‘For white-collar workers who have office jobs and work mainly from their computers, it is much easier for them to telework and work remotely from wherever they want,’ says Franz Ferdinand Eiffe, research manager at Eurofound‘s Working Life Research Unit.
Indeed, the development of flexible working arrangements in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly with the widespread use of teleworking, does not seem to have met the needs of less-skilled experienced employees. A previous study published by Eurofound notes that the use of flexible working arrangements – which has generally increased in Member States – has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in flexible working hours. It is mainly workers in the most highly skilled jobs ‘who have seen the biggest increase in remote working’. In 2028, 25% of them were working remotely, compared with 40% in 2022. In contrast, data on low-skilled workers remained stable at only around 2% between 2018 and 2022.
Teleworking was widely used and popularised during and after the pandemic, with ‘remote working policies’ being adopted across the EU. The number of employees who telework “usually or sometimes” rose “from 14% in 2019 to 24% in 2021, followed by a slight decline to 22% in 2022”. Variations remain between countries, with some countries maintaining a strong propensity for teleworking – such as France, Germany and Denmark – and others experiencing a rapid decline after 2021, such as Bulgaria and Romania. However, the use of teleworking depends on the skill level of workers. It is those in the most highly skilled jobs ‘who have seen the biggest increase in remote working’. In 2018, 25% of them were working remotely, compared with 40% in 2022. In contrast, data for low-skilled workers remained stable at only around 2% between 2018 and 2022.
As with teleworking, flexible working hours are also influenced by the skill level of workers. In 2021 and 2022, it was the most highly skilled workers who benefited most significantly from flexible working hours. For example, in 2022, an estimated 26.1% of highly skilled employees benefited from flexible working arrangements, compared with only 8.6% of low-skilled employees.
Eurofound: AI has become a subject of collective bargaining
Fed by its network of correspondents, Eurofound published, on 26 September 2025, a study about the emergence of AI as a subject of collective bargaining. The report analyses the various levels of social dialogue that have approached the AI topic: European...
