Paul, a lawyer, tells us how confinement led him to telecommuting, a practice hitherto unknown to him. If he is satisfied with this experience professionally and personally, he is worried about the post-crisis of Covid-19 at the societal level.
In this period of confinement, Why Doctor collects testimonies from French people about their experience. Today Paul, 31, confined to the seaside with his girlfriend, tells how he exercises his profession as a lawyer from a distance, a first for him. And shares with us his pessimism about the political management of the post-Covid.
“I am aware of being very privileged. I am confined to the seaside, with my girlfriend with whom things are going very well. In my work, confinement has led to the establishment of remote work which did not exist in my practice, with the exception of rare emergencies. JI am a general practitioner, it is a profession that may seem a bit archaic with a lot of paper documents which are not digitized. Telework is inusual for us but we were able to adapt by taking the most important documents at the last minute in order to remain operational for our customers.
I am self-employed so not affected by partial unemployment. I get up very early, work and take a slightly longer lunch break than I would normally allow myself. I try to have a phone or email point with my bosses every day. However, even if I work daily, it is clear that there is a slight drop in activity. For the moment, it is not felt too much but it will inevitably have repercussions on the medium and term, in terms of customer requests and invoicing of course. Especially since, as with all firms, our charges are maintained. We manage to process our files remotely but we potentially lose new ones and our means of action are limited, particularly at the level of the courts. Currently people are at their home rather focused on dealing with the emergency but, paradoxically, after confinement, there will undoubtedly be an explosion of requests ‘after crisis. Whether it is for example a dispute with the insurance, the employer…
A rather interesting experience professionally speaking
Today, at the level of justice, the courts are closed until further notice, a a priori until the end of April, except for absolute emergencies in criminal law, in freedom disputes and in civil law for problems relating to children or protected persons, for example.
For me, this confinement experience is quite interesting because telework is not practiced very little in my activity. I had thought several times of offering it to my bosses to work remotely sometimes on Fridays, but I couldn’t see how to sell it to them. There, we have no choice and I see that I am quite effective and that the firm manages to function almost normally. I realize that I can totally work from home and I may try to introduce this from time to time in the fall.
At a societal level, I note with pleasure that this crisis has awakened in many people movements of solidarity and attention towards their neighbors or loved ones. Personally, I was already involved in some solidarity initiatives and the current situation shows that they must be continued and further developed.
It’s indecent that we need such a crisis to take into account the problems of hospitals
At the political level, we would have a thousand things to learn but, unfortunately, I don’t believe not in the effects of political announcements. This crisis illustrates many problems, including the harmful effects of globalization of course. It sounds crazy that France and so many countries and industries are so dependent on China! The most concrete example is that of masks. We are very proud to tell ourselves that we enough, then finally we order some delivered weekly by Airbus rotation from China to France. But at what price does it sell them to us and under what conditions? Don’t be fooled. Considering the situation, there’s will have has inevitably conditions which once again make us a little more dependent on a third country…
This crisis also obviously illustrates the problems facing our health system. Like justice,hospital has been in pain for very many years. The hospital screams, screams. Everyone knows it and nothing has never bugstar. Of course, we have several state-of-the-art establishments, but the way the staff is taken care of is pitiful. Today, everyone says ‘Thank you’ to them, everyone applauds them, but above all they need of political consideration and means. They must work in better financial, material and human conditions. That we need a crisis like this to don’t care realize, it is indecent. I dare to hope, for once, that the political financial investment promises for hospitals succeed. And that the latter manage to bounce back after this crisis and pullnt at least their pin Game in which they were forced to participate and in which they will have unfortunately, and like so many others, lost a lot.
