Employees want to keep opportunity to work from home after pandemic: Trade Union

Employees should still get the opportunity to work from home after the coronavirus pandemic, said a vast majority of the remote workers surveyed by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV). The research concluded that employees with the possibility to work from home would like to have more control over their workplaces in the future.

Nearly 5,400 employees––mainly from the financial, government, and care and wellness sectors––completed the questionnaire, according to FNV. Around nine in ten respondents wanted to determine where they would work after the pandemic. Over 14 percent wanted to work solely from home, while only five percent preferred to go into the office.

FNV vice-chair Kitty Jong said this was a clear signal from work-from-home supporters. "Many people are satisfied with working from home and want to continue to do so in part,” Jong said. “They want to see this secured in law for the future, instead of only the employer being able to impose where work must be done again. This also fits in with this time, when employees find more control over their work important.”

The survey shows that employees mainly see collective labor agreements on working from home as the solution. Additionally, if it is not possible to work from home, employers should indicate why. However, around four percent of the surveyed employees said they already have enough say.

According to Jong, it is an outdated idea that an employer unilaterally decides where work is done, especially because working from home has worked well the past two years. "Employees want to go to the office for specific activities, but they prefer the home workplace for daily work. You can generally concentrate better there," Jong said.

The Social and Economic Council (SER) is currently preparing a recommendation on the future of working from home, FNV emphasized. A bill aiming to strengthen employees’ ability to determine their workplace will also be discussed soon in the Tweede Kamer. The Cabinet is awaiting SER’s advice, and FNV said it will include the results of its own work-from-home survey in its input to SER.