Work culture 2.0: Is working from home the future?

Home office for the entire workforce? Meetings only online? Before the coronavirus pandemic, this would have been unimaginable for many, both employers and employees. The pandemic has changed views – on both sides. What will remain of it?

According to a study by the Hans Böckler Foundation, around 16% of respondents were working from home in June 2020. A further 17% alternated between working from home and at the company. A significant increase on the 4 percent who were already working from home, according to the foundation. One reason for this was the obligation to work from home, which has no longer applied since July 2021. A relief, some employees will say. Many are missing out on contact with colleagues, as a DAK study shows. In addition, according to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute, it is often difficult to develop your own ideas when working from home and creativity suffers. Others, however, will miss working from home, as the DAK study also shows that employees working from home are often happier, less stressed and healthier.

And what do employers say? If they are smart, they will look at what lessons can be learned from the coronavirus pandemic and the changed working culture. That many meetings can also be held online, saving travel time. That it is more cost-effective not to have to provide a workstation for every employee. But also that face-to-face work in the company is highly relevant for team building. That personal face-to-face interaction is still important and promotes creativity. And that an office needs to offer more than just a desk with a computer after the pandemic. Because this is now also available in the home office.

And this may also entice people with completely different benefits, such as summer, sun and sunshine. Because in 2020, some vacation destinations took advantage of the emerging home office offers and created home office visas.
And yet employees still like to come to the office. However, going there is becoming much more conscious. People are specifically looking for what is not available in the home office: personal exchange, co-creation, brainstorming and team building. Or as the Zukunftsinstitut puts it: “Remote work makes the office attractive.” As an employer, you just have to do it right and see change not as an attack, but as an opportunity.

What does that look like? For Deutsche Telekom, the answer is obvious: “There is no going back to the old world. The future of our work is hybrid,” explained the company at the request of tagesschau.de on the topic of working after Corona. “We want to combine the advantages of the office and mobile working in the best possible way. We also expect to travel less and work together in an even more agile way as part of the new way of working.” The banking sector is currently showing how this can be achieved in practice. Frankfurt-based Bankhaus Metzler, for example, continues to allow its employees to work at least 20 percent from home or on the move. At Landesbank Hessen-Tühringen even 50 percent home office time is targeted.

Clear rules are needed for such agreements to work. Only then can employees and companies plan properly, mutual reliability is ensured and the legal framework is defined. As an employer today, saying that working from home is not an option is no longer an option.

It’s not even about the fact that the coronavirus will still be with us. Or that scientists see the danger of further pandemics. No, the keyword in all considerations about combining working from home or remotely with in-person work is agility.
I already wrote about this in my blog post on modern working: The market situation and our working environment are changing more dynamically than ever before these days. And this is happening continuously, not just since the coronavirus pandemic. Companies are therefore not only well advised to be flexible, they actually need to be extremely flexible. Open to new things! Keen to experiment! Only those who try out new things can change the current situation of their company – and thus move it forward. And that includes the flexibility learned during the pandemic. Because only those who skillfully combine working from home and working in person can take advantage of the benefits of both. What’s more, employers who don’t offer this option after the coronavirus pandemic will automatically become less attractive to future generations.