13. August 2024
Due to the Corona pandemic, home office models have become established in German companies. And as a ZEW study shows, companies are even expecting a further increase in the offer.
Image: Centre for European Economic Research
Recently, there have been repeated reports that well-known companies want to restrict their home office regulations. The announced ‘return to office’ strategies range from new upper limits for the number of home office days to the reintroduction of the daily attendance requirement. Despite the media attention on a possible move away from home offices, a representative ZEW survey of around 1,200 companies shows that hybrid working models remain widespread in German companies. In addition, companies expect a further increase in home office use over the next two years.
“According to our survey, employees in 82 percent of companies in the information economy work from home at least once a week. In the more location-based manufacturing industry, the figure is 48 percent. The proportion of companies that allow their employees to work from home at least one day a week has thus remained at a consistently high level since the Corona pandemic. Accordingly, we currently see no signs of companies turning away from home office offers that include at least one day a week,” says study director Dr. Daniel Erdsiek from the ZEW research department ‘Digital Economy’, commenting on the results.
No decline in home office offers expected
A comparison of current home office usage with the situation before the pandemic makes it clear how firmly mobile working has become established in German companies. In the manufacturing sector, the proportion of companies offering home office options has doubled from 24 percent before the pandemic to 48 percent now. In the information industry, the proportion has also risen sharply, jumping from 48 percent to 82 percent.
“Looking ahead to the next two years, companies do not expect to reduce offers with at least one home office day per week. On the contrary: the proportion of companies offering home office options is expected to rise again – to 88 percent in the information industry and 57 percent in the manufacturing sector,” says Erdsiek.
In addition, the companies surveyed also expect an increasing proportion of employees who will use such offers in the future. For example, around two-thirds of the companies surveyed in the information industry expect that by June 2026 more than 20 percent of their employees will be working from home at least once a week.
Image: Centre for European Economic Research
Spread of multi-day home office models doubles
Hybrid working models can be designed in a variety of ways and adapted to the company’s needs. However, a fundamental and universal component is the agreed home office frequency, according to the ZEW. According to this, five home office models can be distinguished, ranging from one to five days of home office per week.
“Currently, 42 percent of companies in the information economy allow some of their employees to work from home at least three days a week. Before the corona pandemic, however, home office for this amount of time was only possible in 21 percent of companies,” says Erdsiek. “For the remaining home office models, the current prevalence is also far above the level before the pandemic – in most cases about twice as high. This applies to both the information economy and the manufacturing industry.”
More home offices in larger companies
However, the amount of time that employees are allowed to work from home varies greatly depending on the size of the company. The larger a company, the more likely it is that some of its employees will be able to use offers with a high frequency of working from home. For example, models with at least three days of working from home are used in around three quarters of large companies in the information economy (at least 100 employees). This share of companies drops to 61 percent for medium-sized companies (20 to 99 employees) and is only 35 percent for small companies (five to 19 employees).
“Hybrid working models with at least two home office days per week are currently used by 91 percent of large, 80 percent of medium-sized and 55 percent of small companies in the information economy. In the manufacturing sector, these company shares range between 76 percent for large and 15 percent for small companies.”
Data basis: The results are part of the ‘ZEW Industry Report on Information Economy’ from summer 2024. In June, around 1,200 German companies in the manufacturing and information economy, which consists of the ICT sector, media service providers and knowledge-intensive service providers, took part in the economic survey, which has been conducted quarterly since 2011. In each wave of the survey, data is also collected on current key topics in the research field of digital economics. These include current ICT trends, investments in ICT or the diffusion of new ICT applications. In the current edition, the main topic was home office.
