Policy Note 41: Teleworking can increase productivity
Policy Note 41: Importance of teleworking now and after the COVID-19 pandemic
Mag. Dr. Wolfgang Schwarzbauer
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer, Head of Regional Economic Policy and Foreign Trade Research
The restrictive measures taken by many governments to combat the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in the teleworking rate. This also led to an increase in Austria, even more than the EU average in April 2020. In a policy note published today, EcoAustria compares the benefits of teleworking with the costs.
"The benefits of remote working are currently largely undisputed, especially in light of the experiences in spring 2020. However, the relevant question is to what extent it can also be attractive for companies to make greater use of working from home in the medium to long term. The key factor here is the effect on productivity," says Wolfgang Schwarzbauer, interim Head of Research at EcoAustria.
Scientific studies show that companies can benefit from teleworking in the form of productivity gains. However, this does not apply universally. For example, it depends on the type of activity in the company whether a productivity gain can be achieved. The degree of autonomy with regard to the organization of work is also decisive: the more self-determined the activity, the greater the benefit. Furthermore, the increase in productivity decreases as the number of hours spent working from home increases. Overall, this means that it should be up to the individual company to decide whether and to what extent home office is used.
"In order to make teleworking attractive for companies in the future, it is necessary to improve the local political conditions with regard to broadband coverage in particular," says Schwarzbauer. Here it is important to continue to push economically sensible expansion projects that are not economically viable. This is especially true in rural areas. Teleworking can also strengthen the resilience of the economy in the future if events similar to those in spring 2020 occur. The issue of data security is a second decisive factor for the attractiveness of teleworking. Thirdly, clear, up-to-date and easily calculable labor law regulations would be important for companies.
