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Study - Remote Work : An untapped potential ?

→ S T U D Y I N G R E M O T E W O R K F R O M A N E W A N G L E
I t s f e a s i b i l i t y a c c o r d i n g t o j o b s a n d s k i l l s .

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, professionals around the globe were forced
to abruptly change the way they work and transition, to the extent possible,
toward remote work arrangements.
The upheavals of March 2020
However,not all employees were affected.
Given their missions or the tools they have to use,
T H I S C R I S I S H A S A L S O H I G H L I G H T E D T H E I N A B I L I T Y
O F S O M E W O R K E R S T O C A R R Y O U T T H E I R W O R K R E M O T E L Y .

In the USA,
over 20 million Americans
have lost their jobs.
In this critical context and in view of potential future crisis situations,
the question of whether or not an employee can work from home has become crucial.
April 2020
In France, more than 10 million of employees
were under the partial unemployment
program put in place by the government.

→ Considering the ensemble of technical skills, how many of them can be exercised remotely?
→ Which skill groups can be exercised remotely?
→ Which jobs are the most (or least) suitable to working remotely?
→ What corporate functions are practicable remotely?
→ Are the most senior jobs more likely to be fit for remote work?
→ How many people in France could perform at least part of their job from home?
With this in mind, we have sought to obtain a granular picture of the remote work,
starting from the elementary tasks which are performed in the different jobs.
MORE SPECIFICALLY, WE SOUGHT TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING 5 QUESTIONS:

The results of this study conducted on more than 10,000 skills and almost
3,000 jobs show that, out of the totality of existing technical skills :
50%
HALF CORRESPOND TO TASKS THAT
CAN BE PERFORMED AT LEAST PARTLY
REMOTLY.

B y d e f i n i n g a r e m o t e w o r k i n d e x f o r e a c h s k i l l ,
w e a r e a b l e t o c l a s s i f y s k i l l g r o u p s i n t o 3 l e v e l s :
L O W R E M O T E W O R K
(nearly impossible in most circumstances)
e.g. use machines or cleaning equipment.
M E D I U M R E M O T E W O R K
(partially possible depending on context)
e.g. provide information to the public or conduct surveys.
H I G H R E M O T E W O R K
(possible in almost all circumstances)
e.g. provide consulting services or manage data and resources.
1
2
3

S i m i l a r l y , j o b s c a n b e c l a s s i f i e d a c c o r d i n g t o t h e s e s a m e l e v e l s o f
f e a s i b i l i t y .
I n t h i s s t u d y , w e p r e s e n t a s a m p l e o f 3 5 j o b s ,
o f w h i c h s o m e e x a m p l e s a r e g i v e n b e l o w :
L O W R E M O T E W O R K
Garden labourer, baker, plumber, firefighter.
M E D I U M R E M O T E W O R K
Veterinarian, photographer, general practitioner, judge.
H I G H R E M O T E W O R K
Marketing assistant, writer, mobile app developer.
1
2
3

Moreover, among most encountered functions in organisations,
our results show that most of them can be entirely carried out remotely :
IT & DIGITAL
FINANCE
LEGAL
HUMAN RESOURCES
STRATEGY & CONSULTING
MARKETING & COMMUNICATION
ETC.
There are, however, a few exceptions among these functions:
SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS
PRODUCTION & MAINTENANCE

Moreover, our results show that:
The proportion of work that can be done by working
from home increases with the seniority of the position.

According to our calculations :
THE PERCENTAGE OF EMPLOYEES THAT COULD CARRY OUT AT LEAST PART
OF THEIR WORK REMOTELY IS :
62% of employees
in France and UK
65% of employees
in the US

→ 62% is significantly higher
than the theoretical value of 30% currently estimated in France.
→ The potential of remote work is therefore not yet fully exploited.

This index approach enables organisations to better identify their teleworking potential in order to
provide more appropriate responses:
→ In crisis situations
→ In the long-term planning of their organisational design.

The study was conducted on 10,300 skills and 2,870 jobs on the basis of a proprietary
data set combining ESCO, O*NET, ISCO, ROME and industry and trade repositories
used by Boostrs clients.
Three types of skills were analysed: knowledge, soft skills and technical skills.
Knowledge and soft skills that can be used regardless of the location of the employees
were excluded.
A job is defined by the tasks that make it up, tasks that are themselves carried out
using skills.
B O O S T R S H A S C H O S E N T O A S S E S S T H E P R O P O R T I O N O F
T E L E W O R K A B L E S K I L L S F O R E A C H J O B I N O R D E R T O D E T E R M I N E I T S
P O T E N T I A L F O R R E M O T E W O R K .

