Around 70%-75% of financial sector staff have telecommuted since the crisis started. Véronique Eischen of the OGBL trade union provided the figure to the Wort on Tuesday.

Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the CSSF, told the Wort that 98% of its staff has been teleworking since mid-March.

Last week, the CSSF called on financial institutions to “favour” remote working until “at least 25 May”, the date that primary schools and daycare centres are scheduled to reopen. The CSSF’s guidance could change after 11 May, when Luxembourg’s government is expected to outline the next steps in the country’s deconfinement strategy.

The financial sector employs around 50,000 people in Luxembourg, per Statec.

Remote work & staff shortages

Four out of ten respondents in a recent Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce survey said they were able to continue working but encountered staff shortages because of leave for family reasons (related to school closures). “More than half of these companies operated partially or totally with a workforce reduced by more than 40%,” the chamber of commerce wrote.

In Luxembourg, remote working is being strongly encouraged as part of measures to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. But among respondents who continued to operate, less than a quarter were able to have their full workforce work remotely.

“Unsurprisingly, it was mainly companies in the finance, insurance, and information and communication sectors that were best able to organise telework for their employees,” the report found. The study said that six out of ten respondents in these sectors had enabled over 80% of the workforce to work from home.

The survey was conducted by the chamber of commerce with around 2,600 business leaders during the week of 8-15 April.