Aggressions, incivility, but also expressions of suicidal intention from users… An internal document, revealed by Politis, reveals an increase in violence in 2023 within France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi). In one year, the organization recorded nearly 16,000 reports of attacks through its 900 agencies, compared to 14,200 in 2022, an increase of 12%. Reported incivility increased by 17% (+ 82% since 2019), verbal attacks by 8% (+ 37% since 2019).
Concerning expressions of suicidal intent by a user noted by agents, the figure rises to 3,040 cases, an increase of 8.7% compared to 2022. This is three times more than in 2019, there are is five years old.
The number of physical attacks remains stable and represents less than 1% of reports. According to the document, “of the 143 physical attacks declared in 2023, 45 are proven physical attacks on an agent and occurred in an agency or nearby”.
An increase linked to changes in unemployment insurance compensation?
“This increase in reports of aggression has especially appeared since 2019, an increase that we can link to changes in unemployment insurance compensation,” explains Christophe Moreau, member of the national office of the SNU union (FSU), specifying that his union “has long called for a systematization of work accident declaration for each attack”.
Last year, France Travail assured that it was putting in place measures “as part of a global strategy”. The operator then cited “the protection of sites with the strengthening of security equipment, the generalization of video protection in agencies and the development of alert tools”, so that agents can report “urgent situations”, or “training employees in de-escalation and tension management”.
On the generalization of the implementation of video protection, Christophe Moreau estimated that this measure did not lead to a particular reduction in the number of attacks “in the agencies where this has been implemented”.