News Last update : Friday, June 6, 2008

What mobility difficulties do employees have in getting to work? How can they be resolved? How do employers perceive these new problems? What innovations have been developed in the field of enhancing mobility? Over and above day-to-day mobility, what difficulties do employees have in terms of housing, childcare and generally organizing their lives? Do such difficulties have an impact on the overall performance of businesses?
For the last 5 years, under the scientific direction of Eric Le Breton, lecturer at Rennes 2 University, the City on the Move Institute has been exploring the scope of the challenges and problems associated with mobility in access to training and employment. After a first phase of exploration focusing on people seeking jobs and on social work structures, it is extending its research to the world of work and of business. On November 21 this year, it is running a seminar in partnership with La Poste, Randstad and the National Council of Youth Employment Centres and the magazine Liaisons sociales: “Why should companies care about the day-to-day mobility of their employees?”

Download the programme (frenh version)

Since October 2006, IVM has extended its exploration to the world of work and businesses.
The space-time of work is constantly changing: cities are expanding and becoming more complex; the manifestations of the job market are becoming more varied (temporary contracts, contract work, part-time, nightshifts, weekend, seasonal, etc.) as companies are required to be ever more responsive and flexible.
These changes have a major impact on the daily lives of employees, who have to travel long distances, in complex urban environments, to arrive at work on time, fresh and available, whilst seeking to find a balance between work and family life.
Companies too face significant challenges. For them, the complications of day-to-day urban life are reflected in problems of recruitment, staff turnover, employee loyalty, stress, tired workforces, and even workplace tensions and conflicts.

Objectives of the program
Since October 2006, IVM has been exploring the following three areas:
What are the mobility difficulties that employees have in accessing work? What do they do to resolve them? What is the connection between these problems of day-to-day mobility and residential mobility, childcare?
How do companies perceive these new challenges? What impact do mobility difficulties have on business efficiency and performance?
Finally, what innovations have been developed in the field of mobility into the workplace and, beyond that, in simplifying the day-to-day life of employees? There is a variety of approaches: company travel schemes, car sharing schemes, but also concierge services, company crèches, etc. What are the advantages and limitations of these approaches? How can things be done better?

The 2006/2007 program:
In partnership with the Randstad employment agency, IVM is exploring how the question applies to contract working, by conducting surveys with contract work employers and staff.
It is working with La Poste on initiatives and changes in staff mobility in Aquitaine, in Alpes-Maritimes, in the Var.
It has discussed these questions with many heads of small and medium-sized companies and industries in sectors such as metallurgy, large retail, human services, and has also conducted surveys with large industrial corporations such as Areva and PSA Peugeot-Citroën and retail groups like Casino.
Local surveys have also been conducted on the way in which in which urban economic agencies (Chambers of commerce, economic development department, businesses, etc.) deal with the issues of day-to-day mobility, in particular in Lens-Liévin; another survey is also planned for the Greater Lyon area.

These programs have generated papers and articles:

”Companies, territories and the day-to-day life of employees: towards new compromises”, in Sociétal, No.56, 2nd quarter 2007, pp. 19-28 (french version)

“Peri-working. Contributions to the definition of a problem.” Communication to the Conference of the Regional Agency for the Analysis of Working Conditions, Ile de France, from Wednesday May, 23, 2007, at La Défense

A summary of all the surveys will soon be available.

This question of mobility into work will be discussed at the seminar organized by IVM on November 21, 2007 in Paris:

Why should companies care about the day-to-day mobility of their employees?

Download the programme (frenh version)

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Just published:
“Bouger pour s’en sortir” published by Editions Armand Colin
Mobilité qutidienne et intégration sociale [escape through mobility day-to-day mobility and social inclusion]
By Eric Le Breton, Editions Armand Colin, October 2005, 256 pages – €25

We live in a dispersed society. The places we deal with are increasingly far apart. Going to the doctor, seeing friends, finding work, requires us to travel ever longer distances. The timeframes of day-to-day life are also fragmented, especially in the sphere of work. Two thirds of new jobs today fall within a framework of nonstandard contracts and sequences of small jobs, fragmented days, night work and weekend work. This dual fragmentation of space and time requires extreme mobility from all of us.

Yet a growing proportion of the population cannot achieve this mobility. Why? Because they failed their driving test, because they can't read an underground map, because they live in the countryside with no public transport, or because they can't afford to buy and maintain a car. These obstacles to mobility prevent people accessing work, education and other resources of social inclusion. Housing, health and education are three conditions of social integration, familiar of old and now well-known. A fourth condition is now emerging in our dispersed society: Mobility. That is the subject of this book. We go into the field, and describe the mobility difficulties of single women, people of immigrant origin, young people and older unqualified people. We also examine the innovative approaches taken by social workers involved in the new field of mobility aid.