Portugal: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.

26 % of employers think that employees working remotely twice a week are more productive as compared to working on-site the entire working time. While 32 % of employers do not expect a positive or negative effect on worker productivity, 23 % of employers report lower levels of productivity if employees work remotely. Overall, 18 % of firms have not answered this question. Companies in the industries “J - Information and Communication Technologies” are particularly optimistic about the effects of remote work on productivity. 42 % of companies in this industry expect employees to be more productive when they have the opprotunity to work remotely two days per week.

One quarter of employers think that employees working remotely twice a week are more creative as compared to working on-site the entire working time. While 38 % of employers do not expect a positive or negative effect on worker creativity, 17 % of employers report lower levels of creativity if employees work remotely. The strongest creativity is observed among companies in the information and communication sector (28%).

Employers are much more likely to see benefical effects of remote work on employees’ job satisfaction. 48 % believe that remote work increases job satisfaction, while only 11 % of companies see adverse effects of remote work on job satisfaction. Companies in the industries “J - Information and Communication Technologies” and “M - Professional, Scientific and Technical activities” are particularly optimistic about the effects of remote work on job satisfaction. At least 63 % of companies in these industries expect employees to be more satisfied with their job when they have the opprotunity to work remotely two days per week.