French people are so underworked it’s leading to clinical depression
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.French workers are so underworked they are becoming clinically depressed, according to one academic.
Christian Bourion, professor of social economics at Nancy Metz ICN Business School, believes French workers are getting “destructured personalities” and suffering from psychological trauma as a result of boredom.
The professor developed a programme that detected certain phrases, related to workplace boredom, in France’s online chat rooms, according to The Times.
His results demonstrated a dramatic escalation of workers complaining about their boring days: in 2011 the words “bored at work” appeared 184,000 times – in 2015 the same words appeared 542,000 times.
Professor Bourion believes France’s tough employment laws are partially to blame. Excellent worker rights make it extremely difficult to fire employees, even when they have nothing to do.
France’s six million public sector workers – whose jobs are often created to keep down the unemployment rate – are particularly at risk
“I’ve got a well-paid job . . . but when I get to work at 7.45am and by 8am I’ve read all my mails and I’m wondering what I’m going to do for the rest of the day, it’s depressing,” said a local government officer who participated in the study.
But, the study cautioned that other factors may have contributed to its results. “Workers used to be ashamed to admit to doing nothing in the office,” professor Bourion cautioned. “Now they are prepared to talk about it.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments