A breath of fresh air. When remote working became the norm during the Covid-19 pandemic, Thibault (not his real name), age 46, found a better balance between his professional and personal life. "It allowed me to see my children when they woke up in the morning and to put them to bed at night, which makes a huge difference. And the burden of looking after the children was no longer solely on my wife. If I don't have remote work, my life is entirely devoted to my company from morning to night, including the commute," said the employee of the French banking giant Société Générale, which rebranded as SG in 2023. On June 27, he was one of many who went on strike to protest the bank's announcement of reduced remote work. On Thursday, July 3, as called by unions, he, like all employees, was asked to come "on site" wearing a green ribbon to show his resolve.

Forty-eight hours earlier, on Tuesday, July 1, it was at Trax, the audiovisual division of mobile network Free (founded by Xavier Niel, a private shareholder of Groupe Le Monde), where industrial action began in response to measures restricting remote work. "This will have a huge impact on my life. I've been organizing my daily life around it for more than five years," said a developer, who requested anonymity.

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