Spaniards spend more hours and are more productive when teleworking than when they go to the office

Before the pandemic, teleworking was not a common option in Spain. Work culture traditionally focused on physical presence in the office. However, the arrival of COVID-19 radically changed this dynamic. Health restrictions and the need to maintain social distance led many companies to adopt teleworking as a preventive measure.

One of the main reasons why teleworking has transformed the lives of Spaniards is the greater flexibility it offers. Employees now have the ability to manage their working time more autonomously. This has led to a better work-life balance. Workers can adapt their schedules to meet their family or personal responsibilities without having to deal with long commutes.

The Annual Telework Report, prepared by WorkMeter shows that Spanish employees maintain a concentration level of 71% in teleworking days, exceeding the 66% registered in face-to-face days in the office. This difference is even more significant for managers, whose concentration level skyrockets to 83% during telecommuting, in contrast to 65% in the office environment.

One of the reasons behind this improvement in concentration could be multifaceted. In the office, it is common to face distractions such as unscheduled meetings or impromptu conversations with colleagues. Working from home tends to reduce these interruptions, allowing employees to focus more on their tasks.

Flexibility also plays an important role in this increase in productivity. The report shows that most companies allow their employees to have a more flexible working day when teleworking. This is reflected in check-in and check-out times, where employees tend to start their workdays a little later on telecommuting days, but compensate with a later check-out time. This time flexibility can translate into a greater sense of autonomy and, therefore, greater productivity.

Another factor is the comfort of the environment. Workers may feel more relaxed and focused in their own space, which can influence their ability to perform tasks efficiently.

Although hybrid models of work are becoming more common, face-to-face work remains predominant, accounting for 61.72% of the data collected, while teleworking comprises 38.28%. Most employees tend to concentrate telecommuting days towards the end of the week, with Thursday as the most telecommuting day and Tuesday as the lowest.

Joan Pons, CEO of WorkMeter, highlights that this study analyzed 46,295 daily work records of employees of various companies in Spain to "understand the dynamics of working time, comparing teleworking and face-to-face".