THE EVOLUTION OF TELEWORKING IN PORTUGAL: REGIONAL DISPARITIES AND SECTORAL VARIATIONS DURING THE COVID-19 PERIOD AND IN THE POST-PANDEMIC

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the evolution of teleworking in Portugal during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to analyze sectoral variations and identify regional disparities in teleworking adoption. Theoretical Framework: The research builds on teleworking adoption rates and their variation across sectors and regions considering the differentiation of several factors, like higher education levels and knowledge-intensive sectors. Key concepts include the benefits and challenges of teleworking, the impact of COVID-19 on work practices, and regional disparities in teleworking adoption. Method: This study uses data from the ad hoc module of the Employment Survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) for the years 2019 to 2023, on a quarterly basis, for the Portuguese territory. Data were stratified by NUTS II regions and economic activity classification. Findings: The results indicate a substantial increase in teleworking during the pandemic, identifying significant regional and sectoral variations, with higher percentages of teleworking employees in the areas of Information and communication activities, Financial and insurance activities, Real estate activities, Consultancy, scientific, technical, and similar activities, and Administrative and support service activities. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area exhibited the highest percentage of workers in a teleworking model before, during, and after the pandemic period, particularly in knowledge-intensive


INTRODUCTION
Habits and work organization have been evolving in recent years, particularly regarding the locations where work is performed, with a wide variety of workplaces emerging (Méndez-Ortega et al., 2022).This trend was already evident before the pandemic, but the need to control gatherings and maintain economic production during COVID-19 accelerated these changes (Marques da Costa & Marques da Costa, 2021).
The concept of teleworking, though recently more widely adopted, originated in the 1970s.It was initially linked to the energy crisis, decreasing costs of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and the rise of counterurbanization.From the 1990s onward, teleworking gained momentum as technological advancements and the mode of production in post-industrial society, which is more specialized and involves higher education, facilitated its adoption and appreciation (Gibson et al., 2022).However, until 2020, teleworking was limited to a small portion of the workforce, primarily adopted by highly qualified professionals and digital nomads.The pandemic significantly increased remote work, with an estimated 42 million workers teleworking across the EU in 2021, a sharp rise from 2019, the last pre-pandemic period (European Economic and Social Committee, 2021).Although these numbers slightly declined in 2022, the trend is expected to continue, as jobs suitable for teleworking grow due to technological advancements and the preference for remote work by both workers and employers (Eurofound, 2022a(Eurofound, , 2022b)).
This study examines the changing realities of work regimes, focusing on teleworking and its evolving spatialities, with a particular look at regional scopes and economic activity in Portugal and its NUTS II regions from 2019 to 2022.The research has three main objectives: first, to understand the evolution of teleworking during and immediately after the pandemic; second, to analyze sectoral variations in teleworking adoption; and third, to identify regional disparities in teleworking adoption.

