Remote work job offers for engineers: Have they grown with the pandemic?

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March 2020, many things have changed in the job market. Obviously, there have been lots of negative consequences: reduction of activity in sensitive sectors such as the tourism or passenger transport industries, layoffs, companies surviving on a thread thanks to state aid... However, a phenomenon has taken off that has been very positive when it comes to maintaining and even increasing employment opportunities in certain specialisations: remote working.

Millions of people around the world have had to work (or are still continuing to work) from their homes as a result of lockdowns that have been imposed on a global scale. And certain sectors have continued to offer new contracts in response to the growing needs of companies, either because they have continued to carry out their work without any setbacks or because their services were needed. In this case, those positions related to health or technology come to mind, but especially those of engineering professionals. Many people have found the opportunity to continue doing what they love most from the comfort of their own home.

Remote working in the engineering sector during the pandemic

When lockdowns started being imposed, a labour revolution took place that resulted in thousands of people working from home. This is demonstrated by a study by the European Commission, in which they found that only 15% of professionals in the EU carried out their activity from home in 2019. These figures increased to 34% of employees who exclusively worked from their homes after the declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic, according to a report by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

This percentage becomes even higher if we include the temporary permissions some companies have given their staff to partially work from home, either due to a circumstantial cause, such as taking care of their children; or due to the continuous restrictions imposed by governments to avoid the spread of the disease.

In fact, engineering professionals can benefit from working remotely even more than the average person. A study by McKinsey & Company specifies that between 58 and 69% of employees in this sector in the United States could work remotely.

Offers for engineering professionals

Engineering is one of the professions in which job offers have increased the most during the pandemic, at a time when few activities have been able to be carried out as normal.

This is demonstrated in a LinkedIn report, which highlighted the growth in the demand for male and female engineers during the second half of 2020. It is precisely the ease of doing this type of work from home that is allowing the number of job offers to multiply during the pandemic.

And this trend hasn't slowed down this year, but rather has extended to engineering profiles with the best career opportunities in 2021 . Don't forget that these types of jobs are highly sought after, since not only do they allow you to work remotely, but they also tend to offer very attractive and innovative career plans, as pointed out by Spain's General Board of Official Colleges of Experts and Industrial Technical Engineers (COGITI, by its acronym in Spanish).

Advantages of working remotely for male and female engineers

Many companies, as well as their engineers, would prefer remote work to become more widespread, seeing how there are many advantages to having both parties carry out their normal activity without leaving home, and not just in the current context of a global pandemic:

1. Higher productivity. Saving time on commuting to the workplace allows the hours spent on professional work to be better managed.
2. Helps reduce costs. Remote working is optimal for cutting expenses both from the point of view of the worker and the company. That's because the worker doesn't have to eat out or pay for transportation, while the company reduces its fixed costs such as electricity at the company's offices.
3. Engineers can organise their working hours based on their preferences, concentrating or distributing their working hours throughout the day, provided they continue to meet the set objectives.
4. Work-life balance. Another advantage of working remotely is that employees can adapt their working hours to their personal and professional needs, something that is very beneficial if, for example, they have to take care of minors or elderly dependents.

And what about you? Have you experimented with remote working in engineering during the pandemic? How would you like your career to progress in 2021? At BETWEEN we can offer you the motivation and challenges you dream of to unleash your talent, either working in-person at the office or from home. Come and ask us all your questions, we're waiting for you!