Against the Robots

An eye-opening story I heard this week… A far cry from the grandstanding of our leaders on television. A day at the job center for a young unemployed woman with a project quickly turned into an ordeal.

This is Nathalie. She's 37 years old. For ten years, she worked as an executive assistant at the same company. This small business, with fewer than five employees, is experiencing difficulties and has to lay off some of its staff. The owners agreed to take pay cuts for months to keep their team, but it's no use. Tax regulations and market changes are preventing them from retaining their employees. Only the two partners are continuing as employees. This small company specializes in time management and offers training—in addition to other IT services—to its clients. Nathalie has an idea and discusses it with her managers: she wants to train in sophrology. She's attended some sessions. She feels it's a good fit for her. She's found a school that offers a one-year program. She's very motivated. Her managers are interested in her project and encourage her to pursue it. They even believe that in the future, it will be possible to use her talents and offer her sophrology services to their clients. Together, the managers and the employee are preparing a file to submit to the employment agency.

Nathalie calls the employment center and receives a very positive response over the phone. The advisor who speaks with her finds it wonderful that she has a project and is so motivated to make it happen. Nathalie will receive an appointment notice…

Nathalie, her file under her arm, arrives at the scheduled appointment. She reread it late last night. She knows exactly what she's going to say. Not that she wants to present a false image of herself, but she has only one wish: that her will and motivation shine through. She sits down opposite an advisor who isn't the one she spoke to on the phone. She's confident and eager to explain her project. The advisor listens attentively. She takes copious notes. Nathalie is glad to have this attentive listener. She's delighted that her project is being heard. After a brief discussion, the advisor looks up and summarizes:
"You're looking for a job as an executive assistant and you plan to work as a sophrologist according to the following criteria: a minimum gross hourly wage of x euros; a commute of no more than 45 minutes each way from your home; full-time, permanent contract…"

The advisor raises her head and looks at Nathalie: "That's right, yes?" Nathalie replies affirmatively, that's right, but she adds that she wants to adopt the status of self-employed after her training.

The advisor continued:
“Currently, you are receiving personalized support and are actively engaged with Pôle emploi (the French public employment service) in your job search.
Your objective is:
— TO BE SUPPORTED IN DEVELOPING YOUR CAREER PLAN
. You have begun to think about your career plan. You have taken steps related to the profession of sophrologist. To better understand this profession, you have even taken sophrology sessions yourself. I encourage you to continue your reflection by meeting with other people. You have found a school, but it costs €3,500, which you are prepared to finance. To help you with this project, we offer project support.
We remind you that to assist you in your search, we provide:
— job and training offers
— freely accessible resources (telephone, photocopier, internet terminal, etc.)
— documentation on job search techniques
— job search workshops
— information on the job market…”

This is where we realize that our current President of the Republic would have been a wonderful employment advisor! Some of the sentences are completely nonsensical! Technocratic doublespeak in action. Nathalie doesn't want help developing her project; she wants to know if the employment office will cover her training or not! If not, she'll take out a loan to finance it. She wants concrete answers, and the response is a collection of pre-prepared phrases designed simply to reassure her by creating confusion, to explain that she's fully covered from now on, that she has nothing to fear… But Nathalie's only fear is not being able to complete her training! While she's offered access to numerous free documents to learn more, she's refused the information she needs! Kafka, get out of this story! Nathalie even specified that she was willing to finance her training with her unemployment benefits or by taking out a loan! The world is crazy, as the song goes…

The advisor is going to take decisive action. She looks at Nathalie with the expression of someone who understands the problem, with the expression of someone who sympathizes, who even has empathy—it's normal, nothing gets done in the modern world without empathy. She tells her and writes to her:
“I confirm your registration for the service: Confirming your career plan. You have an appointment on Monday, December 1, 2014, with the service provider ALTEDIA at the following address…
In the event of your absence from this appointment and without a legitimate reason on your part, attested to by written justification, I will be obliged, in accordance with Articles L. 5412-1 and R. 5412-1 to R. 5412-8 of the French Labor Code, to remove you from the list of job seekers.
Sincerely, The Director”

This "Confirm Your Career Plan" program lasts 12 hours spread over 42 days, starting December 1, 2014. Nathalie is distraught! She has to take a training course with a private organization to confirm her career plan. A training course that will last 12 hours! A course offered by Pôle Emploi (the French public employment service) through a private organization. Taxes well spent and a goldmine for this company, no doubt. While it's not my intention to criticize the qualities of this company, which I don't know, I question this mandatory process for someone who knows exactly what they want to do.

So, in France in 2014, this is how a young woman with some experience finds herself steered in a particular direction against her will. Nathalie will, of course, finance her sophrology training herself. She will do everything she can to minimize her unemployment. She wants to regain her independence and not depend on a system that will always try to stifle her enthusiasm and motivation under a mountain of red tape. This system, like the world in which it wields its power, has a name: totalitarianism. A soft totalitarianism, certainly. A comfortable totalitarianism, even. A totalitarianism nonetheless, because it is a negation of the individual. A negation of what makes a person, where the individual is lulled to sleep by a soothing voice, tucked in comfortably, only to realize, after a while, that the sheets and blankets of her bed are a straitjacket.

Update note: The "technique" of immediately placing someone in skills assessment training may cost taxpayers money, but its main benefit is that the job seeker is no longer considered a job seeker in the eyes of the statistics. It is therefore obvious that the figures given each month are false, that everyone knows it, from politicians to the media, that nobody cares, and that the situation can only worsen.