Chapter 5:
What does the future of telework look like?
Telework in transition
Key insights
Hybrid work remains the dominant telework model. The share of respondents to Eurofound's e-survey in teleworkable jobs working in hybrid arrangements increased from 35% in 2022 to 45% in 2023, before slightly declining to 44% in 2024. Fully remote work decreased more sharply over the same period, falling from 24% to 14%, while workplace-only arrangements rose from 36% in 2023 to 41% in 2024 – nearly returning to their 2022 level of 42%.
Gender disparities are apparent in telework opportunities. While fully remote work declined similarly for women (14% to 10%) and men (10% to 7%) between 2022 and 2024, men remain more likely to access hybrid arrangements (27% vs 22% in 2024). For the first time in the e-survey series, a higher share of women (68%) than men (66%) reported working entirely on site.
Telework is characterised by a rural–urban divide. Urban areas benefit more from telework due to better infrastructure and job types, although rural internet access has improved. Coworking hubs are growing in rural areas to bridge the gap.
Surveillance concerns are on the rise. The growing use of digital tools in remote work has led to increased employee monitoring, raising significant concerns over privacy and data use.
Remote work may change the nature of harassment. While teleworkers may face fewer instances of verbal abuse or threats, isolation and disconnection from colleagues can enable more subtle or hidden forms of harassment.
Over 40 million people teleworked across the EU in 2021 – double the number compared with 2019 – as COVID-19 restrictions and changes in work culture significantly altered work organisation.
For many workers, the transition to telework was an overnight change but – due to efficiency gains in many areas and the flexibility that telework provides – the return to the office, until recently, had been a slow one.
As telework became widespread, so too did concerns about its downsides – particularly the blurring of boundaries between work and personal life, increased pressure to be available outside normal hours, and potential effects on mental well-being. In response to this growing ‘always on’ culture, a number of Member States have introduced the right to disconnect. While implementation varies, the aim is to help workers maintain clear boundaries and encourage a shift in workplace culture around constant availability.
Since 2023, several signs suggest that opportunities for remote work are decreasing. According to LinkedIn data, the number of remote positions advertised has decreased significantly, despite continued high demand for such roles, indicating a supply–demand mismatch.
Eurofound’s 2024 e-survey findings appear to confirm these global trends within EU Member States. In 2024, debates continued over the permanency of telework, with an overall majority of employees pushing for hybrid work arrangements, while the trend of large companies demanding a full-scale return to the office gained momentum.
'For now, this tug of war between the old and new way of working continues – against the broader backdrop of the digital transition.'
Decline in remote work
Despite findings from Eurofound’s 2024 Living and Working in the EU e-survey showing that the desire to work exclusively from home has increased since the pandemic, the share of e-survey respondents working fully remotely has steadily declined – from 24% in 2022 to 14% in 2024 (Figure 18).
Among respondents, hybrid working arrangements increased from 35% in 2022 to 45% in 2023, before declining slightly to 44% in 2024. At the same time, the share working only at their employer’s premises increased from 36% in 2023 to 41% in 2024.
Figure 18: Place of work in teleworkable jobs, EU, 2022–2024 (%)
Fewer remote work for both women and men
Among respondents to Eurofound’s e-survey, the proportion working exclusively from home has declined for both women and men — from 14% to 10% for women and from 10% to 7% for men between 2022 and 2024 (Figure 19). Hybrid work remains more common, with 27% of men and 22% of women working in hybrid arrangements in 2024.
For the first time in the e-survey series, a slightly higher proportion of female than male respondents (68% vs 66%) reported working entirely at their employer’s premises.
Figure 19: Place of work, by gender, EU, 2020–2024 (%)
Overall preference for hybrid approach
There appears to be a mismatch between the proportion of e-survey respondents who are able to work from home and those who would like to. The desire to work from home multiple times a week remains high, with over 50% expressing this preference in 2024 (Figure 20). Among respondents, 56% of women and 54% of men reported preferring to work from home at least several times per week.
However, the reality of teleworking varies widely depending on geography. Across Member States, e-survey findings show that access to remote work differs significantly – not just by sector or role, but also by country and gender.
Figure 20: Work from home preferences, EU, 2020–2024 (%)
National differences in teleworking
Large differences remain between Member States regarding the ability to work from home. When looking at the proportion of respondents who never work from home, and considering only those in teleworkable jobs by gender, the differences are striking. In the Netherlands, only 17% of men in teleworkable jobs work exclusively from the workplace, while in Cyprus, this rate is 78% among women (Figure 21).
In nearly all countries, men in teleworkable jobs are more likely to work partially or fully from home compared with women. This contrasts with pre-pandemic findings that showed that women were more likely than men to work in teleworkable occupations (45% compared with 30%) (JRC, 2020).
One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that the e-survey may overrepresent men working in sectors or roles where telework is more common. Other contributing factors could include differences in occupation types and job seniority. These disparities are further reinforced by a rural–urban divide, as geography within countries also plays a role in determining access to telework opportunities.
Figure 21: Frequency of working from home among those in teleworkable jobs, by EU Member State and gender, 2024 (%)
Source: Living and Working in the EU e-survey series
Rural–urban divide in telework and connectivity
In 2022, almost 90% of EU regions had employment rates that were above their pre-COVID-19 levels. More than two-fifths of all regions had an employment rate equal to or above 78% – the EU employment rate target for 2030. However, this overall positive performance conceals sharp geographical differences.
Urban and capital regions, which are characterised by a higher concentration of knowledge-intensive jobs that can be performed remotely, are clearly reaping greater benefits. In capital cities, 1 in 4 workers is employed in knowledge-intensive services in the private sector, compared with 1 in 10 in mainly rural regions. Furthermore, among the 20 EU regions with the largest shares of people working from home in 2022, the majority are either capital regions or areas surrounding them.
