Teleworking in the French private sector: a lasting but heterogenous shift shaped by collective agreements (2019-2024)

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 databases. After peaking during lockdowns, telework stabilized at 23% of the private workforce, mainly among managers, without recent signs of decline. Textual analysis of agreements shows a dominant hybrid model of typically two telework 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 and household dimensions (men telework less, partners’ telework increases likelihood), highlighting some key telework dynamics. The latter correlations persist for different specifications including a firm fixed-effects model.