Slovakia (Bratislava, Žilina, Košice)

Brain drain

Slovakia is experiencing a brain drain as young, educated people leave for better opportunities abroad and flock to cities, leaving rural areas behind with an aging population. Did you know nearly 300,000 Slovaks have moved to more prosperous EU countries? Plus, our rural regions are losing young talent to cities like Bratislava, Žilina and Košice, creating a demographic imbalance within the country.

But wait, there’s hope! Remote work could be the game-changer we need. Imagine young professionals enjoying urban job opportunities while living in our beautiful countryside. They can have the best of both worlds, balancing career growth with a high quality of life. Remote work can revitalize our rural areas, boost local economies and keep our communities thriving. Join us in exploring how remote work can turn the tide on brain drain and rural depopulation in Slovakia!

WinWin4WorkLife explores the unique ways how remote work can turn the tide on brain drain and rural depopulation in Slovakia. But we don’t stop there! Our Slovak study also examines the broader impacts of remote work, just like in our other case studies.

• Economic impacts on productivity and mental well-being
• Social impacts on quality of time and quality of life
• Spatial impacts on daily mobility, land-use, air pollution and noise
• Case-study specific impacts of how remote work might prevent brain drain from rural areas to the cities of Bratislava, Žilina and Košice.

The wider socio-economic impacts of remote work are examined for the whole of Slovakia, but we zoom in on the cities of Bratislava, Žilina and Košice and their rural hinterland to examine its spatial impacts on daily mobility and land-use.

• Are you a company located in Slovakia, employing at least 5 employees? Then participate in our employer survey. In case you have received an invitation from us, click ‘log in’ at the top of this page. If not and you want to participate, then click ‘I want to participate’ in the box below.
• Are you an employee living in Bratislava, Žilina, Košice or the rural areas around these cities? Then participate in our employee study.
• Are you a stakeholder (expert, policy-maker, practitioner, …) interested in the future of remote work in Slovakia? Then sign up for our Stakeholder Panel.

• Step 1: 500 companies will kick things off with an employer survey about their remote work policies, workforce productivity and mental health concerns.
• Step 2: Next up, 1000 employees will share their remote work experience in an employee survey. We’ll dive into its impact on work-life balance, productivity and mental health, and see if it might inspire employees to move residences or change jobs.
• Step 3: The excitement continues as 400 employees will use the mobile-friendly MOTUS app to complete a time use diary. Make it to this stage, and you might win an exciting prize!
• Step 4: Then, we will invite 30 employees for an in-depth interview to explore how remote work impacts household arrangements.
• Step 5 Finally, insights from these employer and employee studies will fuel a series of local co-creation workshops. Here, stakeholders will discuss the future of remote work in Slovakia.