Internet connectivity is the essential enabling technology for telework. When the COVID-19 crisis began, most residents of cities, towns and suburbs had sufficient internet access to work from home, but many in rural areas did not. Internet speeds in rural areas have improved to a remarkable extent since the pandemic: rural areas in 2022 had higher average speeds than cities did in 2019. However, progress on connectivity in cities was still faster during the period analysed, and therefore the rural–urban gap in internet connectivity widened slightly.
Urban and capital areas of Europe benefit disproportionately from the capacity to telework, leaving rural areas at a disadvantage in terms of telework capacity and digital infrastructure. This might pose a risk of territorial divergence, with urban and capital areas disproportionately reaping the benefits of the digital revolution.
Coworking spaces in rural areas
To address the disadvantages faced by rural communities, a range of innovative policy and grassroot responses have emerged – particularly in the form of coworking hubs.
The recent widespread adoption of remote and hybrid working arrangements has increased interest in workspaces outside city locations. Since the pandemic, various initiatives have been launched across Europe to support remote work in rural or marginalised areas by establishing coworking spaces (see the case study below on Ireland).
Table 4 outlines the types of coworking spaces popping up across Europe. These spaces provide an alternative to home-based work and offer a professional environment with access to a high-quality internet connection and office facilities, such as rooms for meetings and printers. They can also prevent isolation and a lack of social and professional contacts, and avoid distractions related to family and household responsibilities.
Employers may also see advantages in coworking spaces outside urban areas, as they can potentially reduce costs associated with office buildings and provide access to a broader pool of workers.
Table 4: Types of coworking spaces
Coworking in rural Ireland
Name: National Connected Hubs Network
Aims: As part of Ireland’s National Remote Work Strategy, this initiative aims to make remote working a reality throughout rural Ireland. It maps and invests in a network of remote working hubs, providing Ireland’s first ever digital hub network through the ConnectedHubs.ie platform.
Financial support: The Irish government has invested approximately €13 million in hubs all over Ireland to assist them with upgrades to their facilities. Another €1.2 million has been invested in resourcing the ConnectedHubs.ie platform and team.
Users: The remote working hubs provide services and facilities to support SMEs, startups, remote workers, community groups and digital nomads.
Number of coworking spaces: In January 2024, there were 346 hubs live on the platform and an estimated 22,000 desks available nationwide. Hubs are located throughout Ireland, but not all of them are thriving; many of them need support to market and promote their facilities. Some 81% of hubs are located in rural areas, which corresponds to 8,140 desks in rural hubs.
With policy support, targeted funding and diverse service offerings, it is clear that coworking spaces in rural areas can contribute to the regeneration of rural areas.
Risks arising from teleworking
The benefits of telework are well known – improvements in work–life balance, lower commuting times and increased task autonomy. However, there are concerns as it has also blurred the boundaries between professional and personal life, introducing new challenges for workers.
The increased use of digital technologies has led to a rise in employee monitoring technologies, raising concerns over data privacy and surveillance. At the same time, remote work has altered workplace social dynamics, with some studies pointing to new risks of workplace exclusion, cyberbullying and harassment.
Hybrid work and employee monitoring
The rise of hybrid work has brought the issue of employee monitoring to the forefront. During the pandemic, the use of monitoring software increased, as some employers looked for ways to maintain oversight of employees now working from home. Post-pandemic, major software producers continue to release new productivity tracking solutions.
Spyware, which gathers data from a computer without the user’s knowledge, and keylogger software, which records every keystroke made on a computer or mobile device, are explicitly outlawed only in a few countries. Some Member States have introduced new provisions regulating employee monitoring within telework settings:
- Greece (Law 4808/2021): Prohibits the use of webcams to monitor remote workers
- Portugal (Law 83/2021): Requires employers to inform workers about monitoring tools
- Cyprus: Restricts the use of tracking technology solely for performance evaluation, to avoid misuse
As digital tools increasingly shape workplace management, the line between legitimate employee monitoring and intrusive surveillance is becoming a key regulatory concern. While companies argue that monitoring enhances productivity, security and compliance, regulators question whether such practices infringe on workers’ rights and privacy.
Remote work: New risks for harassment and bullying?
Beyond surveillance concerns, telework has given rise to new social risks, particularly around exclusion and inappropriate behaviour.
There is no strong evidence that remote work increases exposure to bullying or harassment; in fact, some evidence suggests it may reduce it. Eurofound’s EWCTS 2021 found that teleworkers were less likely to experience verbal abuse, threats, unwanted sexual attention, bullying, harassment or violence.
However, teleworking may lead to new risks of antisocial behaviours. Factors such as isolation, disconnection from colleagues and blurred professional boundaries may enable new forms of harassment and inappropriate behaviours. A Portuguese study found that 24% of surveyed teleworkers believed that remote work heightened the risk of bullying and harassment. Similarly, a Greek survey reported that remote workers faced issues such as being excluded from work-related discussions (19%).
As digital communication becomes central to work life, ensuring protection from harassment and social isolation in remote and hybrid settings remains a key challenge for employers. Further research is needed to better understand when remote work mitigates – or magnifies – these risks.
Discover more
- Data story: Quality of life in the EU in 2024: Results from the Living and Working in the EU e-survey
- Report: Workplace bullying, harassment and cyberbullying: Are regulations and policies fit for purpose?
- Report: Regional employment change and the geography of telework in Europe
- Article: Employee monitoring: A moving target for regulation
- Eurofound Talks: How can we effectively tackle cyberbullying at work?
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