THE EVOLUTION OF TELEWORKING -BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
Remote work is a work arrangement where employees perform their job functions and duties outside of the traditional office setting, from home or another location away from the central workplace (Bailey & Kurland, 2002), mainly possible due to the Information and 4 Communication Technologies (ICTs).This encompasses various setups like Telework, the one where the work is developed in the employee's home (Eurofound, 2022a(Eurofound, , 2022b)).
The concept of teleworking emerged in the 1970s as a result of the advancements in ICTs and the consequences of the 1973 oil crisis, which called for a reduction in transport and new working models.In the 1990s, the post-industrial mode of production, technological advances, and the proliferation of personal computers and the internet in homes facilitated the broader adoption of teleworking arrangements (Bélanger & Allport, 2008;Gibson et al., 2002).
Despite its potential benefits, such as the improvements in work-life balance and the reduction of environmental impacts, teleworking faced skepticism regarding productivity, collaboration, and managerial control (Hook et al., 2020;Sardeshmukh et al., 2012).At the beginning of the 2020s, a global exogenous factorthe COVID-19 pandemic, required a quick and massive implementation of teleworking around the world.Therefore, before the pandemic, organizations approached teleworking with different levels of support and skepticism.Some embraced teleworking as a strategy to enhance employee satisfaction and/or productivity or as a decision related to sustainable action plans (Felstead & Hensenke, 2017), while others hesitated due to concerns about accountability and team cohesion (Golden & Gajendran, 2019).
Due to this, until that time, teleworking was nothing more than a niche practice (Hynes, 2016).
Teleworking offered noteworthy benefits for both employees and organizations (Martin & MacDonnell, 2012).For employees, it is shown to promote greater flexibility in managing work and personal responsibilities, allowing better time management (eg., avoiding excessive time consumption in commuting), while also affecting the worker's health and well-being (Beckel & Fisher, 2022;Nicholas, 2019).For organizations, it can enhance recruitment and retention efforts by accommodating diverse work preferences and reducing turnover rates, thus improving profitability, in addition to expanding the employment basin to a national or even global level, as this is no longer anchored in the geographic proximity between workers and workplaces (Allen et al., 2015;Ferreira et al., 2021;Hajal, 2022).Moreover, teleworking has the potential to reduce overhead costs associated with maintaining physical office spaces (Bloom et al., 2015;Hook et al., 2020).Furthermore, from an environmental perspective, teleworking shows some very interesting potential benefits as the reduction in traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, promoting better air quality and energy savings (Aletta et al., 2022;Tenailleau et al., 2021).In Portugal, as well as in Europe, this is extremely important as the air pollution is mostly due to road transport emissions, pollutants known to severely impact health, especially in the older population (Franco et al., 2020(Franco et al., , 2023a(Franco et al., , 2023b;;Weuve et al., 2021).
Despite its advantages, teleworking also presents several challenges.Employees may experience feelings of isolation and disconnection from coworkers, overwork phenomenons, and blurred boundaries between work and personal life which can negatively impact job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and family well-being (Bailey & Kurland, 2002;Buomprisco et al., 2021;Lima, 2023).From a managerial perspective, for example, the difficulties in monitoring and evaluating the performance of teleworkers are frequently highlighted.Infrastructurally, companies and workers may find their work efficiency limited due to technological insufficiency (e.g.internet levels, access to confidential information outside the company's network) or technical difficulties.The dissemination of the company's culture and values is also hampered, along with communication and trust between colleagues and between workers, managers, and directors, which can interfere with the implementation of management strategies (Contreras et al., 2020;Ferreira et al., 2021;Maresca, 2024;Raya et al., 2024).

