In Hungary, nine per cent of employees have the autonomy to decide where to work from, as revealed by the latest representative survey from Profession.hu on 10 August.

The polling, conducted on a sample of a thousand Hungarian employees aged between 18 and 65, revealed that nine per cent of individuals have the flexibility to choose working mostly from home, with physical presence required on certain days.

According to the statement, only four per cent of respondents indicated that they can work entirely from home, and only need to come to the workplace if a specific task or event requires it.

The survey showed that employees of workplaces offering the option of remote work—40 per cent of respondents—typically engage in a hybrid system: working in the office on certain days and outside of it the rest of the week. The availability of remote work options for an entire company is more prevalent among firms with fewer than ten employees and those employing more than 25,000 people.

The analysts highlighted that in Hungary, six out of ten employees do not have the opportunity for remote work and are required to be continually present at the workplace.

However, the statement also pointed out that the availability of teleworking opportunities is not standardised, with varying rules applied within the same company. Among companies where remote work is possible, a quarter of employees stated that its availability depends on their position, while nine per cent have it determined on an individual basis. For instance, employers tend to be more flexible regarding employees with young children or those living far from the workplace. In terms of roles within the company, the need for on-site work is least applicable to top executives and middle managers, according to Profession.hu.

According to the survey results, in cases where remote work is not an option or is only occasional, half of the workers would be unable to perform their tasks from home, which is mostly relevant for manual workers. But although they believe they could partially or fully manage their tasks from a location independent of their workplace, 46 per cent of employees do not have the opportunity to do so.

HR Director at Profession.hu Lili Simon-Göröcs emphasised that the proportion of companies in Hungary that provide remote work options is currently low. Despite this, she noted that in 2020, a joint study with BCG found that 84 per cent of Hungarian employers and 88 per cent of employees believed that the efficiency of work has not decreased, and in some cases even improved, after the introduction of some form of remote work.

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Hungarian Conservative/MTI