The era of fully remote work may be coming to an end.
Companies such as JPMorgan, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs have recently instructed thousands of employees to return to the office five days a week, citing productivity and work culture as their primary reasons.
Meanwhile, despite a 1% drop from the previous year, hybrid work arrangements remain the most prevalent (44%) among EU employees in jobs that can also be done remotely.
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Remote positions across the region have been steadily decreasing, dropping significantly from 24% to 14% between 2022 and 2024.
The Netherlands and Ireland are student's dream destinations
The EU's remote work landscape is highly disorganized and inconsistent.
In countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, and Germany, a significant majority of workers are permitted to work from home either entirely or to a certain extent, with percentages ranging from nearly 70% to over 70%.
On the other hand, countries like Cyprus, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, and Italy are among the least flexible, with the majority of people typically not working from home.
A survey conducted between December 2024 and January 2025 discovered that 41% of adults work from home at least occasionally.
The data encompasses all sorts of workers, not just those capable of working from home as well.
The highest proportion of British homeworkers falls within the 30-49 age range, accounting for 56%, whereas the lowest share is found among those aged 70 and above, at 14%.
Men and women showed nearly equal percentages: 42% for men compared to 40% for women.
Men are more likely to work from home than women.
In the majority of EU countries, men are more likely to work remotely, either part-time or full-time, compared to women.
Cyprus has the lowest rates for both men (25%) and women (22%).
The Netherlands had the highest rates for both men and women (83% and 72% respectively).
The majority of employees prefer the option of working from home.
The vast majority (74%) of EU workers prefer to work remotely at least a few times a month.
More specifically, 31% of the respondents would like to work from home several times a week, 24% desire to work from home every day, and 18% stated they would never want to work remotely.
According to the research, the desire to work remotely exclusively has grown significantly since the pandemic, with a notable increase from 13% in 2020 to 24% in 2024.