Spain ends teleworking in September

In March 2020, it erupted with tremendous force, almost as virulent as the virus that started it, an unknown way of working in Spain. Without leaving the same room we had slept in, technology immediately put us in touch with our colleagues, on marathon days, with the background echo of our children and other family members, who made likewise, surrounded by atrocious confinement that Spanish society is already half forgotten about. It has become widespread, due to the Covid-19 obligation, teleworking, a form of employment relationship that is not very present in 3% of Spanish companies.

However, this form of remote work has its days in Spain. September is the end date of teleworking, despite the fact that the royal decree, which has been legislating for a year on this new form of employment relationship, retains the possibility of continuing to apply it until the health authorities declare the end of the pandemic. “There are still many months for this to happen, but Sanitary conditions are already in place for the return to the offices“, He rocks Infobae the human resources manager of a Spanish bank.

The high vaccination rate in Spain (over 63% of the population already has the full directive against Covid-19) and the low incidence of the Delta variant are two of the main reasons that led Spanish businessmen to decree the return to offices from September 1.. However, there are other more cultural reasons which encourage this return. “The Spanish businessman, especially these managerial positions, is very used to the presence of his employees and does not understand that once the pandemic is under control and with all the health security protocols in place, they continue to work from home “, They assure with the consultancy firm in human resources Randstadt.

“You can’t switch completely to telework in the long term,” says Telefónica president

Spanish ibex companies have been delaying the return to office protocol for some time due to the various outbreaks of Covid-19 in Spain. The first attempt took place just over a year ago. The third wave of infections last September, however, stopped the return to work in person. The same thing happened in January. The increase in infections after the Christmas holidays made it necessary to continue teleworking in the Spanish company. Now, apart from a health disaster after the summer, there is no turning back.

About twenty major Spanish groups such as Santander, BBVA, Iberdrola, Telefónica, Repsol, Sabadell, Mercadona and Mapfre They have already communicated to their staff the return to face-to-face work after the summer vacation.

But, if the end of teleworking seems inevitable, what will the return to the office look like? Although only 7.4% of Spanish employees apply it, everything seems to indicate that hybrid work will be the protagonist of the post-pandemic work environment. In this context, the tools that have become indispensable during teleworking must continue to be used by employees so that the division of teams – those who are in the office and those who work from home – do not affect productivity.

The hybrid option is the big winner among the biggest companies. A report from Adecco points out that the preferred option of companies (44%) is the remote option two days a week followed by the one day option (29%). Sources from Banco Santander explain that currently just over half of its staff work in person at their corporate centers in Spain. The bank says it is opting for a “hybrid and flexible” model which takes advantage of the advantages of remote work, even if it continues to favor face-to-face work and is in an “active listening” process to settle the details of how it works. to organise.

The second Spanish bank, BBVA, explains that it has put in place since July 2020 “a hybrid model of a voluntary nature”, and is in favor of its continuity once the health crisis has passed, without specifying how this will result. Most major financial institutions think the same, although the model will not assume a break in hold times, but rather the acceleration of a trend. Another example that mixes presence and distance is that of Telefónica, which offered teleworking two days a week to 10,000 of its 21,000 employees in Spain, also voluntarily. In an interview with the American channel CNN last July, its president José María Álvarez-Pallete defended the flexibility of the return, but rejected more drastic measures such as the elimination of its physical offices. “We cannot do full telework in the long term,” he said.

A study conducted by the multinational human resources company Hays determined that 64% of workers who were forced to telecommute during the coronavirus health crisis will continue to provide their service in a combined manner: Some days you will have to go to the office, but the rest you can finish your day at home. Only 3% predict that he will continue to perform all of his functions remotely after the pandemic.

Taking advantage of this model which combines telework and face-to-face, many large companies are betting on a paradigm shift in offices, using the formula of hot desks. In reality, it’s just a matter of subletting some of the great spaces at the headquarters, rethinking their own spaces to turn them into something similar to a coworking space.

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