Healthy, inclusive and sustainable remote work futures as a Win-Win for employees and employers in urban, rural and cross-border areas

WinWin4Worklife envisions to enable healthy, inclusive and sustainable remote working arrangements (RWA) in Europe by combining employer and employee perspectives into a single framework.

The project has five key objectives and outcomes:1)To gain an interdisciplinary understanding of how the private and work spheres interact when working remotely; 2)To assess which living and working conditions ensure a healthy work-life balance in RWA for both men and women living in urban, rural, and cross-border areas;3)To develop forecasting models of the impacts of different scenarios of RWA on mobility, land use, air quality, noise, and health; 4)To enhance knowledge on the role of culture, regional context and welfare systems in the uptake of RWA by employees and employers; and5)To develop a comprehensive set of evidence-based spatial policies for a sustainable implementation of RWA, based on co-creation processes with stakeholders and citizens.To do so, WinWin4WorkLife will collect novel and comprehensive data in 5 European countries (DE, FI, LU, PT, SK), selected to represent different welfare systems, housing and labour markets, and cultural norms towards remote work.

Data collection consists of an employer survey focused on organizational support for RWA, impacts on skills retention and productivity, and intentions to relocate; and an employee survey complemented by interviews and a time use app covering employee circumstances, gendered RWA experiences, impacts on work-life balance and mental health, as well as residential or job relocation, and social security and taxation issues.

This quantitative and qualitative data will feed custom-made spatial forecasting models to assess wider urban/rural regeneration, environmental and health impacts.

Close and continuous engagement with planning, policy, business, and institutional stakeholders will ensure concrete and context-sensitive policy actions and measures for the sustainable uptake of RWA in Europe.