Acerta: ‘Most are satisfied with teleworking, youngsters ask for more’

Five years after the coronavirus pandemic, more than eight out of ten companies still allow teleworking. However, more than a third of young employees (33.8%) prefer to work from home more often. In Belgium, half of employers require a physical presence only twice a week or less. The conclusions come from a study by HR service provider Acerta.

In the US, the situation is different. Companies such as Amazon, Tesla, and SpaceX again require their employees to be physically present. In Belgium, working from home has become established since the coronavirus crisis. The youngest generation has never even known anything else.

Lockdown

Five years ago, on March 13th, 2020, to be precise, the first coronavirus lockdown was implemented. Working from home, in companies where this was possible, got a real boost. Since then, hybrid working has become commonplace in most Belgian companies.

Most workers who can work from home are administrative (57.9%), professional (74.7%), and management. Executive staff (71.8%) and blue-collar workers (80.5%) have much less of this possibility.

The days on which employees come to work are mainly decided at the team level (42.1%). However, the employee is given free choice in about 28% of companies – mainly SMEs.

Young employees prefer teleworking

More than eight out of ten Belgian employers (85.3%) allow working from home. In most companies, employees do not have to be physically present more than two days a week.

Most employers (67.6%) and employees (64.2%) are generally satisfied with their current arrangement. However, less than one in ten (7.2%) would like to go to work more often, and 28.6 percent admit they would rather come to the office less frequently. Among young people – between 18 and 35 years old – that percentage rises to almost 34 percent.

Work-life

This generation has often known nothing else than teleworking. Moreover, they usually have a different vision of balancing work and private life. Paradoxically, this particular category of young people also finds working from home more stressful than working in the office.

Acerta conducts an annual survey among Belgian employers and employees. This year, more than 500 employers and more than 2,000 employees were surveyed.