For many French, the containment has been the synonym of a new life office… at home. Since the reconfinement which started on 30 October, the telework again becomes the norm for a large part of the French employees. The time crowded public transport, the small coffee between colleagues, informal discussions in the corridors and meetings “face-to-face” would it be gone forever ? The Point gives the word to employees and the bosses who tell the upheaval caused by the teleworkers and their new life in the office.
Constance works in a large cultural institution of the Ile-de-France. It explains how telework is contrary to the performing arts.
also Read “If our rulers want more telecommuting, as they lower our costs”
” In march, the next day, the cultural institution where I work has had to close its doors. All employees had to stay home. We could pass off disease to keep the children or working at home. I was able to telecommute saw that my spouse was also in the house. It is reported to keep our four year old son. But he had to fight, to make him sleep for a nap and have two quiet hours of telework. At the level of the institution, it was a little chaos. All the employees were shocked and offended. We were left without live performance. Without public. In general, we develop our programming with two years in advance. However, many of the concerts were cancelled. We were very disappointed and sad. The producers and artists also. It was now necessary to negotiate their allowances. This is not very funny as a job. But it is also less time-consuming than the organization of a concert and its technical production, logistics, etc, My institution has received State aid. Fortunately, because otherwise she would have been in trouble. He had to cancel concerts all the fifteen days, and be prepared in case of reopening of the place. There was also the sanitary protocols that were changing constantly. The gauges allowed to receive public does not stop to evolve. Initially, it was anticipated half a room. Then, it was necessary to limit the public up to 1 000 people.
At the beginning of September, we changed all the programs, and also the durations of concerts in reducing them to one hour without intermission to avoid the circulation of public. There are artists who have not been able to come. Others were stranded abroad because of quatorzaines. There was a need to establish PCR assays to the artists who came or went abroad. And after the concerts, some artists wanted to share a bottle of champagne to 12 in a dressing room of 10 square meters… in Short, it was a real headache. In October, there had first been the curfew. Like all performance venues, we have been programmed to 18 hours. On the technical side, it was the circus. He had to mount then unmount, manage cycles, sanitize… The direction was crazy. She did not want to capitulate. She even planned to go to the concerts in 14 hours… But how do you get to the public at this time ? It no longer had any meaning.
also Read Containment : “telecommuting affects productivity”
there are days with dead time during which it is difficult to mobilize. Then, we took the opportunity to launch the laundry…
in The second containment of November, we have again been caught short. We returned to making recordings live, but it is very expensive. And it is necessary to pay true fees for artists, despite the absence of public so revenue ticket.
Our institution is a big ocean liner and when there are cancellations of shows, when an actor is failing, the whole system collapses like dominoes. The tour, for example, take place thanks to financial arrangements and the participation of different places. During the first confinement, I saw two actresses give a piece of theatre in a garden. I am told that the inventiveness and responsiveness were more accessible for the smaller structures, but also more fragile.
But who yawned ?
During these days of telecommuting, there has been downtime, days when nobody calls you, it’s hard to mobilize so we took the opportunity to launch the laundry… On the technical side, to our meetings on the Internet, it has abandoned the software Zoom because of the problems of data protection. It is passed on to the Team. But it works less well. Suddenly, one is obliged to turn off the video to hear it ! It is so weird to make conference calls a day I yawned. It was a big yawn. I only realised that when a colleague asked : who yawned ?
The fact of working for a cultural institution, so that it cannot produce concerts with the public is infuriating. One kicker, but it does not produce anything. I’ve had enough of trying to organize concerts, knowing that in two weeks, they will be cancelled. This will eventually become boring. From the 15th of December, it is expected to resume the concerts in 18 hours. I hope, frankly, that the health situation will allow it. “
Read the other episodes in our series of testimonies of telework :
” In fact, the telework, it is totalitarian ! “
“I am without news of my head for the past two months,”
“I want to go back to the office and see my colleagues,”
” For the moment, I do not know that the eyes and eyebrows of my colleagues, “
“My boss has stitched a mouth and demanded the return of the employees in the office”
“there will be more touring of kisses compulsory in my company”
