Increasing number of Czech employers equip staff with phones and laptops
Over 80 percent of Czech companies with ten or more employees provide their staff with mobile phones, tablets or laptops with access to the internet, according to a new survey carried out by the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the Eurostat.
According to the survey, every third employer in the European Union last year provided mobile devices with access to the internet to their staff. In 36% of EU enterprises, more than a fifth of employees were provided with such devices.
Almost all enterprises provided mobile devices with internet connection to staff in the Nordic countries Finland with 96 percent, Denmark with 92 percent, and Sweden with 87 percent, followed by Croatia and Lithuania, both with 86 percent.
In contrast, only 46 percent of the enterprises in Bulgaria provided such mobile devices with an internet connection to their staff in 2019, followed by Greece with 56 percent, Romania with 58 percent and the United Kingdom with 60 percent.
Devices with internet access are mostly provided in IT and telecommunication companies and in publishing houses.
The Eurostat data highlights the fact that home office is currently one of the most sought after work benefits in the Czech Republic.
“Companies in the Czech Republic are much more benevolent to home office than they used to be in the past. It reflects the situation on the labour market, with a very low rate of unemployment,” Michal Nováak, an analyst for Profesia.cz told Czech Radio.
Tomáš Surka, analyst for the company JobConnector, says that people also increasingly demand flexible working hours:
“Flexible working hours are probably the most wanted job perks today. It means working from home or organizing work according to one’s own needs.
“Many people are no longer interested only in the salary. They want to know whether the employer is willing to invest in their development. So there is an increasing number of courses, trainings and so on.”
Many employees in the Czech Republic currently offer perks and various benefits to attract new employees.
At the same time, an increasing number of employees refuse mobile devices provided by companies, says Mr Surka:
“Many people, especially from the younger generation, prefer to use their own device for work. They want to pick out a device according to their own choice. That is not always possible, though, because of safety reasons.”
