Mr. Nicolas Schmit:

In principle, remote working - now teleworking - has become part of our system of how people work. We see after the Covid crisis, where at the beginning people were very much in favour of even mainly working by means of telework, there are now some doubts and people want to be also part of a team and go back to their offices. We have to find the right balance. The Commission, as such, cannot dictate the right balance between telework and workplace presence. The principle that telework is now part of the work organisation is something we should consolidate. How this happens, for instance, how many hours I should be on telework and how many hours I should go to my place of work, is partly a matter of my life and the constraints of the company to organise the work in the office or wherever. If I like to be mainly at home and all the others want to be, we have to find some kind of balance. I would say we should establish some principles - I can imagine that - but it is not up to the Commission to go into detail and say that it should be one third or two thirds of the time. This is up to social partners. Often among the social partners you get some basic line, and then social partners have to discuss and negotiate how this can be implemented. When you are working in a bank it is quite different from other types of companies where the constraints may differ.

In principle, I said, "Yes". We have to recognise telework as part of our work organisation. Unfortunately, not everybody can work on telework. If I am a nurse in a hospital, it is more difficult to be on telework. However, we should look pragmatically at how solutions can be found. I see an important role for social partners.