In Paris, the city council aims to “limit the attractiveness crisis” of the civil service through a range of measures improving the living conditions of its employees in various high-demand professions. This is achieved in part through a social housing pact, signed on Wednesday, which commits the city to allocate 25% of its social housing units to municipal employees and facilitate their access to daycare centers. In exchange, the signing district councils will receive priority in hiring new recruits in high-demand sectors. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the municipal council meeting.
Professions such as childcare workers, municipal police officers, and construction workers face strong competition between municipalities. In Paris, nearly 7% of city staff, across all professions, are not filled, representing 3500 positions. Through this agreement, the city council hopes to obtain “around 200 additional housing units each year” for its employees in need, according to Antoine Guillou, the deputy head of Human Resources who spearheaded the project. In 2022, 515 units were assigned to employees.
Antoine Guillou also advocates for annual increases in the allowances for civil servants and improvements in “working conditions and organization.” He specified that the city would experiment with a four-day work week for early childhood professions, a system that is already partially implemented in the municipal police.
In the field of early childhood, the most affected by staff shortages with 400 vacancies, a “emergency plan in response to a national recruitment crisis” has allowed for a doubling of recruitment compared to 2022, according to Patrick Bloche, deputy in charge of Education. This progress is expected to gradually address the issue. In the session, Delphine Bürkli, mayor of the 9th arrondissement, criticized the city for failing to retain its talent and no longer being perceived as a reliable employer.
While several opposition-led district councils, including those led by Rachida Dati of the Republicans party, have not signed the housing agreement, citing concerns about deteriorating quality of life in certain neighborhoods and the concentration of social housing in certain areas. Grégory Canal, an elected official from the 15th arrondissement, referred to them as “social ghettos”.
