Teleworking has been one of the Great changes in the organization of the labor market in Europe, although its objective has changed as normality was restored and companies returned to its offices. It was no longer an obligation imposed by COVID-19, but a benefit that It contributed time flexibility For conciliation and, above all, an effective weapon to attract and retain talent.
In this context of “labor benefit”, the question of whether workers would be willing to sacrifice part of their salary to maintain the option of working from home has gained relevance between companies. The European Central Bank (ECB) has asked European employees to what percentage of salary would be willing to give up in exchange for maintaining teleworking. Their answers leave no doubt.
Nor for all the money in the world. According to data extracted from the Consumer expectations survey (CES) From the European Central Bank, 70% of European workers are not willing to give up any part of their salary in exchange for Teleworking.
On the other hand, 13% of the respondents would accept a reduction that would range between 1% and 5%, while only 8% would consent to a more significant salary reduction between 6% and 10%. This data is especially precious to companies since it allows quantifying the value that employees give to the possibility of teleworking, especially when this flexibility is offered as part of an emotional salary for the worker.
Percentage of workers who would accept a salary cut and cutting percentage
More and more teleworking … but hybrid. So much The data of Eurostat, like those of the Active Population Survey From the first quarter of 2025, they point out that teleworking levels They are maintainedboth European and nationally, well above the prepazed levels recorded in 2019.
That means that there is more and more active population working from home. The greatest change that has occurred is that, while before 2019 the most common option was 100% remote work, now the most imposed modality is hybrid work in which work days and teleworking days are combined. That condition of hybrid day too Condition the salary percentage to which employees are willing to give up to keep teleworking.
More teleworking, greater sacrifice. The data of the European Central Bank indicate that the most widespread option is to work two or three days a week from home and the rest from the office. For this formula, European workers would be willing to reduce their salary by an average of 2.6% to maintain that regime.
The more teleworking days are offered, the greater the salary proportion than some would be willing to sacrifice. An employee who works his entire work week would accept a reduction of 4.6% of his salary, while those who only telework one day a week would barely contemplate 1.6% of cuts.
The return to the office increases its pressure. In Europe, companies are not pressing their employees so much To return to your offices as the US companies are doing. This lower pressure is also reflected in the salary cuts that employees are willing to accept.
In it Teleworking Study Study That researchers from Stanford and Chicago University have been doing for more than five years, it is noted that the average salary reduction accepted by remote work in the US is around 7%. This difference suggests that in Europe teleworking is no longer considered An exceptional privilegebut part of the basic working conditions in numerous sectors.
The problem of eliminating teleworking. Given these data, some companies could be tempted to eliminate teleworking, or take advantage of the attachment of employees for this day model to reduce salaries. However, that plan that seems attractive in the short term, becomes a bad idea in the medium and long term.
Telework has become a tool of the Human Resources Department for attract and retain a qualified personnel increasingly scarce. Just observe the waves of resignations and internal conflicts that have generated return policies to the office of Amazon Or, at a closer level, the Holaluz energy.
However, offering some teleworking modality makes vacancies take less to cover themselves Because there are more candidates calling companies that maintain these models, and employees who already work on them have better levels of satisfaction.
Image | Unspash (Coworking macherzentrum toggenburg)
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