Ifo study shows dent in performance: Heil is moving away from the right to work from home

An Ifo study shows that employers value the home office much less than employees. Federal Labor Minister Heil would like to anchor home work with legal entitlement even after the Corona crisis. He is now giving up this idea because the Union's resistance is too great.

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil approaches the Union with his plans for a legal right to home office. He was ready to postpone the claim to 24 days a year, said the SPD politician to the editorial network Germany (RND). But he advocates adopting at least a modern framework for mobile work. "My concern is that we get ahead." The SPD politician said that he wanted to legally back up those employees who wanted to work mobile.

Heil had presented a bill in early October. Criticism came from the coalition partner Union and from business. In the coronavirus crisis, many workers moved their jobs home. According to a survey, around two thirds want to work from home a few days a week even after the crisis. From the point of view of the Union, this does not necessarily have to be regulated by law, but on-site by employers.

Ifo survey: companies see home office more negatively

According to a new survey, German companies see the home office far less positively than many employees. Accordingly, only a small minority of 5.7 percent of companies noticed an increase in productivity when working on the move. In contrast, 30.4 percent of companies reported unchanged and 27 percent even reduced productivity of their workforce. In October, the Munich Ifo Institute surveyed 1,097 companies on behalf of the Family Business Foundation.

"The explanation for the lower productivity may also lie in the fact that companies are a social place," said Stefan Heidbreder, managing director of the foundation. "The personal contact between employees creates a dynamic and innovative strength that video conferences cannot replace."

The question of whether or not working in the home office increases productivity is a political bone of contention. In the summer, after a survey of 7,000 employees, the DAK health insurance company announced that a majority of 56 percent consider themselves more productive in the home office. The DAK study serves the SPD as a protection aid for their demand for a legal right to work from home. There are also studies and surveys on the subject from other countries, with contradicting results. According to the Ifo survey, small companies in particular are skeptical about working from home. Only 2.9 percent of companies with up to nine employees reported increasing productivity. For companies with more than 250 employees, it was 8 percent.