The study was carried out in two stages:
1 - The construction of a remote work index for each skill: value 1 if the skill can be
used in remote work, value 0 if not.
2 - The construction of a remote work index for each job calculated by averaging
the remote work indices of the essential skills for each job and multiplying it by 100.
Index 100 if the job can be done entirely by teleworking.
Index 0 if the job requires the employee to travel to the workplace.

• D e t a i l e d a n s w e r s t o e a c h q u e s t i o n a n d a p p e n d i x
→ Going further

→ How many technical skills can be exercised remotely?
Of the 10,300 technical skills included in the analysis scope, 49.5% have a remote work index of 1.
Put differently, about one half of the tasks carried out in a professional setting can be
carried out from a distance.

We used the ESCO* structure.
The 10,300 skills are grouped into 92 skill categories.
For this study, we focused on the 34 categories that have more than 100 skills.
* ESCO (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations) is the European multilingual classification of Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations.

Our analysis shows that there are 3 levels of remote work possible:
Low remote work (LOW): RW < 20%
Skill groups at this level involve commuting to specific locations to handle animals, inspect equipment, or install machinery etc. They
also include the use of hardware tools and interactions with other people or animals outside of the employee's home.
Medium remote work (MID): 20% < RW < 80%
This level contains skill groups that can be partly performed remotely. For example, the "protecting and enforcing" group includes
skills that can be used remotely (e.g. cyber protection) or at the place of work (e.g. access control).
High remote work (HIGH): RW > 80%
This level involves skill groups such as writing (writing, documenting, etc.), communication (advising, collaborating, etc.),
organization (organizing, planning, etc.) and brainstorming (developing goals, designing, etc.), and in general tasks that can be
done remotely with the help of a computer and modern means of communication.

Figure 2. Skill groups belonging to the different remote work levels:
Low remote work, with RW < 20%; Medium remote work, with 20% < RW < 80%; High remote work with RW > 80%.

→ Which jobs are the most (or least) suitable to working remotely?
What corporate functions are practicable remotely?
To answer this question, we have divided the jobs into 3 levels,
using the same definition as in the previous subsection:
(i) jobs for which remote work is almost impossible (LOW: RW < 20)
(ii) jobs for which remote work is possible in some circumstances (MID: 20 < RW < 80)
(iii) jobs for which remote work is possible in almost all circumstances (HIGH: > 80)
We have also analyzed the most common functions present in companies (human resources, sales, IT, etc.).
To summarize, for a typical company most of the corporate functions are well suited
for remote work.
80% of these functions have a RW index higher than 90.

Table 1. Examples of jobs that belong
to each of the remote work levels.
JOBS 𝑹𝑾 INDEX LEVEL

→ Are the most senior jobs more likely to be fit for remote work?
Managers and directors who correspond to the highest levels of seniority have
approximately the same very high RW index.
Indeed, these jobs mainly include people management and strategic vision determination, two
skills that can be used in remote working.

→ How many people in France could perform at least part of their job from home?
According to our calculations :
In the last quarter of 2019, out of the 25.5 million people employed in France, 15.9
million (or 62%) could do at least part of their job remotely.
As a point of comparison, a 2019 study showed that only about 30% of French
employees performed remote work.
This number is significantly lower than the 62% estimation provided above, which
hints to the tremendous potential of the remote work practice.
We note that the Covid19 pandemic has most certainly contributed an increase in the 30%
rate mentioned above.

ABO UT BO O S TR S
Boostrs puts its data science expertise at the service of organizational
transformation. Our mapping solutions enable HR and CEOs to
anticipate the evolution of jobs and skills.
For more information, please visit
www.boost.rs
Our other publications
→ THE IMPACT OF AUTOMATION ON JOBS AND SKILLS :
Who needs a skill boost?
→ THE IMPORTANCE OF SOFT SKILLS ON THE JOB MARKET :
An analysis of the soft skills demand by job, function and seniority level

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Study - Remote Work : An untapped potential ?

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