This is how the economy in the district reacts to the home office requirement

The federal government's home office requirement caused a lot of excitement last week.

Little should change in the district, home office has long been normal.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

- Last Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Minister decided to make employees more responsible for working from home.

Two days later, we reach Bernhard Pfreundner from Sitec Aerospace, who has been a renowned supplier to the aviation industry in Bad Tölz for decades.

He is moderately enthusiastic.

“As is so often the case, it hits the wrong person,” he says.

He reminds of all the efforts that Sitec has made to keep Covid 19 away from the production site - which has been achieved so far.

Manufacturing at home is an impossibility anyway.

“We can't deliver the parts home,” he says.

And if home office is to be strengthened now, it is imperative to set up secure lines that cannot be hacked.

He takes a deep breath before he says: "We'll first have a look at the Federal Labor Minister's writing in the order."

A week later you can see something more clearly.

Andreas Roß, the district's economic development agency, refers to the website of the Federal Ministry of Economics, which points out that it is all about office work - not manufacturing.

"The employer should be obliged to offer the employee home office, unless there are operational reasons against it," he explains.

How much will change specifically with the new regulation that Ross expects at the end of the month remains to be seen.

In his estimation, few companies will be affected.

"Many have already done an exemplary job anyway."

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Andreas Roß, the district's economic developer

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Such as the district office.

"We have had a corresponding service instruction since March 2020, when the pandemic began," explains District Office spokeswoman Marlis Peischer.

The explicit purpose of being able to work from home is to avoid double occupancy in small offices and to reduce contacts.

“In addition, some departments work in shifts in order to minimize contacts in the office.” Currently, a total of almost 20 percent of the 530 employees work from home.

It is similar in town halls.

For example in Geretsried, where the aim is to minimize contacts as much as possible.

This includes, among other things, the two-shift work so that colleagues do not meet in the office.

Of course, not everything can be done from home, explains press officer Thomas Loibl.

So at the building yard.

“You can't shovel the snow off the road from home,” he says.

Various documents are also not allowed to leave the town hall at all - an example of why the personal presence of employees can be necessary despite everything.

In his opinion, home office has proven itself, even if there are occasional frictional losses.

"We draw a positive interim conclusion," he says.

Home office has long been normal for employees in Tölz town hall too.

The city has implemented a “whole bundle of measures”, said spokeswoman Birte Otterbach.

A single office could be offered to a large number of employees.

In other cases, where two or more employees share a room, part of the workforce will typically work from home.

Another advantage is that most of the employees come from the immediate vicinity and are not dependent on local public transport.

"This already reduces contacts."

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Christian von Stülpnagel, chairman of the business association for the Wolfratshausen economic area.

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Christian von Stülpnagel, Chairman of the Business Association of the Wolfratshausen Economic Area (UWW), appeals to politicians not to restrict entrepreneurial activity more than is absolutely necessary.

Home office is a tried and tested means, but please only "where it fits".

He would find an obligation "nonsensical".

Because home office also has disadvantages.

"The corridor radio, the creative cooperation is lost," he says.

The economy - 130 companies belong to the UWW - are struggling hard anyway.

Von Stülpnagel considers the rumored figure of minus 5 percent economic growth to be nicely calculated.

"I assume 20 to 30 percent."

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Michael Steidl, press spokesman for Weber screwdriving machines in Wolfratshausen.

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Home office has been practiced at Weber screwdriving machines on Hans Urmiller-Ring since the beginning of the pandemic.

Not in the production of the automatic screwdrivers, where the employees wear FFP2 masks and keep their distance, but in the administration.

"That works surprisingly well," explains spokesman Michael Steidl.

If someone has to come in - for example to pick up a sample or to sign - you enter yourself in the calendar.

Communication takes place via Microsoft Teams.

This is what Weber has had the best experiences with.

“I recently spoke to a colleague in China,” says Steidl.

"It was almost as if he were sitting across from me."

Also read: This is how Corona affects industrial companies in Geretsried

At Tyczka Energy in Geretsried, the decision from last Tuesday was taken as an occasion for an appeal. “We asked all employees to think about using the home office offer if they have not yet made use of it,” explains Marketing Director Ulrich Hanke. However, Tyczka has long tried to greatly reduce the presence of employees at the locations in order to keep the risk of infection low. "The offer to carry out suitable activities in the home office has existed for many months and is indeed used intensively," says Hanke.