The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on businesses the world over. In many cases it’s been a real challenge to corporate sustainability, continuity, and even to some businesses’ very survival. Paradoxically, that same ‘at-risk’ sustainability could now greatly benefit from one key element that emerged from the pandemic: remote working. What was once an emergency alternative during lockdown is now crystallising as an option looking more and more likely to stick around.

Because it benefits not only sustainability for businesses, but also productivity and their environmental impact. According to a Eurofund report for the OECD, the percentage of full-time remote workers across Europe before the pandemic was 14%. That figure rose to 40% during lockdown and in the months immediately after.

In Spain, 45% of people worked from home, although that number has subsequently been on a downward trajectory, according to data from the country’s National Institute of Statistics. In France, remote working experienced a real boom, going from 25% to 50%. In other highly digitalised countries, such as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Australia, remote working also reached close to the 50% mark, although it never actually exceeded it. These numbers relate to a necessity, of course, to stay home, but also a strategic choice, with a view to corporate sustainability.

What has remote working got to do with sustainability?

Making good on the old adage of turning a crisis into an opportunity, many businesses have discovered that remote working can make companies more competent, productive, sustainable and ecological. Not surprisingly, remote working:

• Improves the lives of employees, reducing their stress levels, allowing families to spend more time together and guaranteeing they carry out their work focussing on specific, traceable tasks and targets, rather than relating their effectiveness to simply their physical presence in the office.
• Reduces the ecological impact. In a European capital like Madrid, greenhouse gas emissions came down by 32% during successive lockdowns. Remote working removes the need to travel, so all that time spent commuting from one place to another just for work is cut by almost 60%. Besides reducing traffic jams, remote working brings new opportunities to rethink our cities and their mobility models.
• It also leads to much-needed development in rural areas, as well as areas with poor communication infrastructure. No longer needing to travel long distances, or even be in a big city to work, many depopulated or economically fragile areas can experience a ‘second youth’ thanks to remote working. Although a certain amount of effort is needed by companies in the ICT sector to guarantee connectivity, corporate sustainability will find an unexpected ally in this field.

Sustainability, but also aiding development amongst vulnerable groups

Alongside influencing some key aspects, such as sustainability, efficiency and productivity, remote working also provides significant support and can give vulnerable groups, and those at risk of social exclusion, a real boost. The fact that remote working facilitates spending more time with family gives lots of women the opportunity to take on more leadership roles in companies as they’re able to work from home.

Companies that offer remote working models either in part or in full see women occupying 28% of senior positions and 19% of CEO roles, compared to, for example, just 5% of female CEOs in companies on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, as published in this article. So it’s not just about sustainability per se, it’s also about leadership and reducing the gender pay gap.

If that wasn’t enough, remote working also represents an opportunity for people with disabilities – despite the various challenges they might face –, since the disappearance of physical barriers, the lack of a need to travel, alongside the development of technological solutions designed for different physical and sensory needs all have a direct impact on improved employability, which is increasing each year, albeit at a slower rate than desired.

While not every facet and aspect of remote working is perfectly defined yet, or even every related problem solved, it’s clear that remote working will take a long time to lose its current shine among successful companies – if it ever does.