In 2019, only ten percent of Czechs used the home office, which is six percent below the EU average, with Swedes and Dutch at the top of the list with 37 percent. The Czech Republic only reached their level under coronavirus pressure; during last March and April, the share of Czech employees working from their homes was over 40 percent.
In the summer, 15 percent of Czechs worked at least partially from home. The number of out-of-office workers began to rise again in line with the ongoing infection at the end of September, but this time it stopped below 30 percent in October. People's willingness to limit themselves was much lower in the second wave than when they first encountered the pandemic.
Development of the number of infected and the share of employees working from home Author: IDEA and Microsoft
The authors of the study, Jakub Grossmanm, Václav Korbel and Daniel Münich, are skeptical about the future expansion of work from home. "It is very unlikely that work from home in the post-pandemic period would have expanded significantly compared to the situation before 2020. This is hindered mainly by the structure of the Czech economy, and thus the nature of the work performed," the authors summarize.
More women than men worked from home, ten percent more in the first wave and eight percent in the second. "Employees in the financial or IT fields living in the capital were most likely to switch to so-called remote working," the study said.
At the home office, Czechs value flexibility, time savings and better concentration at work the most. On the contrary, the Czechs cite digital fatigue and general exhaustion as the biggest disadvantages. "Compared to foreign colleagues, working from home makes Czechs more difficult," says IDEA and Microsoft studies. Fifty-two percent of Czechs feel exhausted at the end of the week, the world average is 39 percent. "The data is relentless: many employees are groping and we need to find new ways to help them," said Jared Spataro, vice president and president of Microsoft 365.
The reason for fatigue from remote work may also be the unpreparedness of management managers. "Only a quarter of Czech leaders evaluate the current condition of their team and themselves positively. At the same time, global data are almost exactly the opposite, "the study states. The world average is around 61 percent.
Overall, the perception of working from home in the Czech Republic is almost the same as in the world. "The benefits of teleworking clearly outweigh the eyes of employees, and 73 percent of respondents worldwide are in favor of maintaining it," the study said.
Access to cybersecurity will certainly be a problem for future use. Last year, almost half of the employees did not take any security measures. "End users are the most vulnerable and risky part of security. And it also turns out that many companies do not attach enough importance to this and do not solve the issue comprehensively, "points out Petr Váša from the Czech branch of Microsoft.
Source: // E15