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 AND THE ACCELERATED TRANSITION TO TELEWORKING
The COVID-19 pandemic swiftly and profoundly altered daily life across the globe with its high and quick contagion rate (Sousa et al., 2021).Governments implemented unprecedented measures such as full lockdowns, social distancing, and travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, leading to significant disruptions in various aspects of the daily lives of people, reflected in the economic dynamics (Anderson et al., 2020;Severo et al., 2023).Almost from one day to the other, life was put on hold.In Portugal, as in most countries, individuals' daily routines drastically were a constraint, as going to the supermarket, practicing physical activity and leisure activities, or working or going to school (Franco & Marques da Costa, 2021;Louro & Marques da Costa, 2019;Louro et al., 2021), as well as social interactions and work arrangements were revolutionized.The pandemic had to be dealt with a new way of life had to prevail for part of the population, especially as the health sector with its limitedness and sometimes even services undersupplying, not only in Portugal but all across Europe, would not be able to react effectively and efficiently to an epidemic of such scale (Franco & Marques da Costa, 2022, 2023;Marques da Costa et al., 2020).
In this sense, organizations worldwide were forced to quickly change their production approaches, betting on teleworking arrangements as a strategy to ensure business continuity while prioritizing individual and collective health and safety and minimizing contagions and disease dissemination (Abulibdeh, 2020;Mileu et al., 2022).Thus, teleworking became not only a necessity but a crucial tool in maintaining productivity and operations during lockdowns and social distancing times (Vander Elst et al., 2020).Simultaneously, organizations benefited from maintaining operational continuity when possible and potentially reducing costs related to office space and utilities, all while adapting quickly to changing circumstances (Contreras et al., 2020).The benefits were extended to the employees, as they were able to keep their jobs and achieved greater flexibility in managing work and personal responsibilities, while also having reduced exposure to health risks associated with commuting and office environments (Alipour et al., 2020).
Due to this sudden urge, institutions, companies, and workers had to implement new organizational strategies related to the transition to teleworking in a very short timeframe.The ones working already in economic sectors and activities based on more advanced technology and highly skilled human resources, thus having other capacities in terms of organizational readiness and adaptation, had an easier path in the implementation of teleworking strategies and technologies (Gohoungodji et al., 2022;Tokarchuk et al., 2021), compared with other sectors and/or professions with a presential tradition relating with their workplace.This required, in record time, the technological equipping of homes and companies (even leading to the breakdown of IT equipment stock in the global market), and the development of technological skills, for example, when it comes to accessing and managing information storage platforms or online meetings, among others.The constraints of physical travel and the commitment to teleworking have brought other consequences beyond the sphere of the economy.Housing was refunctionalized to allow work from home, sometimes by several people simultaneously, which led to some conflicts (Moreira, 2020).A displacement phenomenon was registered by families to their second homes, allowing them to stay in larger homes and/or with open spaces and green spaces, or even the acquisition of new homes, preferably homes in urban developing areas, bringing consequences to the management of collective equipment, in special health care, and support infrastructure, such as garbage collection or water and sanitation distribution, forcing new strategies on the part of city halls and service providers (Oliveira, 2020).At the community level, face-to-face social contacts have been reduced and replaced by digital contacts, also increasing the population's technological skills (Marques da Costa et al., 2023).
In the post-pandemic period, teleworking is anticipated to keep an important role (Bick et al., 2023;Sostero et al., 2023).However, the future of teleworking is contentious regarding the adoption levelswhether they will be maintained, increased, or decreasedand forms and strategiesmore flexible or less flexible.In 2020, the proportion of employed people usually working from home in Europe showed a large national variation, between 25.1% in Finland and 23.1% in Luxembourg and, at the opposite extreme, 2.5% in Romania and 1. 2% in Bulgaria (Eurostat, 2022).Hence, teleworking adoption rates exhibit asymmetries based on sectoral and regional perspectives.These disparities can be attributed to many factors including economic, social, infrastructural, and political differences.
In the socioeconomic domain, several aspects are known to impact the adoption of this working model.Education attainment and occupational roles or functions significantly influence teleworking capabilities.Activities in sectors in which workers tend to have higher education levels with knowledge-intensive functions are more likely to engage in teleworking strategies (Alipour et al, 2023;Catană et al., 2022).Thus, regions with greater concentrations of employment in these types of economic activities are more likely to witness greater teleworking adoption.
As well, the infrastructure related, for example, to telecommunications, is a preponderant factor, as it allows higher levels and quality to access to high-speed internet, a critical enabler of teleworking.So, regions with robust digital infrastructure support higher teleworking rates (Ruiz-Martinez & Esparcia, 2020).Digitalization is a differentiated factor among regions, where rural areas tend to have limited access to high-speed internet, exacerbating regional disparities in the economic activities' location and teleworking adoption (Iordache et al., 2021).
In the economic domain, also the cultural acceptance of teleworking within organizations fluctuates across regions.Hence, regions with a higher social acceptance of this working model and a greater concentration of organizations with a culture that supports flexible work arrangements witness higher teleworking adoption (Pyöriä, 2011).Therefore, regional conditions significantly influence teleworking adoption rates.
Regions with economic fabrics based on more qualified and technological professions and sectors, with favorable socioeconomic conditions of people and robust infrastructures conducive to remote work, tend to exhibit higher levels of teleworking.Conversely, regions lacking these attributes experience lower adoption rates (Alipour et al., 2023).10 Data analysis involved the use of statistical analysis methods, using descriptive statistics to identify regional and sectoral patterns and trends in the adoption of teleworking.Pivot Tables were also used, which proved to be an essential tool in analysis, as they provide an efficient way of summarizing, organizing, and comparing informationbetween regions or amongst CAEs -, through the reorganization and synthesis of large sets of data, facilitating the identification of the aforementioned patterns and trends.The visual representation of the results was performed using graphs, as well as Tables, to display the information clearly and concisely, which facilitates the development and understanding of the analysis and results.

