Employer’s perception of remote work effects on productivity, creativity, and satisfaction

To elicit employers’ perception of potential effects of remote work, they were asked whether they believe employees to be less or more productive, creative, or satisfied when they work remotely roughly two days a week as compared to working on-site their entire working time. 23% of employers think that employees working remotely twice a week are more productive as compared to working on-site the entire working time. While 36% of employers do not expect a positive or negative effect on worker productivity, more than one quarter of employers (27%) report lower levels of productivity if employees work remotely. Overall, 14% of firms have not answered this question.

Perception of employees’ productivity when working remotely

Companies are also divided when it comes to assessing the effects on employee creativity. Roughly 20% either see positive or negative effects, while 43% believe that working remotely has no effect of employees’ creativity.

Perception of employees’ creativity when working remotely

In contrast, employers are much more likely to see benefical effects of remote work on employees’ job satisfaction. 55% believe that remote work increases job satisfaction, while only 9% of companies see adverse effects of remote work on job satisfaction. Companies in the industries “J - Information and Communication Technologies” and “K - Financial and insurance activities” are particularly optimistic about the effects of remote work on job satisfaction. At least 70% of companies in these industries expect employees to be more satisfied with their job when they have the opportunity to work remotely two days per week.

Perception of employees’ job satisfaction when working remotely