France: insurance group La Mutuelle Générale promotes “open work” concept after unanimous agreement on remote work

An agreement on remote working has been signed at French insurance group La Mutuelle Générale, which has given itself three years to trial a new way of working. Signed unanimously on 11 May by five trade unions (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FO, UNSA), the agreement will allow employees to work remotely up to five days a week, but they will have to come to the office at least four days a month, spread over several weeks. Under the previous agreement on the topic, which was struck just before the health crisis, staff were allowed a maximum of one day of remote work per week.
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La Mutuelle Générale favours the term “open work” over remote work or telework. Christophe Harrigan, the French insurer’s chief executive, provided a definition of the concept in June last year, writing in the daily newspaper Le Figaro. “Open work means that the employee chooses their personal living space and the company adapts to this choice. It is a job that can be done from anywhere and what must come first is that each employee has a pleasant place to live and negligible travel time. What

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