Dominique Schelcher, the boss of System U, does not hide his concern. In its 1,600 stores in France, the number one subject is absenteeism. At the start of the week, for lack of manpower, he had no other options than to close a warehouse in Savoie. “To supply the stores in the area, it was necessary to transport the products from the warehouses in Mulhouse and the South of France.. “In supermarkets, there is great fear of reliving the period of the first confinement in March 2020, where a large part of the employees were contaminated.
Large-scale distribution manages … but until when?
Also, the schedules turn into a puzzle. “There are many stores where we close departments, such as fishmongers, butchers, etc., because we have no one“, recognizes a director of Intermarché from the west of France, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Because the concern is not to worry the French to also avoid the episodes that we experienced in the spring of 2020, with crowds filling caddies with pulp or toilet paper for fear of stock shortages. For the moment, there is no particular restocking problem.
While in normal times, these sectors are already affected by recruitment difficulties, the situation is tense in the midst of the spread of the Omicron variant. It is necessary to replace at short notice, sick employees, but also those who have to stay at home, to keep affected children or cases of contact. In its workforce, large distribution has many women – many of whom are single parents.
But for now, “while absenteeism is increasing in particular in Ile-de-France, it remains quite manageable, because we have recourse to temporary workers“, assures Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the federation of the large distribution. The question is however to know until when? Because the pools of temporary workers are not expandable.
Next Monday, government meeting on the continuity of services
The government is closely monitoring the various strategic sectors of the country. Proof of this is the reactivation last week of the crisis unit which had been set up in March 2020.
Through this, he is in regular contact with professional federations, from which he asks almost daily for indicators – the absenteeism rate in stores, but also that of the logistics sector – which covers warehouses and transport. – as well as the order service rate – which provides information on the difficulties that suppliers may encounter. Each territory is scrutinized.
And next Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture accompanied by teams from Bercy will bring together professionals from the agricultural world, supermarkets, but also transport and logistics.
Transport and logistics under pressure
In transport, precisely, many TER are removed everywhere in France, because several railway workers are positive. In freight, redeployments are taking place. According to the SNCF, however, there is nothing to be alarmed about, because the increase in absenteeism remains below 5%. And the main lines, for the time being, are not too affected. Still, the situation could deteriorate soon. Also, the company is cautious.
Same vigilance in the building sector. “There are many positive cases since this return from vacation, notes a spokesperson for the building federation, and the teams are sparse. For the moment, companies are holding up, juggling schedules. But if the absences continue at this rate, it will quickly get stuck, and sites will fall behind or will have to stop“.
And for good reason, the rapid spread of the epidemic, especially at school, suggests additional absences. In addition to the sick, all sectors expect to see employees obliged to stay at home to take care of their children. “It’s still a bit early, but in ten days or so, there will inevitably be breaks in production or distribution chains “, predicts an industry professional. Jean-Michel Blanquer announces an absenteeism rate of 5 to 10% in schools