RESULTS
In Portugal, before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019), only 2.5% of the workforce worked from home, and 0.7% worked in other locations than their office or in clients' locations.These figures were slightly higher in regions with a strong service sector, such as the LMA, where teleworking reached 2.8%.Demographically, men (2.6%) had a higher percentage of teleworking than women (2.3%), those with higher education recorded the highest percentage, and workers older than 45 showed the highest proportion of working from home (3.1%) among all age groups.
After the emergence of the pandemic, the proportion of employees working completely  In the post-pandemic period, the changed data collection methodology, joining full remote with hybrid modes, generated an increase in the proportion of workers working from home.In this new (statistical) context, the importance of teleworking maintains its evidence in sectors more suited to it, such as Information and Communication, Financial and Insurance, Real Estate, Consulting, Scientific, Technical, and similar activities (sectors J, K, L, M, N) and Public Administration and Defense activities (sectors O-P-Q), consistently having nearly half and nearly one fifth, respectively, of their employees working on remote or hybrid models (Table 2).In fact, it is in this last sector that the addition of the hybrid model has increased the proportion of teleworking.Since this period of analysis, the weight of teleworking has remained stable within each sector, assuming that activities have reached an equilibrium level.

Table 2
Proportion of employees that worked fully remote or hybrid based on the total employees by economic activity (%), and, based on that, the proportion of those due to reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic (%), 2 nd quarter 2022 -3 rd quarter 2023.In turn, the spatial distribution of economic activities generates regional asymmetries regarding the phenomenon of teleworking (Table 3).The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) was, close by, the region with the highest levels of teleworking over time (about 30% in the first quarters of pandemics, decreasing for about 20% after), the result of an employment system based on activities in the highly qualified tertiary sector, with a high concentration of companies and jobs with potential carried out via telework.The region with the second higher value (Norte) presents proportions considerably distant from the LMA (20% and 36%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2020, and 8% and 21%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2022), while the two autonomous regions and the two regions with lower volumes of employment and, especially qualified employment, -Algarve and Alentejo -are the ones with lower proportions of teleworking (around 3% in the autonomous regions and 6% in the other two at the beginning of 2022).Once again, the pandemic was the main reason for the decision to adopt a remote working model, with particular emphasis on periods of lockdown.After the initial phase of the pandemic, Covid continued to be a very relevant reason for teleworking, especially in the LMA regions (75% of teleworking cases in the first quarter of 2022), contrary to other regions where teleworking was not particularly motivated by the pandemic (e.g.Madeira, Azores, Algarve).
Again, from the second quarter of 2022, and after updating the data collection methodology by INE, there was an increase in the proportion of teleworking in all Portuguese regions (Figure 3).As always, from the second quarter of 2022 onwards, all regions saw a decline in teleworking rates as COVID-19 related teleworking decreased, with the Algarve region experiencing the most significant decline.It is also worth noting that in this postpandemic phase where there is no longer the influence of lockdowns, there is a recurring oscillation in most regions, with the tendency to record higher rates of teleworking in the second quarters of each year (April-June) and lower values in the third and fourth quarters (July-Septembertraditional long summer vacation period; and October-Decembergoing against the encouragement of the bad weather period).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the general evolution, sectoral variations, and regional disparities in teleworking adoption in Portugal, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a great trigger to strongly implement teleworking in Portugal.Before the pandemic, teleworking was largely limited to highly qualified professionals and very specific sectors, being a niche practice.The need to maintain economic productivity while adhering to social distancing measures due to the pandemic led to a widespread adoption of teleworking practices in Portugal and all across the world (Veloso et al., 2022).By 2021, 23.1% of the workforce was teleworking in a completely remote strategy during the initial lockdown period, an extremely significant increase from the 2.5% value in 2019.This shift demonstrated the rapid adaptability of organizations and workers to teleworking when needed by external factors demands.Moreover, despite the decrease in teleworking levels in 2022the post-COVID-19 year -, a relevant proportion remained, especially when compared to the pre-pandemic values, showing that teleworking seems to be here to stay.
