Only 107 people telework in Ecuador at the end of 2022, a year that began with 2,500 hired with this modality

He has been working for a private company in the province of Manabí for more than five years. Joaquín still remembers that 2020 when he was saved from being fired and went to work in his house. Already in 2021 he returned to his office, although when the contagion of a colleague was detected, he returned to teleworking.

In fact, Joaquín was infected twice with COVID-19. By 2022, the young man worked 100% face-to-face, although he expected the company to adopt the mixed or hybrid modalitythat is, being in the office some days and others working from home.

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“First we avoided contagion, although it still exists, then the issue of traffic and saving time, but we went back as before and we have to accept it,” says Joaquín, who aspires to find a purely digital job in the future.

In Ecuador, the number of teleworkers has been falling. With the pandemic it reached its largest scale with more than 80,000 contracts with that modality. In 2021, it remained between 1,000 and 6,000. And by 2022 it went from 2,530 contracts in January to 107 last November.

Of this amount, 88 are in Pichincha, ten in Guayas, two in Manabí and Chimborazo, one in Imbabura, Cotopaxi, Los Ríos, Azuay and Tungurahua. 40 are women and 67 men, according to data from the Ministry of Labor.

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Adriana Gutiérrez, Master in Human Talent Managementaffirms that the figures do not mean that the modality, included since 2016, is losing strength but it is about ignorance.

“I believe that the pandemic gave us an opportunity to do something that we resisted, or that we were afraid of and we thought we were not capable of making employees work from home. If this had not been done, I believe that many companies would have had to close their doors and operations because they could not continue with their work cycle. Teleworking is not losing strength, what is still happening is that there is a lack of knowledge of the laws and benefits that teleworking can contribute to the organization and to the family-work balance”, explains Gutiérrez.

While, Ider Salgado, professor of Labor Legislation at UISEKensures that what has lost strength is 100% teleworking and is moving to a hybrid day. “All the time telematically it has lost strength, because face-to-face and interaction are also needed,” he mentions.

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Salgado adds that this type of work is what will be maintained. “The way this year will end is the same as it happened in 2021, that is, with a partial teleworking modality; that is, a time in person, approximately 20 hours, and another time at home or remotely for another 20 hours a week ”, he points out.

The Global Remote Work Index, that measures the 66 countries to work remotely, placed Ecuador in position 64. that for Annabelle Figueroa, sub-dean of the Faculty of Administration and Business at Casa Grande Universitymeans that the country is not yet at the required digital standards.

“We have a long way to go, although it will go down. And when the generation centennials is more required in organizations, companies will be forced to offer these modalities because there is a lot of competition and As an entrepreneur you are looking for the best profile and the best one comes with requirements”, comments Figueroa, who indicates that these modalities also they would be adjusted by projects and not by hours.

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Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor also records figures of complaints about teleworking in the public sector. This year there were nine and in 2021, eleven. The complaints, according to experts, may be linked to the breach of this type of contract. There is no data on the private sector in this regard on the website of the State portfolio.

According to Figueroa, these complaints can arise from this lack of control on both sides that ends in non-compliance with work, such as excessive working hours.

“It is difficult to evaluate a face-to-face collaborator in the same way as a remote one, despite the fact that there are technological tools that allow you to do so. Companies are not willing to invest in them. So, there is mistrust, about whether or not he will be working. And by not being able to exercise this control in an office and not wanting to update on technological tools, there is no way to assess whether it works or not. This does not happen in multinationals, but in SMEs and local companies. Multinationals have realized that the fixed costs of rent and basic services have fallen dramatically by embracing remote and hybrid work”, argues Figueroa. (YO)