Two out of every three employees working remotely from home have described the experience as positive even though workers with children are more likely to face challenges.

Furthermore, concerns about possible drops in productivity have turned out to be unfounded, with a survey showing that nearly half of the workers on telework increased their output.

The survey was carried out in May by PwC Malta among a sample of 875 employees who were asked to evaluate their experience of working from home in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. It has a margin of error of +/- 3 per cent.

The outbreak was found to have led to a dramatic increase in remote working given that this was the only option to keep operations running without exposing members of staff to the virus.

While seven out of every 10 interviewed were working completely from home, most of them (61 per cent) only started doing so when the outbreak started.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said their employers supported their teleworking arrangement and the overwhelming majority (91 per cent) said communication with their colleagues was easy despite being physically apart.

One of the key findings of the study was that 44 per cent registered an increase in productivity when working remotely.

However, 31 per cent of employees said that management had become less reluctant to grant a concession to work from home.

Other benefits of telework were reduced travel time and, in some cases, having less distractions than being at the office.

Workers living alone were the most enthusiastic about working remotely, which suggested that telework is more difficult with children and room-mates possibly due to increased caregiver responsibilities and distractions.

The most common challenge cited by remote workers was of feeling pressured to be more productive and “prove they are working”.

Some participants highlighted feeling lonely as a result of reduced levels of human interaction and social encounters with co-workers.

Another concern flagged was that telework blurred boundaries between private life and work and consequently could negatively impact the work-life balance.

Overall, 69 per cent rated the experience as positive, 22 per cent neutral and just nine per cent as negative.

The remote working experience was viewed most favourably by the group falling between ages 24-35 while it was viewed most negatively by those aged 56 and over.

Going forward, most respondents would prefer retaining the option of telework. More than a third (37 per cent) would prefer working remotely for up to two days a week, while a fifth would be willing to telework for up to four days per week.

Only eight per cent said they would see themselves abandoning the office environment completely and work only from home, while 13 per cent said they would prefer being at the office all the time.

 The survey also showed that in 22 per cent of the cases, the employer would not allow remote working once the crisis is over.