Brazilians, Becoming Fond of Home Office, Often Want to Move Out of Large Cities

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The novel coronavirus pandemic has hastened changes that the labor market has been shyly testing in recent years, like the home office.

With only essential services operating during the peak of the health crisis, between April and September, remote work increased in a dimension unseen before.

According to the latest data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 7.9 million workers in the country were in home office in October. In Brazil, the economically active population amounts to some 79 million people.

Not needing to travel to the office over these past months and with the prospect of remote work being maintained in the future, Brazilians are beginning to wonder: is living in the city where the company is located really necessary?

A survey by Ticket, Edenred’s food and meal benefits brand, conducted with 1,000 of its users, shows that 28 percent of respondents consider moving to another city, given the reduced need to travel to the company’s physical structure.

Despite this wish, the survey data shows that only seven percent worked from other cities during the worst months of the pandemic. These people traveled to holiday homes and locations distant from large urban centers with high rates of infection.

Data from a June survey by McKinsey & Company already showed that large cities lost attractiveness with the pandemic. The so-called “de-urbanization” is among the trends pointed out by the consultancy as one of the changes in the Brazilian lifestyle from now on, with medium-sized cities being more valued.

In big world capitals like New York and London, the phenomenon is similar. The IWG company, which operates offices, noted that business in the southern part of the New York Borough of Manhattan collapsed 30 percent. Activity in the southern region of the neighboring state of Connecticut grew by over 40 percent.

The trend is strong in the United States: about 23 million Americans plan to move to another city amid the boom in remote work.

Another significant trend is the change of residence during the pandemic. In its latest cover story, EXAME offers an insight into why Brazilians are looking for other properties. Data from the real estate sector support Ticket’s survey and show that Brazilians looking for larger properties are willing to move away from the crowded city center and workplaces due to the option of remote work.

The future of work

Even after the end of the social isolation, 44 percent of workers pointed out that they would not like a full return to on-site work. Another survey released this week also shows that government employees share the same wish.

Among survey respondents, 36 percent work in companies that have indicated they will adopt full remote work for some sectors. Another 33 percent work for organizations that have favored the adoption of the hybrid model. In other words, employees should divide their time at home and in the office.

As the home office is poorly regulated, it is a matter of concern for companies, which have been making collective bargaining agreements with trade unions to set some rules, such as control of working hours and support for the required remote work structure, such as furniture and internet.

According to the Institute of Economic Research Foundation (FIPE), remote work is present in 15.9 percent of collective bargaining negotiations in 2020, while in 2019 it only featured in 2.4 percent of agreements.

Source: Exame

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