NEWS #02

Why this gap? The reason can be attached to different circumstances: diverse digital tools and skills implementation within the professional organisations, the ability of job positions to teleworking or even cultural differences at the workplaces, “with a more traditional inclination in southern Europe”, as the EU’s in-house researcher, Xabier Goenaga, affirms.

Despite the differences between European countries, what the experts confirm is the persistence of hybrid models of teleworking from now on, combining a few days a week of remote work with physical presence at the office. In that sense, a study performed by the American McKinsey Global Institute in 2020 affirmed that “more than 20 percent of the workforce could work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as they could if working from an office”. Productivity has been precisely one of the main concerns during the high-speed adaptation to the new reality. In this regard, the same study pointed out how 41% of the employees surveyed said they were more productive working remotely than in the office. In addition, other benefits of smart working have been recognized such as more personal life conciliation due to flexible schedules, improvement of sustainability with the reduction of commuting and transportation impact or better regional distribution of jobs, giving more options to access high-paying jobs in other areas outside big urban capitals.

But it would be naïve to focus just on the benefits and forget the challenges smart working presents. The adjustment of online work processes, with impact in both professional and personal life, has been considerable. Starting by the updating of management protocols, the use of new work digital tools or the change in the employees’ interrelationship, not to mention the accommodation of new workspaces. Even less negligible is the immersion in new technologies and computer skills which have become an essential requirement for the majority of jobs.