The experience of telework in the Brussels administration, and lessons for the future

After the covid-19 crisis, all 22 institutions of the Brussels Region switched to permanent teleworking, as did other sectors of the economy. Due to its sudden and permanent nature, this profound change is not without consequences for the organisation of work, its management and the experience of employees, including the management line. The move towards teleworking and digital working has brought about changes in collaborative practices, team management, formal and informal communication, working relationships, physical and mental health, etc.

Talent.brussels, the regional public service in charge of the civil service, has entrusted IDEA Consult with the realisation of a study aimed at finding out how employees experienced teleworking between March and October 2020 and what changes this brought about, particularly in the working environment, technologies, organisation, communication, well-being and mobility.

Through a large-scale survey, IDEA Consult collected responses from 2,562 people, i.e. 22.5% of the staff of the Brussels institutions.
This survey allowed us to draw 10 important conclusions, but also to formulate 10 recommendations in order to sustain the practice of teleworking in the future. Among the results of this study, we note that :

• 80% of staff in the Brussels Region are (very) satisfied with teleworking;
• 94% would like to telework 2 days or more in the future;
• 70% of employees telework in a non-work area (e.g. bedroom, kitchen, living room, etc.);
• The majority of respondents notice an increase in their hourly productivity when teleworking;
• 25% of employees experience isolation when teleworking.

All these findings and recommendations are detailed in the report by IDEA Consult, which can be consulted on the talent.brussels website (FR) (NL).

Finally, talent.brussels invited IDEA Consult to present the main results of this study during a webinar organised in February 2021. This presentation is available online (FR).