Home office will remain widespread even after the pandemic

Home office offers are established in German companies. The proportion of companies that offer at least one day of home office per week to their employees has remained at a constant level since the corona pandemic. This is the result of the current one ZEW Business information economy report from the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW). In the information industry, the proportion of home offices rose from 48 per cent to 82 per cent, and in the manufacturing sector it doubled (from 24 per cent to 48 per cent). Companies want to hold at least one day of homework per week over the next two years. They even plan to expand the offer further.

Home office options vary by company size and industry

The amount of home office available for employees depends on the size of the company. ZEW finds that employees in larger companies can work from home more often. In the information industry, for example, models with three days a week can be found in 76 percent of companies with at least 100 employees. For medium-sized companies (20 to 99 employees) the figure is 61 percent. For small companies (five to 19 employees) the proportion is 35 percent.

In the manufacturing sector, the proportion of companies with at least 100 employees working from home for at least one day is 92 percent. Only 76 percent of companies in the manufacturing sector offer at least two days a week, while the proportion of companies in the information industry is 91 percent. Only 36 percent of manufacturing companies offer three days of home office per week; the proportion of companies in the information industry is 76 percent. Only 14 percent in the manufacturing sector offer five days of home office per working week. In the information industry the proportion is 48 percent.

About the study

The numbers come from ZEW Business information economy report from the summer of 2024. Around 1,200 German companies in the manufacturing and information industries participated in the survey in June. The economic survey has been conducted quarterly since 2011.

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