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‘Affiliate Content’ is used to describe content that contains affiliate links. Euronews is compensated for the products and services linked to this article. This content is produced by Euronews affiliates and does not involve Euronews editorial staff or news journalists.

Could remote working from home become a legal right?

The Netherlands is set to introduce a new working from home law.
The Netherlands is set to introduce a new working from home law.   -  Copyright  Canva

By Amanda Kavanagh

Working from home (WFH) is the most polarising issue in the workplace right now.

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Since last summer, when many organisations began the switch back to staggered in-house working, there has been a disconnect between executives and employees.

Those companies who went hard on returning to the office, like Google, Tesla and Apple, saw firm pushback from employees who realised they quite liked not having the stress and expense of a commute.

They had more time for their family, friends, pets and hobbies, and they’d shown they could do their job remotely during the pandemic’s peak, so why not now?

As companies around the world muddle through making hybrid working practices work, the Netherlands is aiming to enshrine remote working flexibility in law.

If implemented, the new law will force employees to consider employees requests to work remotely, as long as their profession allows it. It follows in the wake of a 2020 Royal Decree-Law implemented in Spain that protects workers’ rights to work remotely.

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The Dutch legislation was already approved by parliament and it now needs to be rubber stamped by its Senate before it is adopted.

Many remote workers are optimistic, as even before the pandemic in 2018, 14 per cent of employed people usually worked from home, the highest per cent in all EU member states, according to Eurostat.

The Dutch government has encouraged businesses to continue WFH during the pandemic, and starting this year, implemented a reimbursement programme for businesses which incurred additional costs to facilitate remote working for their employees.

It’s a sign of the times, particularly when you look across the Atlantic where a recent McKinsey study of 25,000 Americans, found that 87 per cent of workers with the option of hybrid or WFH were willing to take it.

Amid talent shortages across multiple industries, taking a remote-positive stance broadens a company’s talent pool horizons to a global network.

However, facilitating remote working does come with its own challenges if hiring from multiple countries, such as adhering to employment, tax and intellectual property laws in each state or country, facilitating asynchronous working in different timezones and additional HR resources to ensure employees settle in.

For this reason, many jobs are advertised as remote but within a particular state or country, while other companies are willing to put the effort in to hire from anywhere.

There’s a mix of remote options on the Euronews Job Board, which is regularly updated with remote working opportunities available across Europe.

Here are three hot remote jobs on offer right now.

1. Cloud Engineer, Amadeus

Leading travel technology company Amadeus is seeking Cloud Engineers to work in tandem with the engineering team to identify and implement optimal cloud-based solutions for the company. Technical knowledge of C, C++ or Java, Shell, Perl, GO, or Python is preferred, as is knowledge of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design patterns.

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The successful candidates can work from anywhere, with working options including flexible teleworking from one day per week to full working weeks, to being fully remote, and will benefit from a home office set-up and monthly allowance.

Other benefits include on-site and off-site learning hubs for training and development, six weeks’ holidays, pension contribution, healthcare insurance, and should you decide to visit the office; coffee hubs, an on-site sports centre with classes, and an on-site concierge service.

For more on these Cloud Engineer opportunities, visit the Euronews Job Board.

2. Senior UX Writer / Content Designer, wefox

Wefox is recruiting a Senior UX Writer/Content Designer. The successful candidate will be a member of the product design team and will work on the product roadmap generating user-centric and data-driven ideas for UX writing that has an impact through careful tone of voice, word choices, and accessibility.

Flexible working hours are available in either remote-first, office-first, or hybrid working models. Employees have access to mental health and wellbeing platforms, training, and coaching opportunities and are supplied with a stack of technologies and working gadgets.

To see more about this role, visit the Euronews Job Board.

3. Tech Lead Software Engineer – Frontend Development, Shopify

Shopify is seeking Tech Lead Software Engineers focused on frontend development to help drive teams designing and building innovative solutions that empower all teams in the company to build powerful cloud software.

The company has recently switched to a remote-first culture and also encourages employees to work abroad for up to 90 days per year under its Destination90 programme.

As a leading global commerce company, Shopify enables over 1.7m merchants in over 175 countries to build and customise online stores to sell on web and mobile, as well as in person.

The successful candidate for this role will guide and mentor engineers, while setting a high bar for quality and contributing technically with hands-on coding.

For more information visit the Euronews Job Board.

See who else is hiring remotely on Euronews.jobs, set up alerts and bookmark the link for regular check-ins.