Remote work, also known as telework or telecommuting, became increasingly relevant in Russia after the spread of COVID-19. During the lockdown between end-March and mid-May 2020, most companies were required to transfer employees to home office. Consequently, more than
during that period. In general, the possibility to work remotely was seen as convenient by Russians. Over six in ten Russians named saving time on travelling to work and managing own schedule more efficiently the
. Furthermore, 40 percent saw remote work as one of the
Characteristics of telecommuters in Russia
In 2022,
one fifth of residents of Moscow and Saint Petersburg worked exclusively remotely, while further 16 percent had a hybrid work mode, spending some working time in the office and some at home. In smaller localities, flexible work modes were less common. Educated workers were more likely to be transferred to home office, with more than one in five
Russians having an incomplete higher education or holding a university degree working partially or exclusively from home as of May 2022. To compare, only eight percent of those having an incomplete secondary education could work remotely.
Finance, insurance, and IT sectors had the highest share of distance workers, while employees in continuous industrial production and agriculture needed to be present at their workplaces.
Remote work tools in Russia
Tools enabling communication and collaboration between employees or with external clients and partners were a substantial part of a telework setup in companies worldwide. These included video conferencing platforms as well as synchronized file management tools. In Russia, the segment of
collaboration software achieved a revenue of 64 million U.S. dollars in 2021. In the following year, the earnings were forecast to fall by nearly 38 percent as a consequence of key international brands pulling out of the country after the onset of the
Russia-Ukraine war, including Google and Microsoft. One of the
most popular cloud video conferencing providers in Russia, Zoom was still present in the market, though the use of Zoom has been restricted for government agencies, partly state-owned companies, and public educational establishments.
COVID-19 impact on the future of remote work in Russia
Working from home prior to the COVID-19 outbreak had been a luxury in Russia. More than
half of surveyed companies did not allow employees to work remotely before 2021. However, the advancement of digitalization during the pandemic has made the option of remote work and hybrid work more realistic for employers and employees in the country. The
number of remote work contracts grew nearly sevenfold between 2015 and 2021. According to a survey conducted between May and June 2021,
most executives and hiring managers believed that employee productivity was independent of the workplace. Furthermore, every one in five employees in large companies held the opinion that remote work affected productivity positively.
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