The pandemic has profoundly changed the way of working. Many companies and employees have discovered that working from home offers undoubted advantages, and while some companies have gone back to the office, others have made it the norm to work from home at least half the time. We have all the details, including statistics about working from home or "smart working" in Italy which is among the countries with the lowest percentage of remote workers.
This map shows us the percentage of people who worked from home at least half the time in 2021, according to Eurostat data. It's important to remember that at this time many people were forced to work from home due to quarantines and lockdowns.
There are profound geographical differences. The percentage of remote workers is higher in Western and Northern Europe than in Eastern and especially South-Eastern Europe. There are multiple causes: government policies, work culture and dominant sectors. Countries where there is a higher percentage of people doing office work will clearly have a higher percentage of people working from home. The opposite is true for countries where more physical work is done.
Romania (2.4%) and Bulgaria (2.8%) have the lowest percentage of employees working from home at least half the time. On the other hand, Ireland has the most employees working at home at least half of the time (33%).
What about Italy? Are Italians working from home? Italy is actually among the countries the lowest percentage of people who work from home, with only 8.3% of people working from home for at least half of their working days in 2021. Italy is however becoming increasingly popular among digital nomads, who choose the country as their base due to good weather and low property prices.