Engineers worried and weakened by sluggish economic activity

Massively reorganized around teleworking, two out of three companies still do not manage to occupy their teams 100%. While 40% of the profession is faced with longer payment terms, 35% of those surveyed say they anticipate cash flow difficulties within twelve months.

Pierre Verzat, president of Syntec-Ingénierie : “The confinement we know today has little to do with that of last March. If new easing measures have been announced by the President of the Republic, it is clear that economic activity continues to be subdued and that the recovery is still pending. Engineers have switched massively to teleworking to pursue their projects, but their order books are dwindling and still cannot manage to occupy their teams 100%. Uncertainties about the future remain high and projects are slow to be launched by public and private contractors. This is true in the industrial sector where, despite the recovery plan, our companies are hit hard by the automotive and aeronautical crises. This is also the case for public procurement, where the local bloc must better play its role in supporting the recovery. "

A rapid reorganization in teleworking in the service of the recovery ...

Since October 28, engineering companies have massively transferred their workforce to teleworking, in compliance with the new health protocol and in order to fight against the spread of the pandemic. With 58% of their remote employees and 13% on assignment with their customers (industrial sites, construction sites, etc.), engineers occasionally welcome on site less than a quarter of their engineers and technicians who require access to tools and specific equipment.

... which comes up against the slowdown in activity and the lack of visibility

Despite this reorganization, engineering companies are suffering from a continuous decline in order intake. They are 65% in this case, against 58% last month. The industry pole is the most affected, with 73% of the respondents concerned, against 57% for the construction pole. Similarly, 62% of respondents believe that their activity will be down in the first quarter of 2021 compared to last year. This proportion reaches 72% among engineers in the industrial sector, particularly affected by the decline in activity in the aeronautics and automotive markets.

A complex situation that impacts the optimism of engineers: 75% of respondents think that the restart of activity will be slow for at least a year. This is almost ten points higher than last month.

Longer payment deadlines, under-occupation ... difficulties that accumulate

While one in two companies thought to fully occupy their teams in November, the reconfinement came to dampen hopes. Only 38% say they have a workforce that works 100%. That's ten points less than in October. Once again, industrial engineering companies are the most affected and only 20% of them are operating at their nominal speed.

In addition, 40% of respondents are now faced with longer payment terms, against a third in October. For 13% of them, the delays now range between +30 and +60 days. Critical situations, which can explain in particular that 35% of those polled anticipate cash flow difficulties in the next twelve months. Syntec-Ingénierie, which calls for a rebalancing of contractual relations, points out that in France, 25% of failures of SMEs and VSEs are due to late payments, according to the ARC collection firm.