In many German companies, the home office is becoming an everyday part of the working world. Although almost all pandemic-related restrictions for office workers were lifted months ago, many German workers will continue to work at least partially from home in the future. This is shown by a study by the ZEW Mannheim, the results of which are exclusively available to WELT AM SONNTAG.
More than 1000 companies from the manufacturing and information industries took part in the survey in December 2021 and January 2022. The companies indicated how often they used hybrid working models before the pandemic and what their plans are for the post-Corona period.
They each explained how much time their workforce is expected to work from home in the future. "Companies of all sizes are expecting a significant increase in the proportion of home office working hours," says Daniel Erdsiek, scientist in the ZEW research department Digital Economy. However, the expected shift is most pronounced in large companies.
The proportion was particularly high in larger companies in the information economy. Employers with more than 100 employees calculated that even after the pandemic, an average of 38 percent of their employees’ working hours would be worked from home. In the pre-Corona period, this proportion was still ten percent.
In the industry, which includes IT and media companies, it is particularly easy to relocate work steps from the office. Therefore, the acceptance of the home office is high here overall. Across all size classes, companies expect their employees to spend an average of 24 percent of their working hours at home. Before Corona, this proportion was only nine percent.
In the processing industry, taking the step back home is technically more difficult. Nevertheless, the average proportion of people working from home here is likely to double from three to six percent. Here, too, large companies expect the most significant boost and expect a 14 percent share of working hours in the home office.
The most important reason for the growing acceptance of working from home is probably that it has simply proven itself during the pandemic. Many employees have found in the past two years that they can save long journeys to work.
In times of labor shortages, employers can sometimes significantly increase their attractiveness with great flexibility on the subject. The extent to which companies could also expand home office in order to save energy themselves was not yet relevant at the time of the survey.
