Across Europe, a “culture war” over working from home has broken out, with the UK emerging as the most home-office-friendly country, while France lags behind.

Locations Of course, that wasn’t the case, nor was the kind of work that people typically did in offices before the pandemic. But the inherent connection between the two was irrevocably broken as working from home became first a necessity and then forever an option.

Meanwhile, working from home has become a point of contention around the world, as employees argue with management about where they work and who has the choice. Professor Mark Mortensen of the INSEAD business school says: Assets“There is a culture war going on right now.”

Like most wars, the battle over remote and hybrid work has multiple fronts. So where in Europe is home working winning?

What does the data say?

According to the Global Survey of Working Arrangements (G-SWA), an authoritative annual study by leading economists into the behaviour and preferences of over 40,000 workers in 34 countries, the UK tops the home working rankings in Europe.

In fact, the average British graduate spends twice as much time teleworking as their French counterparts – and three times as much as their Greek counterparts. Countries such as Portugal and Italy, which specifically target teleworking from abroad, have average teleworking rates, by contrast.

Working days per week, selected European countries:

• Great Britain: 1.8 (same as USA)
• Germany 1.5
• Netherlands/Italy/Spain/Sweden 1.2 (corresponds to the European average)
• Portugal 1.0
• France 0.9
• Denmark 0.8
• Greece 0.6

Source: G-SWA 2023

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The latest data from G-SWA is from spring 2023, but the pattern appears to be holding.

According to LinkedIn data collected for Assets41% of UK job postings on its platform were for hybrid roles in April 2024, compared to 32% for the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

At 9%, the UK also has the highest proportion of remote-only jobs in Europe – three times more than France and the Netherlands, which led the way in remote working before the pandemic.

Perhaps the most compelling indicator is the transport usage figures. An analysis by the UK Department for Transport found that London Underground usage between May and June 2024 was only between 75 and 87 percent of 2019 levels, with Monday and Friday usage consistently well below pre-pandemic averages.

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For comparison, according to the Global Cities Survey 2024, Paris rail usage had returned to 91% of pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2023.

Why?

Several factors influence remote and hybrid work rates, including WiFi connectivity, different lockdown experiences, and the industry mix in different countries. Simply put, manufacturing and retail are not suited to working from home, while programming and publishing are.

Compared to most of its European neighbours, the UK economy is more focused on the services sector, particularly the financial and technology sectors, so structurally it is expected to see more hybrid and remote working.

But there is another, arguably more important factor, says Mortensen of INSEAD: a national culture of individualism.

“The more individualistic a country is, the more people like and push for remote work and hybrid working,” he says, pointing to high levels of individualism in countries like the UK and the Netherlands, while there is significantly less individualism in Asian countries like Japan, China and South Korea, where home working rates are also much lower.

“That’s another reason why the US tends to be very strongly represented,” Mortensen adds.

In fact, analyses by the international economists behind the G-SWA suggest that two-thirds of the differences between countries can be explained by their level of collectivism or individualism.

It certainly seems to affect what people in different countries say about how willing they are to follow the instructions to return to the office. Recruiter Randstads 2024 Work monitorThe study, which surveyed 35,000 employees worldwide, found that the British are significantly more interested in working from home than their peers on the continent.

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When asked if they would quit if their employer forced them to do more office work, 55 percent of respondents in the UK answered “yes.” In comparison, the figures were only 23 to 26 percent for respondents in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, 29 percent in Spain and 30 percent in Sweden.

Is that important?

Demand for flexible working arrangements remains high, with employees in countries with low WFH rates, such as Greece and Turkey, expressing a desire to work from home, similar to their counterparts in the UK.

In the Netherlands, remote applications now account for a share of the total number of applications five times higher than the share of job offers for remote work.

There are no signs of this preference changing, at least not yet. “Our data shows that professionals are unwilling to give up the flexibility and work-life balance that come with remote and hybrid roles, as competition for these jobs is fierce,” says LinkedIn career expert Charlotte Davies.

If employees’ preference for flexible working hours continues, we can expect further concessions from companies competing for the best talent, especially in places where working from home is currently less common.

This is particularly the case where the right to work from home is enshrined in law or through trade union policy.

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Mortensen, however, is unconvinced. “It drives me crazy when people use (pandemic-era) data and say it worked during COVID, when people were facing huge existential fear and had no other choice… just because the company won’t fall apart in two years doesn’t mean remote work is the best way to organize.”

He points to the experiences of companies such as Microsoft and Meta regarding the “deterioration of social relationships” that comes from people no longer working together in person, the lack of “enculturation” of new employees and the decline in creativity and team spirit that comes with the increasing number of home working positions.

“We know that things that are beneficial for organizations are often beneficial for individuals as well. People feel engaged and motivated when they do something new and innovative. So maybe being in the office is not only good for the company, but also for me,” says Mortensen.

In other words, if too much time at home affects performance – and therefore career prospects and job security – it will no longer be as attractive to employees.

Ultimately, we are still dealing with relatively new arrangements, the long-term impact of which is unknown. The situation is still evolving, as is our understanding of how we deal with it as employers and how we feel about it as employees – and that applies wherever you live.