Working from home not worth less pay for most European workers, says ECB survey

Hybrid working remains the most popular for the future
Working from home not worth less pay for most European workers, says ECB survey

It is estimated that workers in the US would accept a pay cut of 7% to work from home two or three days per week. File picture: iStock

Europe's hybrid workers who divide their week between home and office would not be willing to accept a pay cut to continue working from home, according to a new survey from the European Central Bank (ECB).

Working from home became far more commonplace during and after the pandemic. The share of employees who sometimes worked from home doubled between 2019 and 2024, from 11.7% to 22.4% according to Eurostat.

The ECB's own survey of consumers shows this rate is even higher today, with more than a third of employees saying they work at least two days a week from home. 

The survey also shows that these remote working patterns seem to have become well established, having remained broadly stable from 2024 to 2025.

Hybrid working remains the most popular for the future, with 84% of hybrid workers saying they are satisfied with the current arrangement. Non-wage benefits – including remote working possibilities – are often offered by companies as an alternative to higher wages. 

Previous international research on this question has often found that employees would be willing to forgo a part of their wages in exchange for being able to work from home

However, workers in the ECB's survey show that 70% would not be willing to accept a pay cut to work from home. While 13% of employees would accept a pay cut of between 1% and 5%, only 8% would accept a reduction of between 6% and 10%.

This rate is significantly lower than in other countries, such as the US, where it is estimated that workers would accept a pay cut of 7% to work from home two or three days per week. 

Workers in Germany are willing to give up 7.7% of their earnings to work fully remotely and 5.4% to work remotely two days per week. 

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