The sectoral analysis revealed that teleworking adoption was highly dependent on the nature of the economic activities.Sectors such as Information and Communication, Financial and Insurance, Real Estate, Consultancy, Scientific, Technical, and Administrative Support Services showed the highest teleworking rates.These sectors, which are knowledge-intensive and rely heavily on digital infrastructure, were better positioned to transition to teleworking in full remote or hybrid systems.In contrast, sectors like Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Construction had significantly lower teleworking rates due to the nature of the work, which often requires physical presence.The findings in the present study follow the general trend postulated by other authors, with sectors based on activities that need human resources with higher education levels and knowledge-intensive functions (Alipour et al, 2023;Catană et al., 2022), showing greater teleworking adoption than the ones that are based in unspecialized work.
Despite this concentration, the rapid and strong technological equipping of homes and companies and the development of employees' digital skills generated by the pandemic, allowed this work model to be extended to more professions and more sectors, more due to the type of work carried out than to the level of education or position of the individual in the company.
As for the regional outlook, the disparities in teleworking adoption were pronounced.
The LMA, where about 50% of the total national population employed in the activities more prone to teleworking (INE, 2023a), consistently exhibited the highest teleworking rates, driven by its strong service sector and robust digital infrastructure, contrarily to the less dense/urban regions with less economic.Applying the values from Figure 3, close to 390,000 people would be engaged in teleworking in this region, and nearly 240,000 people would be teleworking solely in the teleworkable sectors.
These disparities underscore the importance of regional socioeconomic conditions and digital infrastructure in enabling teleworking (Ruiz-Martinez & Esparcia, 2020), as LMA is not only the region that concentrates the population with a higher level of educational attainment and income (Barreira et al., 2020), but is the Portuguese region with the best general digital infrastructures (Piñeiro-Naval & Serra, 2021), proving that regions with better access to highspeed internet and a higher proportion of educated population that are more likely to have digital-based jobs are more likely to show greater percentages of teleworking.
In conclusion, this work shows that in Portugal, teleworking emerged in response to the pandemic reality and economic production needs.However, it has maintained its prevalence even after the pandemic context.Moreover, it allows us to extrapolate that teleworking is a metropolitan phenomenon, as these areas tend to concentrate on the characteristics and the economic activities with more workers engaged in teleworking.These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and organizations aiming to enhance teleworking capabilities, emphasizing the need for investment in digital infrastructure and support for knowledgeintensive sectors to bridge regional disparities.The study's contributions to understanding teleworking trends provide a foundation for future research and policy development in teleworking work practices.
In the future, more studies need to address the regional disparities in the teleworking levels, looking at the finer scale of regions NUTS III or even municipalities, levels with data restrictions or inexistence.Only with that level of data, a more profound analysis can be produced.
IN TELEWORKING ADOPTIONDespite the recent trigger, the increasing implementation of remote work was before the COVID-19 pandemic.In 2019, the pre-pandemic year, around 5.5% of the employed population in the EU worked regularly from home, a figure that rose to 12.3% in 2020 and 13.5% in 2021.
focused on the Portuguese territory (with a surface of 92.152 Km²), considering the regional level as the scale of analysis (NUTS II, as NUTS are Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistical Purposes) (Figure1).The NUTS are a geographical classification for statistical purposes used by the Member States of the European Union, which facilitates the collection, development, and analysis of information from demographic, and socioeconomic domains.At the regional level, Portugal is composed of five regions on the continental side and two autonomous regions (representing two archipelagos).

