Prevalence of remote work among companies

Across the five countries, a share of 53 % of companies allow at least some of their employees to work remotely at least a part of their working hours. In addition, 21 % of companies indicated that they do not allow any of their employees to work remotely, although at least some of their employees have primary job tasks that could (to some extent) be performed remotely. Finally, 27 % of companies report that none of their employees perform primary job tasks that could be performed remotely, at least to some extent.

However, the share of companies offering remote work arrangements varies across the observed countries. The highest share of companies offering at least some of their employees remote work arrangements is observed among companies in Finland with a share of 85 %. Only 6 % of companies in Finland indicate that they do not allow remote work, although some of their employees have job tasks that would be feasible for remote work. Remote work is also often used by companies in Germany (60 %).

30% of employers who offer remote working arrangements said their employees are more productive at home than in the office. This compares to just 16% of mployers whose tasks can be performed remotely, but who do not offer this option.

Companies in the industry “information and communication” are most likely to offer RWA (91 %). Only 5 % of companies in this industry don’t allow employees to work remotely despite having job tasks that could be perfomred remotely. In addition, only 3 % of companies in this industry report that none of their employees have remote work feasible job tasks.

Remote work arrangements are also very common in companies in the financial and insurance industry (79 %) as well as in the knowledge-intensive services industry (77 %). In the manufacturing industry, approximately every second firm allows at least some of their employees to work remotely at least some of their working hours. In this industry, one quarter of companies indicate that none of their employees perform job tasks that could be done remotely. This share is much higher than in the observed services industries, but lower than in the remaining industries that are combined in the group “others”.

Larger companies are more likely to offer at least some of their employees remote work arrangements than smaller companies. Nearly all of the large companies (94 %) with 250 or more employess offer remote work arrangements. Among medium-sized companies with 50-250 employees, 79 % offer such arrangements. In contrast, among small companies with 5-50 employees, the share of companies with remote work arrangements decreases to 50 %. The share of companies indicating that none of their employees perform rwa-feasible job tasks is higher among small companies (28 %) thant among medium-sized or large companies (7 % and 2 %).

The share of companies offering remote work arrangements is highest in urban locations (57 %). companies in rural areas (52 %) and suburban areas (47 %) are less likely to offer such arrangements.

In the five observed countries, 38 % of companies allow at least some their employees to work remotely on 1-2 days per week. Remote work arrangements that allow for 3-4 remote working days per week are used by 19 % of companies.

Among companies offering remote work, 71 % indicate that at least some of their employees are working remotely on 1-2 days per week. 36 % of companies with remote work arrangements allow at least some of their employees to work remotely 3-4 days per week and 21 % allow 5 or more remote working days per week.

Employers do not indicate significant differences in the use of remote work with respect to the gender of their employees. Among all companies, a share of 12 % report that more than two thirds of their female employees work remotely at least one day per week. In addition, 10 % report that between one third and two thirds of their female employees work remotely. For the male employees, these shares amount to 17 % and 5 %.

Among companies that offer remote work, 26 % indicate that none of their female employees work remotely at least one day per week. For male employees, this share is only a little higher (31 %). At the same time, nearly one quarter of companies offering remote work report that more than 66 % of their female or male employees work remotely at least one day per week. Roughly 19 % of companies indicate that between one third and two thirds of their male of female employees works remotely.