[ChuckNorris89]

There's no wide mandated EU stance on this. Hugely depends on your country.

I work in Austria and most companies have mandatory office days due to outdated employment and insurance laws that discourage WFH, and micromanaging asshole company bosses who think that because they can't see you sitting at your desk then you must be slacking off at home on their dime, so they bullshit you and brainwash youngsters with "WFH destroys team spirit and cooperation so we 'choose' to spend 2h/day commuting to the office to be more efficient, but don't worry, because our office has free coffee and fresh fruits, ping-pong and foosball tables to de-stress and build team bonds" FUD.

100% WFH is incredibly rare privilege here. One of my friends broke his leg skiing and couldn't drive to the office anymore so the company instead of letting him WFH, they paid 40 Euros per day for taxis to pick him up from home and drive him to the office every day for almost 2 months. Absolutely mental.

I assume Sweden is more forward and progressive.

[higeorge13]

But you can work in remote companies in different EU countries..

[ChuckNorris89]

No, not really. Austrian labor laws says if you work with an employment contract, then your employer must have a legal presence in Austria to pay Austrian employer taxes and conform to Austrian labor laws, and no company wants to do that. There are some middle-men companies to interface this but they take a deep cut and not everyone want to deal with that hassle.

So your other option is a B-2-B contract but then you could end up paying higher taxes and now you don't even get the included healthcare and pension contributions, and don't get any of the perks an employee gets like mandatory 25 vacation days, paid sick leave, paid parental leave, etc. You're on your own, just you and your money having to pay for everything privately even after you paid a bunch in taxes.

And fully EU remote companies get huge amounts of applications, hundreds per open position, that it's nearly impossible to stand out if you're not an experienced senior as you're competing with people from lower CoL areas with much lower B-2-B taxes, making it not worth it for you if you live here and don't cash in over six figures to cover your loss.

EU-wide employment is still not a thing, as you're still locked-in and tied to the tax and legal system of your country of residence and its employment laws.

[higeorge13]

But majority of companies use deel, remote.com and so many mediators to hire remotely.

B2b in other eu countries has way less taxes than being employee.

Point is that there are many options and companies out there.

[ChuckNorris89]

>But majority of companies use deel, remote.com and so many mediators to hire remotely.

They do take a seizable cut though. After taxes on top you're not left with much than just working for a local company that doesn't have 200 applicants for one position and a crazy interview process.

>B2b in other eu countries has way less taxes than being employee.

Yeah, emphasis on "other countries", but I don't live in one of those "other countries" so it doesn't help me.

Remote work isn't a wild west level playing filed for everyone like HN thinks. You're still tied to the tax rules of your country of residence. If those are brutal in your country then you're at a disadvantage compared to the candidates in low CoL, low tax countries. If you live in a country with low tax, low CoL where you can play fast and loose with the tax authorities, then you're in the perfect place to be a remote candidate.

[namtab00]

Do you have a ballpark of how large is the cut off intermediaries such as those you cited?

Asking as an Italian hoping to find a foreign fullremote employer.

[higeorge13]

Deel, remote.com and others don’t take money from your cut but the employer. So you don’t have to worry about anything.

[namtab00]

This pretty much sums up the situation in Italy also.