Remote work, career strategies and organisational challenges by the European countries in the post-2019 pandemic scenario: preliminary results of the EURECA project

Current work intends to present the preliminary results of an international project (EURECA) developed by a team from Católica Research Centre for Psychological, Family and Social Wellbeing of Faculdade de Ciências Humanas/Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), SOCIUS/CSG/Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa (ISCAL)/Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL), and Università degli Studi di Trieste (UniTs, Italy). The EURECA Project, still in progress, seeks to understand the career management strategies and remote work design in response to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Quantitative and qualitative studies have resulted from the project. Data collection took place between 2022/2023 in several European countries. The quantitative studies (4 in total) were based on a questionnaire assessing career dimensions, and a total of 739 European hybrid workers have participated in it. These 4 studies have highlighted: (1) perceived (objective and subjective) career success; (2) strategic career behaviours among European remote workers; (3) country-Level Individualism vs Collectivism comparisons; and, (4) a comparative study between Poland and Portugal on remote working and career management. Regarding the qualitative data, two case studies were generated (Italy and Portugal), and 17 organisations were observed. The main objective of the latter was to understand the role of remote work for career management and the resulting organisational challenges. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are further discussed and avenues for future research advanced.