European employers don’t trust workers to be productive at home

A report by Ricoh Europe finds only 35% of employers trust their staff fully while they work remotely, and 39% of bosses do not believe their staff work as hard or effectively at home as in the office.

Research into this topic was conducted by Opinion Matters for Ricoh Europe and was based on a poll of 1,500 European decision makers. The report was released Aug. 24.

The research comes at a time when many organizations are considering a return to the office and others are pushing back plans to return due to the spread of the delta variant. Ricoh says the survey suggests the pandemic has eroded confidence in remote working.

European employers would like to see workers return to offices rather than continuing hybrid working, the poll suggests, yet only 19% of employers say productivity has decreased with workers operating from home. In addition, 57% think investing in flexible working technology is essential to attracting and retaining talent.

The poll found 42% of decision makers saying their teams are worried about returning to the office when restrictions ease because of their concern about health and safety.

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