What do employees in Europe think about remote work and learning new skills?

Find out what your potential new team members think with the latest Michael Page study

Remote working had to be widely adopted throughout Europe this year, and most companies needed to quickly create systems and processes to make the transition to ‘work from home’ as smooth as possible.  

From technical setups to office furniture, training to onboarding, employers of all size went the extra distance to support their workforce’s productivity as best as possible in this complicated situation. 

As well as adapting to the physical element of the ‘new normal’ of remote work, companies and their employees also had to adapt to new ways of working, which included an increase in the quantity and quality of video calls.  

While video is not a new method of communication, trying to maintain a culture (or even build one) from distance has proved difficult for many companies and for people to adapt to.  

And to this potent mix of new ways of working and communicating, we also need to understand the new and upgraded skills job applicants acquired.   

Across Europe, an average of over 30% of people applying for a new job were doing so with new skills related to their role. This poses a question for hiring managers and line managers alike – how can they understand the skills they currently have on their team, find the new skills potential team members now have, and hire for the future?  

To dive deeper into these topics, Michael Page surveyed job applicants from our websites in 13 countries between August 12th and September 25th.  

After almost six months of working remotely our goal was to learn how people rate their companies’ efforts to support them during this period. We also wanted to find their thoughts on the ‘skills revolution’ that happened when people found themselves at home and with the time to learn skills for their roles.  

Our infographic will offer you insights into: 

• How well did companies assist people during the health crisis? 
• How was the communication between teams?  
• Did people learn new technical skills for their role? 
• What are the reasons behind people learning a new (or upgraded) skill?

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