Massive Relocation to Gardens de Châtillon Sparks Anxiety

Orange is undertaking a significant consolidation effort, relocating a substantial portion of its workforce to the Gardens de Châtillon site throughout 2025. This initiative involves the closure of several existing locations, including Bagnolet, Villejuif, and Ménilmontant, alongside the sale of the Allaray 2 property. Ultimately, Gardens de châtillon is slated to accommodate 5,238 employees.

Details of the move

The Gardens de Châtillon site is organized into districts, each housing between 120 and 150 employees. A key aspect of the new workspace is a sharing rate of 0.6,meaning there are six workstations for every ten employees. To monitor workstation usage and facilitate reservations, sensors will be installed under the desks.

Prior to the arrival of 725 new employees in two phases (April 28 and September 22, 2025), 203 existing employees will be reassigned within the Gardens de Châtillon complex.The incoming employees will be drawn from the following locations:

• 97 employees from Alleray (September 2025)
• 122 employees from Ménilmontant (April 2025)
• 501 employees from Prisme Villejuif (September 2025)
• 5 employees from Bagnolet (September 2025)

To support employee well-being, a medical office will be established, staffed by two doctors, two social workers, and a dedicated safety officer for emergencies.

Union Concerns: Commuting Woes and Workspace Adequacy

The Orange CFE-CGC union has voiced significant concerns regarding the relocation’s impact on employees. One pressing issue is the uncertainty surrounding the final destination for some Prisme employees, who are unsure whether they will be assigned to Gardens de Châtillon, Noisy, or Village.

Adding to the unease is the rapid pace of these moves, particularly given that the lease end date for some of the vacated locations is not until July 2029, according to Orange’s commercial commitments. This raises questions about the urgency and rationale behind the accelerated timeline.

The speed of these moves in 2024 and 2025 is incomprehensible insofar as the date of the end of the lease is announced for July 2029 (Orange commercial commitment).

A major point of contention is the accessibility of the Gardens de Châtillon site via public transportation. Employees already working at the location, and also those slated to move, anticipate increased commute times and overcrowding on shuttle services connecting to metro lines 13 and 4. This is particularly relevant considering that, according to recent studies, commute times are directly correlated with employee stress and reduced productivity.

The union also criticizes Orange’s apparent reluctance to consider alternative assignments for employees from Prisme and Ménilmontant who reside far from Châtillon, such as the Noisy-le-Grand site. This inflexibility is seen as disregarding the individual circumstances of employees.

Moreover, the CFE-CGC Orange has emphasized the need for workstation adjustments to accommodate specific job requirements, particularly for roles that involve extensive phone use or require a high degree of confidentiality. they argue that the current sharing rate of 0.6 may be an overestimate,with the actual rate potentially closer to 5 workstations for every 10 employees,further exacerbating workspace constraints.

Your elected officials from the Orange CFE-CGC have drawn the attention of management to certain activities/professions that require long time on the phone during the day and/or confidentiality. They ask that workstation adjustments be adapted to the reality of needs.

Orange CFE-CGC

Human Cost of Real Estate Strategy

The union contends that Orange’s real estate strategy prioritizes cost-efficiency over employee well-being, neglecting the impact on their physical and mental health. They argue that the company’s approach, driven by Excel spreadsheets, fails to adequately consider the human element, potentially violating labor laws that mandate the protection of employee health and safety (L4121-1).

The group’s real estate strategy imposes working conditions on employees, without taking into account their professional needs or the impact on their physical and mental health, as the law nevertheless provides (L4121-1). Real estate projects are managed on Excel spreadsheets and entirely neglect human aspects.

The CFE-CGC Orange concludes by questioning whether the resulting employee destabilization is an unintended outcome or a deliberate objective of management.