Saturday, 8 August 2026
Flexible working is becoming an established part of Europe’s labour market, but the pace of change remains highly uneven between countries. New Eurofound research shows that while remote and hybrid work have become common in parts of northern and western Europe, several Central and Eastern European markets continue to rely much more heavily on traditional workplace models.
Across the EU, the share of employees working from home at least occasionally has risen sharply since 2015. The increase has been particularly strong in countries where digital work was already relatively advanced, while some eastern and south-eastern markets have changed only modestly. Eurofound’s findings suggest that access to flexible work is increasingly linked to employee control over working hours, workplace culture and national labour rules rather than simply technological capability.
For the office market, this matters because hybrid working is not developing as one uniform European model. Occupiers in some countries are adapting portfolios around a workforce accustomed to remote work several days a week, while employers elsewhere continue to depend primarily on physical workplaces. The result is a more fragmented European office market in which workplace strategy increasingly needs to reflect local employment habits.
Czechia stands out within the region
Among the five Central and Eastern European markets examined, Czechia has moved furthest towards more flexible working patterns. Eurofound identifies the country alongside Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia and the Nordic markets as one where a relatively high share of workers combine flexible schedules with greater control over their working hours. ef24032en.pdf
The proportion of Czech employees working from home at least occasionally increased by around 13 percentage points between 2015 and 2024, a substantial shift compared with the pre-pandemic period.
Czech legislation also allows teleworkers a degree of freedom in organising their working time, subject to legal limits and agreed availability requirements. Employers are also required under national rules to cover certain teleworking-related costs.
For office landlords and developers, this suggests that Czechia is likely to experience stronger structural demand for hybrid workplace concepts than some neighbouring markets. Occupiers increasingly need offices designed around collaboration, meetings and employee experience rather than full-time desk occupancy.
Slovakia has moved towards hybrid work, but more gradually
Slovakia has also recorded a meaningful increase in remote working, with the proportion of employees working at least partly from home rising by approximately 11 percentage points between 2015 and 2024. ef24032en.pdf
However, the country remains below the levels seen in northern and western Europe. Eurofound’s broader comparison places Slovakia among markets where employee control over working schedules is relatively limited compared with countries such as Sweden, Finland or the Netherlands.
Slovak rules allow teleworkers some flexibility in organising working time, and national legislation also addresses reimbursement of teleworking costs.
This creates a workplace environment in transition. Hybrid working has expanded, but conventional office attendance remains comparatively important, potentially supporting more stable demand for office space than in Europe’s most remote-work-oriented markets.
Poland combines changing regulation with relatively limited autonomy
Poland sits somewhere between the Czech and south-eastern European models. The country has introduced new rules allowing certain employees to request flexible working arrangements, including telework and adjusted schedules, as part of wider post-pandemic labour reforms.
At the same time, Eurofound’s 2024 data place Poland relatively low in terms of employee control over working hours compared with many western and northern EU countries.
Employers in Poland are legally required to address teleworking costs, with compensation generally determined through lump sums, reimbursement or arrangements established between employers and employees.
For Poland’s large office markets, particularly Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław, the findings point towards an increasingly mixed model. Hybrid work is established in many professional and technology businesses, but office attendance remains structurally stronger than in markets such as the Netherlands or Sweden.
Hungary remains one of the less flexible markets
Hungary has experienced much less change in remote working behaviour. Eurofound reports that the share of employees working from home remained at around 7%, showing virtually no increase between 2015 and 2024.
The country is also among the EU markets with relatively low levels of employee control over working schedules. Earlier EU labour force data showed fewer than one in ten full-time employees in Hungary had significant autonomy over when they started and finished work.
Hungary has nevertheless introduced legal changes allowing some groups, particularly employees with caring or work-life balance needs, to request teleworking arrangements. National law also allows teleworkers some flexibility over their working schedules within agreed limits.
The gap between legal flexibility and actual workplace practice suggests that physical offices are likely to remain particularly important in Budapest’s corporate environment.
Romania remains one of Europe’s least remote-working markets
Romania records the lowest level of homeworking among the five countries and one of the lowest in the EU. Eurofound data show that only around 4% of employees worked from home at least sometimes in 2024, with virtually no change compared with 2015.
EU labour force data similarly showed Romania among the countries with the lowest levels of both teleworking and employee control over working hours.
However, Romania has been relatively active on the legislative side. Reforms introduced since 2021 provide employees with the right to request remote work and require employers to justify refusals. Certain employees caring for children also have stronger rights to telework.
Romanian legislation also gives teleworkers a degree of freedom in organising their working time, although actual adoption remains limited.
For Bucharest’s office sector, this suggests that hybrid working is likely to develop more slowly than in Prague or major western European markets. Physical workplaces therefore remain central to corporate operations, even as employers gradually introduce greater flexibility.
The wider workplace challenge
The Eurofound research also highlights that flexibility is not automatically beneficial. Employees working remotely or under highly flexible schedules are more likely to experience irregular hours, work during personal time and receive business-related communication outside normal working hours.
The impact can be significant. Among employees who are never contacted about work outside their normal hours, only 10% report a poor fit between work and personal commitments. That proportion increases to 36% among employees contacted every day outside working hours.
This helps explain why the debate around hybrid work is increasingly shifting from location to management. Greater flexibility works best when employees retain meaningful control over their schedules and organisations establish boundaries around workload, availability and working hours.
The regulatory response is also becoming more developed. Since the pandemic, Central and Eastern European countries have introduced new rules covering remote work, flexible scheduling and employee rights, although approaches differ considerably between jurisdictions.
For Europe’s commercial real estate market, these differences mean there is unlikely to be a single post-pandemic office model. Czechia is moving comparatively quickly towards hybrid working, Slovakia and Poland are following a more gradual transition, while Hungary and Romania remain much more dependent on traditional office-based work.
The long-term implication is not necessarily lower office demand across the region, but greater differentiation between workplaces. Buildings capable of supporting collaboration, flexible attendance and employee wellbeing are likely to become increasingly competitive, while markets with lower levels of remote working may retain stronger demand for conventional office capacity for longer.
