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Ireland had one of the highest rates of employees working from home during the Coivd-19 crisis, according to the Eurofound labor market think tank.
The group’s Living, Working and Covid-19 survey, which tracks changes in the labor market, found that roughly 40 percent of paid hours worked by employees were done from home at the height of the crisis.
This reflects “the magnitude of change that has occurred in terms of working life in just six months,” says the report.
Belgium had the highest rate of employees working from home, with more than half of those surveyed (52 percent) indicating that they worked from home exclusively during the pandemic, and only 24 percent worked at the employer’s premises.
According to the report, “home-only telework rates” were also high in Ireland (47%), Italy (47%), Spain (45%) and France (43%). These high rates are particularly notable considering the low rates of teleworking, even occasional, in most member states before the crisis, the report noted.
Respondents who telework tended to be relatively privileged, as evidenced by high levels of educational qualifications and economic resilience, the survey found.
It also highlighted “gaps in practical transitions to teleworking” across Europe with less than half (47 percent) of employees telecommuting indicating that their employer had provided them with the necessary equipment to work from home.
It also found that a conflict between work and life was particularly evident for people with children under the age of 17 who worked from home, and this was the most notable case for women. Overall, 22% of respondents who worked exclusively from home reported that they had difficulty concentrating on work due to family obligations, compared to 8% of those who worked elsewhere.
“This research shows the radical changes that have occurred in working life in a very short period of time,” said Massimiliano Mascherini, head of Eurofound’s social policies unit.
“Teleworking is a question of work organization, a question of work-life balance, a question of gender equality, a question of regional development and also a macroeconomic issue of vital importance for the future of Europe”, He said.
“We have experienced a telecommuting revolution that appears to be permanently changing labor relations, now the responsibility rests with policymakers to maximize their potential to protect the economy and minimize associated conflicts between work and life,” he said.
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