Analytics, Covid-19, Employment, Estonia, Markets and Companies, Technology

The declaration of the emergency situation on March 12 meant that a large share of the working population had to switch to working remotely. For businesses, this also meant the need to rapidly and flexibly meet workers' technological needs. 

In an online survey carried out in April, Kantar Emor mapped out the share of people working remotely among the employed population as well as the technical problems they have faced and the impact of reorganizations on people's digital competence. Participants in the survey numbered 1,432, of whom 956 were employed.

The results of the survey showed that 40 percent of all employed respondents are working from home during the emergency situation either all or most of the time. An additional 16 percent said that they are working from home less frequently.

Lele Aak, research expert at Kantar Emor, said that remote work is popular among top specialists and, as expected, also among entrepreneurs. Among top specialist, the share of those who work from home is 81 percent.

Every fifth respondent among those who are currently working from home at least from time to time said that the experience is completely new to them. The share of these people among all working respondents was 12 percent. The rest have also worked remotely before, but not as frequently as now.

"What is surprising is that around half of the people working from home are exclusively using their personal devices, such as a personal computer of smart device. This also applies to respondents with long-term experience with working from home," Aak said, adding that this prompts the question whether this has been the choice of the employee or their employer.

The biggest problems are posed by a lack of the equipment needed, according to Aak, as people are often used to working with several large monitors, printing out documents when needed and so on. The situation was perceived as rather inconvenient by these respondents. Every fifth home office reported having experienced problems with internet connection.

Skype and Messenger remain most frequently used online communication platforms for home office workers while Zoom has gained the largest number of new users.

"Even though the security of Zoom has frequently been called into question lately, people working remotely do not seem to be concerned about that -- cybersecurity-related concerns and doubts are generally only reported by a few people," the research expert said.

Aak noted that the end of the emergency situation will likely not put an end to working remotely. 

"Those who have the opportunity to do so and those who have only just developed a taste for it will likely not give up the flexibility it provides," she noted. "It will be interesting to observe the impact of the crisis on the prevalence of open offices, which began a few years ago, or if homes with a small office will become popular in the real estate market."

The survey mapping the experience of working from home was carried out from April 20 to 22 among 1,432 residents or Estonia aged 15-74. Of the respondents, 956 were employed at the time.