A look back at 2024: remote work central to debate

Featured image of the article A look back at 2024: remote work central to debate
Four years after the widespread introduction of remote work or telework for employees in the service sector, the practice was called into question in 2024, as companies moved to roll back the flexibility offered to employees. Many others, however, are maintaining their policy in the interests of attractiveness, economy, well-being at work and carbon footprint. Furthermore, the European Union has moved towards a directive offering employees protection in terms of health, reimbursement of costs and the right to disconnect.
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After an initial wave of backtracking in 2023, telework continued to be called into question in 2024. The example of Amazon is particularly spectacular, with the company deciding to completely end remote work for 300,000 to 350,000 employees in September. IT company Dell did the same for its sales teams in the same month, while rival IBM required its managers to return to the office in early 2024. Various reasons have been put forward for this: loss of productivity, decreased staff skill...

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