After almost two years of the Corona pandemic, it is safe to say that it demanded enormous flexibility in all areas of our society.
Changes in the world of work also presented many employees with a new challenge, as the need often arose at short notice to move work from the office to the home office, living room or even bedroom from one day to the next. The remote office took center stage and often meant a restructuring of the organization, communication and IT landscape for employers as well. One thing is certain: the pandemic has changed the work culture.
But what was the status of the so-called home office beforehand, was the trend able to establish itself and what will happen to home working after the planned abolition of the home office obligation and after the pandemic?
If we take a closer look at the use of remote offices, it is important to note that this varies greatly in an international comparison. The Netherlands and Finland were and are the pioneers here - even before the pandemic, three times as many employees normally worked from home as in Germany.
It should also be noted that the remote office option was not necessarily always accepted. A survey by the ifo Institute shows that about 40 percent of the companies surveyed offered the option of working from home, but half of the employees hardly ever took advantage of it. In addition, the prevalence of the possibility of offering and using it varies by sector.
Despite these differences, it is easy to see that home office use increased significantly with the COVID pandemic. While about a quarter of all workers were in home offices during pandemic peak periods, working from home was surprisingly uncommon in Germany before the COVID pandemic outbreak.
According to a study by Statista and Eurostat, only just under five percent of employees usually worked in a home office in 2019, seven percent occasionally and 87 percent never. In the wake of the Corona pandemic, the number of employees working in a home office in Germany rose from four percent to 27 percent in the first lockdown, April 2020. Suddenly, for many companies and employees, working from home was no longer an alternative, but an urgent necessity. After all, the goal was to reduce the spread of the virus and ensure health protection.
Furthermore, the survey shows that later in 2020, however, the use of the option to work from home decreased again. In June 2020, the number of people working in remote offices was only 16 percent, and in November, it was only 14 percent. This was due to falling infection rates and gradual relaxations.
However, as infection figures rose, more and more workers again decided to take their errands home, so that the figure rose to 24 percent in January 2021. Currently, despite varying infection rates and thus varying levels of home office use, it is apparent that home working has increased significantly overall since the start of the pandemic.
For employees, the main reasons for the increasing affinity with remote offices are a better work-life balance and more flexible working hours. Although many employees see the blurring of work and leisure time associated with the home office and the lack of direct contact with colleagues as a disadvantage, 73 percent of Germans are in favor of a legal right to home office.
The head of the German Confederation of Trade Unions also calls on the German government to support the "remote office of the future" in a timely manner by means of clear regulations and, in doing so, to regulate occupational health and safety in a binding manner.
For companies, this means a major challenge in finding solutions in terms of labor law, organization and technology, especially with regard to issues relating to working hours, the workplace and communications. The Confederation of German Employers' Associations is opposed to an extension of the statutory remote office requirement. Two-thirds of employers want to return to the old status quo after the pandemic.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, on the other hand, is in favor of drawing fundamental consequences from the "corona-induced unplanned large-scale experiment with home office" and his plans call for employers to allow their employees to work in a remote office in the future if there are no operational reasons to the contrary. In such cases, however, employees should have the opportunity to discuss this with their supervisors. Whether and how exactly these consequences will be realized remains to be seen.
There has been repeated public criticism that German companies have by no means exhausted the potential of working from home, even during the crisis. According to Ifo Institute estimates, 56 percent of German employees could in principle work from home - more than twice as many as during peak pandemic times.
Either way - Corona at least made it clear that work processes can be quickly digitized and can function without being present in the office. Likewise, new communication tools such as video conferencing have been developed, as well as new digital capabilities. As a result, many companies intend to further expand remote office options, which will accommodate many employees and provide more flexibility. Nevertheless, industry differences will remain - with knowledge-intensive service industries having the highest affinity for remote office.
However, we cannot expect a complete replacement of the office, but rather a differentiation, since on the one hand, personal contact and interaction are important for employees and employers, and on the other hand, employees primarily want a choice. It will therefore be crucial to find the right balance between office and home work, which may vary depending on the company, sector and personal situation.
Sources: www.deloitte.de, www.statista.de, www.rnd.de, www.bmwi.de