He Call from Amazon The return of its workers to the office was seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back for teleworking, which seems to be suffering an unstoppable setback since the height of the pandemic due to skepticism from big companies. But in this context, many companies that cannot compete on wages with their larger competitors have seen an opportunity to “drive out” workers. with the advantage of being able to work from home. Especially in Europe, even if on the Old Continent the candidates do not consider it the key to choosing a job.
Even if the percentage of vacant positions to be filled has been reduced in recent quarterss on the Old Continent compared to the peaks of 2022, the problems of finding workers remain a major concern for companies in large economies like the United Kingdom or Germany, labor markets with a very low unemployment rate and , therefore, with less labor available (although this has also affected countries that are at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of unemployment, such as Spain).
A situation which affects all sectors, from construction to the hotel industry, but which also affects the most qualified profiles in the technological, consulting or legal sectors. The latter are the most sensitive to teleworking. The fact that European companies have less salary flexibility than American companies due to the economic situation and the rigidity of the labor market has supported the idea in the human resources sector that teleworking This can be a way to score points with candidates.
Which explains a surprising phenomenon: Europe offers more teleworking possibilities than the United States, at least in the job offers they publish on the Internet. But the strategy fails on one key point: this aspect It also generates less interest among future workers.
The nuanced weight of teleworking in the United States
According to data collected by Indeed, 7% of American companies offer teleworking, either permanently or on a more occasional basis, a so-called “hybrid” format. This is a similar percentage to job searches that include these terms. In other words, in the requests made by the candidates themselves on these portals.
Although both variables have experienced a similar evolution since the pandemic, although in the case of candidates it has been more intense: published job offers have increased by 2.9 and searches by 4. In all In this case, we are talking about reduced percentages of media “noise”. that teleworking has generated.
In fact, both figures are lower than the 19% average impact achieved by teleworking between 2022 and 2023, according to a study prepared by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) late last year , when it was already considered teleworking. the crisis is a fact. This fifth of American workers coincides with the percentage of employees that Amazon has recalled to its headquarters. This gap points out that this is not considered something as relevant when accepting the position as one might think.
Although the data fluctuates considerably depending on the sector. Thus, according to Indeed, more than 30% of offers for highly qualified positions, notably for software developers (33.4%) and other technology positions, but also for others such as lawyers (31.1%) , offer teleworking. These are also those in which teleworking has gained more weight on offers published since the pandemic.
The percentages drop for occupations that not only require attendance (like construction or health care services) but are also associated with fewer responsibilities and training requirements (and receive lower wages). This is confirmed by the BLS: the more demanding a position, the more widespread teleworking is, with rates reaching 37%, a little more than what companies offer for these sectors.
Although the US Statistical Office does not specify how many of those people who actually telework do so outside of their conventional hours, to work overtime or to resolve incidents, which This could also explain part of the gaps between offers and actual employment.
Indeed, the data shows that the decisions of large companies have not had an impact on the supply and demand for teleworking. Even if the difference between positions that include teleworking and their greater real weight in employment indicates that many employers and candidates take it for grantedwhich implies that it is not a factor that makes the difference when accepting an offer. Nevertheless, the percentage of those who do is high enough that many companies that cannot offer the same salary conditions to attract workers take advantage of it as “bait”.
Europe considers teleworking amortized
Can what happened in the United States be extrapolated to Europe? Although Indeed’s data does not include Spain, it does include a significant sample of the major European economies: the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ireland. In these cases, the stability between supply and demand for teleworking is confirmed, but with a surprising rebound in comparison. facing data from across the pond.
The general rate of job offers offering teleworking is significantly higher than in the United States in all these countries (11% in Germany, 14% in France and the United Kingdom). But those of candidates seeking remote employment arrangements are much lower: 3% for Germany, 2.5% for the United Kingdom and Ireland and only 0.7% for France.
This sector mismatch between companies and candidates largely reflects how some regions and others use job portals. While in the United States the sectoral diversity of companies that use job portals to search for workers is greater, in Europe they concentrate on so-called “office” positions, which are most subject to teleworking . On the other hand, a greater variety of vacancies means that American candidates They trust portals more, although the most active would be office workers. Others turn to job sites or contacts.
In Europe, it is the opposite: companies looking for workstations, and therefore more sensitive to the idea of remote or hybrid employment, are over-represented, while workers belong to a broader group. This is because, in cases like France, A large part of this search is carried out via public employment service portals.
However, it is necessary to take into account the effective weight of teleworking on the European labor market compared to the American one. In the European Union, teleworkers (adding those who are fully remote or in “hybrid teams”) represent almost 25% of the total. In Germany, they reach 23%, 24% in France and almost 37% in Ireland.according to the latest data from Eurostat, corresponding to 2023. This is due to a slightly greater weight of high value added services in these countries, particularly in Ireland (European headquarters of several large technology companies). In Spain, this percentage is 14%.
But this has a “negative” side effect for companies that rely on this lure to hire: candidates take teleworking much more for granted than in the United States, where the conflict around its maintenance was more important. Partly because the cost is different for larger companies. Simply put, tax and wage differences related to the distribution of labor between different regions are very different in a country with a power structure as decentralized as the United States and in a European country.
The consequence is that European companies cannot count on this asset to attract professions. Even if they try hard. Indeed, in sectors in which the more tempting this option is supposed to beEuropean offers also greatly exceed American offers in terms of teleworking.
The problem for European companies is that their salary flexibility allows them to compete in the hunt for these talents, who are also stars high labor turnover on its own initiative, it decreases. They have accumulated several years of rebounding inflation which is now affecting their margins, to which is added a cooling of forecasts for the years to come in a geopolitical environment still marked by the war in Ukraine.
In addition, they are more subject to collective negotiations and national and community regulations. This rigidity and this salary, although they present benefits for employers and bossesworks against them when it comes to filling the labor shortage in the most demanding sectors.
