Teleworking is losing followers and stagnating at a rate of 13.8% of those employed

As if it were a mask or a Covid passport, teleworking runs the risk of remaining just another pandemic experience. Meanwhile, the office refuses to leave the lives of workers. So much so, that teleworking has lost weight in Spain in the last year and, among the employed population, only 13.8% continue to maintain it, according to data from the Survey on equipment and use of information and communication technologies. in homes published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The INE included teleworking in the survey in 2021, after the rise of this practice due to the outbreak of the pandemic. Then, the figure reached 17.6%. The following year the practice of teleworking fell to 14%. In 2023, the figure has remained stable, with a decline of just two tenths.

women and young people

However, for some groups, working from home has attracted more professionals. This is the case of women and the youngest. Specifically, among the employed population in Spain, 14.6% of women admitted to having teleworked in the last three months, three tenths more than a year ago, while the rate of men has reduced from 13.7% to 13.1% in one year, further widening the gender gap that already existed in teleworking in Spain.

Despite the decline, the rise of teleworking has reached a group: workers between 16 and 24 years old, despite maintaining the lowest rate by age group. The youngest have increased their share of teleworking up to 4.4 percentage points compared to the previous year. The older ones have also done it, although to a lesser extent. The population between 65 and 76 years old has registered a teleworking rate of 14.2%, compared to 12.7% recorded in the previous year. However, people between 35 years old and 44 years old were those who registered a higher rate of teleworking, up to 16%.

A big city practice.

Teleworking is also a big city practice. Where the rate of teleworkers is highest is in those municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and provincial capitals, with a penetration of remote work of 18.7%. By type of household, adults with a home and a partner and without dependent children also seem more willing to telework: 17.1% do so, the group with the highest rate, followed by the single-person household, which reaches 14.7 %.

Although the only social group among which teleworking is the majority are professionals in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. The group, made up of developers, computer scientists or cybersecurity specialists, has 61.7% teleworkers in its ranks, far above the rest of the workers. To find the second group with a greater penetration of teleworking, we must drop to 28.8%, which marks the group of teleworkers made up of mid-level technicians and professionals.

In contrast, directors and managers appear to be more needed in the office and their remote work rate is 23.3%. Above are also scientific and intellectual personnel, with 28.8%.

Teleworking is also a high-income solution. In households with higher incomes, 3,000 euros or more, the teleworking rate is 25.2%, the highest, and penetration decreases as income decreases: in households with incomes between 2,500 euros and 3,000 the rate is 16.9%, between 16,000 euros and 2,500, 12.1%, and among households with less than 1,600 euros it barely reaches 5.1%. The worker’s degree of education goes hand in hand: the more education, the more penetration of teleworking.

Back to the office

Both teleworking and good office conditions have become another asset to attract talent to companies. The employee value proposition to attract and retain talent is among the strategic priorities of Spanish business leaders for the next three years (only surpassed by the response to inflation and the price of raw materials and equaled by digitalization ), according to the KPMG 2023 CEO Outlook and teleworking is part of that value proposition.

However, the majority of CEOs are opting to distance themselves from letting their employees work from home. The survey shows that three out of four interviewees predict that in three years the completely in-person model will be recovered. Specifically, 78% of senior managers think so, fourteen percentage points more than the global average. There is more consensus among CEOs to reward their employees through other remuneration such as salary supplements or promotions; 89% of CEOs agree with this.