Figure 1
Figure 1Portuguese NUTS II regions.
remotely in Portugal increased exponentially, reaching values above 20%, especially in the quarters where national lockdowns occurred (March 18 to May 2, 2020, and January 15 toMarch 15, 2021).In other quarters, remote working fluctuated between 10% and 15%, with an evident downward trend from the first quarter of 2021 onwards.Thus, the pandemic was the major reason for full remote work during the statistical reference month of each quarter, around 90% during lockdown periods, decreasing from around 80% to just over 60% at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022.One of the main influencing factors in the adoption of teleworking is the sector of economic activity, with clear sectors where this work model is not possible for the majority of the related professionals.In some sectors, the vast majority of jobs are not possible to carry out at home using information and communication technologies (e.g.Agriculture, Manufacturing Industries, Accommodation and Catering, Wholesale and Retail Trade) (sectors A, C, D-E-F, G-H, I, R-S-T-U) (Figure2).In these sectors, were recorded proportions of remote working below 10% during the study period, increasing in some cases during the two lockdown periods.(sectorsD-E-F, G-H, R-S-T-U).The Evolution of Teleworking in Portugal: Regional Disparities and Sectoral Variations During the COVID-19 Period and in the Post-Pandemic In the other hand, the group of activities of Information and Communication, Financial and Insurance, Real Estate, Consulting, Scientific, Technical, and similar activities (sectors J, K, L, M, N), had the highest proportion of employees working completely remotely during the study period (around 40% in all time, except in the lockdown periods, reaching more than 50%).This was expected, as these sectors involve a significant portion of highly specialized work that requires computer-based tasks, whose communication can be carried out digitally, which allows remote access to work, flexible working hours, and whose workers have high levels of technological training, normally associated with higher levels of education.In the group comprising Public Administration and Defense, Mandatory Social Security, Education, and Human Health and Social Support activities (sectors O-P-Q), teleworking tended to spike primarily during pandemic peaks (about 35% and about 25%, respectively), as employees in these fields mainly resort to teleworking during such periods, having a greater variation between the lockdown periods and others (below 10% in the last periods).Despite the decline in the implementation of teleworking in these sectors, the data reveals its potential for change in the future due to other reasons than COVID-19.

Figure 2
Figure 2Proportion of employees that worked fully remote based on the total employees by economic activity (%), 2 nd quarter 2020 -1 st quarter 2022.

Figure 3
Figure 3Employed population that worked remotely (completely or hybrid) in the reference week and in the three previous weeks by NUTS 2 in percentage.

Table 1 .
For this study, economic activities were grouped into eight groups established due to the proximity between each economic activity based on the similarity in the characteristics of the functions performed and the type of working force.Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities Rev. 3 (CAE).
Surveyed data collected about the reference week of the quarter and in the three previous weeks.Note 2: the indicator of remote work due to reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic stopped being collected in 2023.Source: INE.Módulo ad hoc do Inquérito ao Emprego (IEMOD).Inquérito ao Emprego, 2023b.

Table 3
Proportion of employees that worked fully remote based on the total employees by region (%), and, based on that, proportion of those due to reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic (%), 2 nd quarter 2020 -1 st quarter 2022.Surveyed data collected about the reference week of the quarter and in the three previous weeks.Note 2: Lockdown periods are highlighted in grey.Source: INE.Módulo ad hoc do Inquérito ao Emprego (IEMOD).Inquérito ao Emprego, 2023b.