Question 2: You have worked internationally, that is very impressive. Can you tell us where the La Maison Qui Switche project came from?

"When I became a job seeker a few years later, after having my children, I left this first phase of employment and I was preparing for the accounting phase. At the time, I had joined a group of researchers active people that I met at least once a week; it was support for 4 months.

In this collective we had training blocks, content, the psychological aspect of identity, the management of beliefs, fears, etc.…. We were put in contact with retired volunteers who made their networks available to us: this mix of links is precious, because we don't know where all the opportunities end up, it's a shame not to leave room for opportunities.

From there, I met a woman who discussed the academic dimension of the job seeker: in beliefs, we have the impression that when we lose our job, we lose our social ties and we lose our status. When we change status, it creates collective fear. In the United States or in Anglo-Saxon culture, leaving and finding a job is much more common than in France!

The House That Switches was born at that moment: I couldn't find a coworking space that could possibly accommodate 38-year-old job seekers.

Meeting the person who can bring you an opening, either in your professional life or in your personal life, is something important. We don't know where opportunities come from, but my experience has shown me that opportunities often come when we take a step aside. It's simple: opening the door of your house, or going to your neighbor's house because he opens his door, it can actually open lots of things!

This idea was born thanks to my life journey!

Today, in the development of this concept, I continue in this network of territories with houses which offer rooms to workers near their places of life, because for me, this is the work of tomorrow.

"The House That Switches it is above all a portal which allows homers to list their houses to open their doors and welcome workers, on certain days of the week. The important thing is to have a reception space to allow a worker to work, and WiFi access.

THE homers define the day(s) and reception times, rooms and reception capacity. Then workers or companies come to reserve the days and spaces, just like we make reservations on the Airbnb platform.

The principle is that the homer be present when he receives the worker at home, because the important thing is to be able to create social bonds between people.

Besides, we have more and more retired people homers, because they appreciate the presence of workers in their homes during the day. This gives them company, a presence, and for the worker, it is very practical to be able to benefit from WiFi access, the calm and comfort of a home other than their own.

For women who have children or people who need to separate their personal and professional lives, it has become important to be able to work in an environment other than at home. The House That Switches completely meets this need!

Companies can also reserve a house to organize reunions for a seminar, a team meeting, or to allow their employees to have a place to work when traveling.

This is also for employees who need to get closer to a customer. They can join in a House That Switches halfway through both.

THE homers can leave the platform at any time, for whatever reason.

The practical aspect: you can build a network around your home and discover neighboring houses or in the same city. In this way, we expand our network since we were able to find connections close to home and these people we met could one day allow anyone to find work. Sometimes the workers And homers even become friends, which helps prevent them from falling apart due to job loss.

In the end, the vagaries of life mean that you can be in this network as a student or job seeker, and succeed in finding a job thanks to this concept of openness and connection!

The issue of the House That Switches is therefore above all to have the power to recreate social bonds to allow everyone not to be isolated."

Question 4: What can we wish for at La Maison Qui Switche? Any (future) projects?

“Lots of registrations, lots of new ones homers so that this service can extend and exist everywhere in France!

Our projects have been moving since the Vivatech show last June, and also thanks to a report from France 3. The model has been greatly simplified: to become homer today we must have the spirit homer and not the big house with the big rooms.

The spirit of homer c’est d’avoir envie de partager un espace de vie et c’est peut-être là le plus important : ouvrir la porte et partager ce qu’on sait, ce qu'on vie et ce qu’on aime vivre. 

In 2022, the specifications were quite restricted, you had to be a professional, working from home, in a house located in certain urban areas to also be a response to mobility (by car). Today we can be homer in an apartment (intramural). I got good feedback: I was told “I want Houses That Switch in Paris" !

Students in particular, to revise their exams, rather than going to the university library.

So you can wish us to fill all of France with House that Switches, wherever homer will wish to open the door to their homes to teleworkers."

Question 5: Finally, one last question: what is your vision of “flex” in France?

" Everything depends on the perspective ...

Celui du salarié : 

He is very attached to what he knows today: managing his time a little better, access to teleworking agreements which have more or less been formalized. He was able to access authorizations for teleworking and hybrid work during the post-covid period; it is therefore difficult for companies to turn back. And I think that the employee has found time, which is the most important value for him, much higher than the “money” value.

Ma vision serait donc de dire que la valeur "temps" va être supérieure à la valeur "argent", même "économie" en général. 

If we go back too far and eliminate teleworking, we remove this flexibility that employees have experienced over the last 2–3 years if, as we read: “At each start of the school year, the risk for companies is to pass.” from teleworking at all" to "everyone comes back to work”; I think there will be a real opposition between employees/managers or employees/management.

We are already feeling tensions with recruitment difficulties, loyalty difficulties, and difficulties in attachment to the employer brand. In my opinion, we need to understand that and the value of time becomes key in people's lives, as well as the notion of work which is a component of life, but it is not the whole of life.

I am connected in the spirit of the individual who needs autonomy, freedom and flexibility at their discretion today. I am much more connected with self-employed people who are ex-employees, and this movement of employees becoming freelance or gradually becoming freelance means something: we have to be concerned about it!

Celui de l’employeur : 

The whole issue is at the level of management strategy. I fear that if they forget what happened and we take away the flexibility benefits, we risk losing staff, even the most motivated.

All teleworking which is not suitable, all office which for me is not necessarily suitable.

The mixed approach in a management framework means relying on trust and results, rather than control. The employee has the levers of his organization. Il peut s’adapter en fonction de son travail et des demi-journées pour favoriser la concentration, le collectif, la créativité, les rencontres et le lien social .

Moreover, with the various economic and social crises and conflicts that we have gone through recently, companies have a lot of issues to address, which leads to low prioritization of flex work. So, we need moments of lull in corporate news to address subjects that are a little less essential to the core business of companies. »

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A big thank you to Maryline for sharing her point of view and flex experiences!

We wish her all the success she deserves with her great concept The House That Switches.

And if you are a company, do not hesitate to suggest to your colleagues that they search a House that Switches close to home, to hold a meeting or located halfway to a client, to meet in the comfort necessary to work, while being in a local's home.