Pôle Emploi apologises for patronising Facebook post
Pôle Emploi had to apologise after sharing a Facebook post which was branded patronising by internet users.
The post, depicting a day in the life of a jobseeker, advised exercise before breakfast to “boost motivation”, followed by 10 minutes in the shower “reflecting on objectives and desires” and then a “copious” breakfast “on the balcony” to “profit from the daylight: a natural antidepressant”.
Other advice includes a relaxing lunch hour from noon to 13.00, a “well-earned break” from 14.00 to 16.00 (“it is important to pamper yourself”) in which you might want to “dedicate yourself to a club” and, from 17.30, “socialising” so as not to “remain alone in your search”.
The post was shared by a branch of the Pôle Emploi in Margny-lès-Compiègne, Hauts-de-France who commented it would enable people to “perform well in your tasks”, advising it should be applied six days a week until finding a job.
Numerous social network users hit out at the plan, saying it was “infantilising” and “stigmatising”. “Listen to Pôle Emploi, you disorganised slob,” one Twitter user said, ironically.
The advice actually originated from Bob Emploi, a Pôle Emploi partner owned by the American and French not-for-profit Bayes Impact which aims to use ‘big data’ to help with social problems, but who posted it with the Pôle Emploi’s logo.
It also advises 2hrs 45mins on applying for jobs, responding to offers and updating your CV; an hour applying for ‘petits boulots’ such as temp positions which could earn you some money even if they don’t fit your long-term aspirations, and an hour ‘networking’ by sending emails to LinkedIn contacts.
Slate.fr said the plan did not so much seem to aim at a “successful search” as being a “successful unemployed person”, wholesome, content and well-fed.
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It appears to have been adapted from a slightly more demanding version published in English by Business Insider in 2015.
The authors of the French version, Bayes Impact, have said it should have been better checked and admitted that “its tone was ‘off’”.
A national spokesperson for Pôle Emploi said that the branch that posted the list would be “debriefed”, adding “it was a clumsy initiative”.
