Eurostat: Fewer Czechs work from home compared to EU average
Working from home is still less common in the Czech Republic than the European average. Photo: Pexels
By Katerina Xagorari
The percentage of employed people aged between 15 and 64 who usually work from home was 5% for the EU in 2017, according to a recent study entitled “Working from home in the EU”. The study was published by Eurostat, the EU statistical office, on 20 June 2018.
The Netherlands and Luxembourg ranked highest in the list with 13.7% and 12.7 % respectively, while Bulgaria (0.3%) and Romania (0.4%) ranked the lowest. Only 3.9 % of Czechs aged 15 to 64 worked from home regularly in 2017, between Switzerland (4%) and Italy (3.5%).
Source: Eurostat Study (2018): Working from home in the EU.
In all the countries analyzed, self-employed people worked from home more frequently than employees. Specifically, the proportion of self-employed people often working from home stood at nearly 20% in the EU (18.6%).
Parents who want to spend more time with their kids, people with disabilities, or retirees who want extra income usually choose to work from home.
The study points out that more women (5.3%) usually work from home than men (4.7%). This is also true in the Czech Republic, where 4.6% of women use the opportunity to work at home, compared to 3.3% of men. There are several exceptions to this trend in the EU however, such as The Netherlands, where more men than women work from home (14.7% of men, compared to 12.6% of women).
In addition, the Eurostat data suggests that there is a correlation between age and frequency of working from home. Only 1.3% of 15-24-year-old employees in the Czech Republic worked from home regularly in 2017, while 3.7% of 25-49 year-olds and 5.4% of 50-74 year-olds chose the home-office option.
According to the Czech Labour Code, the standard working week of 40 hours cannot be exceeded. Normal working hours in the Czech Republic are between 8am and 5pm.
