Marta Fana
Despite the increased possibilities for remote working brought about by the decades-old digital revolution, telework has only taken off in the European Union in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. The public-health requirement to reduce social interaction at work has led to a massive increase: the proportion of employees in the EU regularly working remotely from home has surged from 5.4 per cent in 2019 to 30 or even 40 per cent, according to recent estimates.
This great, and sudden, leap in the adoption of telework since the spring has seen millions of workers working from home for the first time. They have had to make this transition quickly to adapt to new digital and collaboration tools and new ways of communicating with co-workers, supervisors and clients. In some cases, they have had to do so without having a suitable working space at home and meanwhile having to take care of young children. Against this challenging backdrop, understanding how the forced shift to t