An Entire year of paid vacation ! A dream come true !

 Morgane SILVENT

“We wanted to offer this to our employees after ten years of service because we often have long careers at Orange, 20 years, 30 years sometimes more. And they didn't have the opportunity to go and breathe the air a little bit outside." Gervais Pelissier CEO, Orange

Formerly France Telecom one of the biggest telecommunications company with around 143 000 employees, has been singled out for its tyrannical management methods and numerous suicides in the workplace… Management at France Telecom is described as "management of terror" according to a posthumous letter from one of the employees who took his own life in 2009. A trial took place, and the case was relayed by medias, a film taking up this story was made : "corporate“. With the trend of corporate well-being, and the self care movements all around the world employers have understood that in order to attract new talents, they need to be attractive, so the company has struck hard this year by offering up to a year's leave to employees that have reached ten years of experience.The annouce has been made in february of this year. This proposal was made in response to a survey conducted in 2021 by the National Stress Prevention Committee. This is the 5th survey on working conditions and stress conducted in the company. The numbers are alarming : 23% of managers surveyed said they brought work to do at home. In addition, 58% of the respondents supervising between 11 and 50 people consider that "There are not enough of us for the job". It’s almost the same numbers for managers who supervise between 50 and 100 employees. Needing to breathe, wanting to think about your career, a professional reconversion project, wanting to evolve?

"For those who wish to do so, it is an opportunity to go and see what is going on elsewhere, but with a view to support, cultural enrichment and personal enrichment" Gervais Pelissier CEO, Orange

Gives its employees the opportunity to take time to think about their future. What is the point of having unmotivated, lost or meaningless employees ? Today, companies are aware more than ever on well-being at work, knowing that productivity depends a lot on this factor. The rise of startups and their participative management has influenced large groups which have been inspired by their operating methods to perform better. For this first year of launch, Orange will select 250 applications to reach 1000 employees in the following years. The candidates for this professional break will have to justify

concrete projects, it is not about just going to the beach or a fancy resort ! The objective of this measure is to allow those who wish to do so, to train, to set up a project or to prepare their evolution within the group without being influenced by any work-related pressure.

Other companies (Indeed for example) have decided to offer unlimited vacations to their employees. This system of "free" leaves has been popularized by companies such as Linkedin or Netflix, in United States there are no paid leaves defined by the law. This may seem heaven, but the psychosocial risks and organizational concerns that this system can generate should not be forgotten. Some startups that had adopted this system ended up going backwards, the tasks inevitably reflects on the other team members and the employees do not dare to take time off, because of the social pressure. At Indeed, it is the team that validates or not if you can go on vacation, employees have to inform them about two weeks in advance.

Numerous studies have shown that de-motivation at work costs a lot to companies, and this awareness has starded a change in mentality and more and more work psychologists are being called in. The biggest the number of employees is, the more of a positive impact it can have to slowly re evaluate human condition and performance at work by allowing people to get free time, instead of expecting them to both work, and figure out what is the next step in their lives. Giving them an opportunity to get time of reflection in a safe environment, isn't that complicated.

However, even when the solutions are known, it is a much more difficult step to take, than to implement them… For Laurence Saunder, from the French Institute for Action on Stress (IFAS in french), the answer comes from what she calls "the paradox of the leader". "Out of anxiety and fear, managers do not dare to let go, to trust, to implement more collaborative policies. A fear, even more real in a context of economic crisis, that very often only the perception of control can appease. And the more control you want to take, the more reporting you add. One of the real challenges is to convince these leaders to evolve on these ideas more profoundly“. The real motives behind improvements in a big company can seem unclear, yet it demonstrates that corporations understood efforts have to be made concerning each invidual's motives and well-being. After all, if employees are inspired to focus on their own growth and given time for it, they can also bring new ideas or projects to the compagnies and contribute in an fruitful and unexpected way.

Sources :

“France Télécom est responsable”, un suicide chez Orange qui fait polémique (Capital.fr)

Congés de respiration, année sabbatique… la tendance est-elle au repos dans les entreprises ? - Planning Congés (planning-conges.com)

Conditions de travail et stress enquête 2021 salariés Orange (focom-orange.fr)

Orange propose à ses salariés le "congé de respiration" (francetvinfo.fr)

Ces entreprises qui accordent des congés illimités à leurs salariés (lefigaro.fr)

Les congés illimités, comment ça marche? (bfmtv.com)

Une mauvaise ambiance au travail est un facteur plus important que le salaire pour 40% des Français ( Le Huffington Post LIFE )

Recherche motivation des salariés… (lemonde.fr)