The deflated boom of teleworking: only 10% of vacancies offer the option to do so.

BarcelonaAfter a very sudden peak, the curve flattens and normalizes. This is the behavior of teleworking in Catalonia, a work modality that has become established in our country and is now stable after the strong boost caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is reflected in the Skills and Occupations Barometer A report presented this Tuesday by the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and the Catalan employers' association Pimec focuses on this new way of organizing work. The report analyzes more than two million job vacancies published between 2018 and 2024 and shows that, although in-person work remains the norm, remote work—especially in a hybrid format—is a structural element of the Catalan labor market. Even so, only 10% of the job offers filtered by this study offer the possibility of working remotely. According to the data collected by this research, teleworking went from appearing in 0.9% of job vacancies in 2019 to 10.2% in 2024, after reaching a peak of 12.9% in 2022. This growth has been driven by other factors such as improvements in high-speed internet, the need for a better work-life balance, and the demand to reduce commuting to avoid deficiencies in public transportation. For workers, the fact that companies are offering this option is increasingly common. "The trend is towards a hybrid model," explains Paula Pedro, a researcher at the UOC's Labor Market Research and Analysis Unit. The combination of in-person and remote work is gaining ground on the 100% remote format, which has already fallen slightly below 8%. However, hybrid teleworking still lags behind, appearing in about 4% of job openings. While the percentage of companies that do not allow working from home is decreasing, it remains higher – above 4%. Another conclusion of the barometer is that the option to telework is a Barcelona privilege. Of all the job openings that mention this modality, 92.3% are concentrated in the Barcelona area. In this region, 12.3% of job offers allow remote work; while in Lleida only 1.6% facilitate it; in Girona, 1.7%; And in Tarragona, 2.8%. "It's a matter of the productive sector, but also of mobility difficulties. Deficiencies in public transport contribute to a greater demand for teleworking days," argued the Secretary General of Pimec, Josep Ginesta, during the presentation of the report.

ICT Job Profile

It's also worth noting that Barcelona has the highest number of ICT jobs, leading the way in remote work with 13% of vacancies offering this option. For some profiles, such as software developers, this percentage approaches 28%. Web and multimedia developers also find that 26.2% of job offers allow them to work from home, and telecommunications engineers, 25.6%. As explained by Carme Pagès, director of the UOC's Labor Prospecting and Analysis Unit, jobs offering remote work require more self-management skills and fewer social and communication skills. Furthermore, the higher the level of education, the greater the likelihood of working remotely. Regarding experience, Pagès pointed out a pattern: companies prefer in-person work for younger employees to help them become familiar with the company culture, mid-level employees enjoy remote work more, and senior employees tend to be more in the office because they are more closely associated with supervisory roles.

For Ginesta, teleworking "has not progressed as expected," especially compared to data from other European countries. In the opinion of the Secretary General of Pimec, this model is "neither good nor bad," but it does reflect the shortcomings that the Catalan labor market still has. "Well managed, it's an extraordinary tool. We need to think in terms of flexibility," he emphasized.