in their future jobs.
With the pandemic, telecommuting was presented as a miracle solution. More and more companies are offering their future employees teleworking days in their recruitment offers. However, this is not always the solution candidates are looking for, as professional issues emerge more directly in the family context.
After the pandemic, many French people felt the need to give value to their professional commitments. The phenomenon of professional reconversion is growing in importance every year. TheObservatoire des Trajectoires Professionnelles reported that, by 2022, 35.8% of working people had undertaken a professional transition , compared with 26.2% in 2016. The French are turning to fields that respond to societal and environmental issues, such as sustainable development.
When job vacancies or market conditions don't allow you to work full-time at your dream job, it's not inevitable that you'll have to give up your ideal career. Self-employment is an excellent way of reconciling a permanent or fixed-term contract with the job you really want to do every day.
In its January 2023 economic outlook, URSSAF highlighted a significant 12.2% increase in the number of microentrepreneurs between June 2021 and June 2022. The micro-business model is an attractive option for many French people seeking to give meaning to their professional careers.
In December 2023, the newspaper Les Echos pointed out that it was possible to "anticipate a continuation of the attractiveness of the auto-entreprise status in 2024 due to the increasing simplification and digitization of the creation and management procedures."
According to Insee, three out of ten French micro-entrepreneurs had a salaried activity in parallel in 2019. Micro-entrepreneurship is therefore seen as a complementary activity, generating additional income for the individual.
Auto-entrepreneurship is an excellent way to test the waters for the viability of the job that makes you tick. At the same time, you benefit from a permanent or fixed-term job with a guaranteed salary. This phase is an opportunity to test your expectations and verify the various viability criteria of your self-employment project.
Grieving for the ideal job doesn't have to be inevitable. Since the end of the pandemic, more and more people in France are starting to retrain for a new career, thanks to government-sponsored schemes. The micro-enterprise solution enables people to practice a second profession in line with their personal interests, and can be combined with salaried employment under certain conditions. This can be the first step towards your dream job.
Written by our editorial expert
May 16, 2024
