With the expiry of the "Federal Emergency Brake", the obligation for companies to offer home office if possible ends.
Employers' associations are happy, but unions are calling for permanent regulation.
Berlin - The economy has welcomed the expiry of the corona-related home office obligation this Wednesday.
This “bureaucratic actionism” was an unnecessary meddling of politics, said the chief executive of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations, Steffen Kampeter, of the German press agency.
In the past few months, the companies have made it possible to work from home independently, voluntarily and very reliably in all industries. “We employers have delivered in the home office and we will continue to do so wherever internal and external business processes allow. We don't need a regulation for that. "
The head of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), Reiner Hoffmann, called for permanent regulation in this area. A legislative package is also expected from the next federal government, he told the dpa. Many employees wanted a healthy mix of face-to-face work and the possibility of being able to work on the move in the future. "This healthy mix includes clear rules of the game, because the pandemic at the latest has made the serious problems in the home office visible: excessive working hours and unpaid overtime, permanent availability expectations, shaky equipment or digital monitoring."
Hoffmann demanded a legal right to home office or mobile work, adequate occupational health and safety, “proper equipment” and further steps towards more co-determination. "It must also be clear that home office cannot be prescribed by the employer."
The employers refuse. "A home office regulation is neither necessary nor useful," said Kampeter. "In order for the economy to get going again, it needs the right framework conditions: flexibility and freedom for innovations instead of further regulation." to orient mobile working towards the Netherlands. The government there had "already done its homework in 2015" and made the Working Hours Act more flexible and introduced a modern legal framework for home offices.
The home office obligation anchored in the federal emergency brake expires this Wednesday together with the emergency brake. The validity of the Infection Protection Act was limited to June 30th Companies still have to maintain corona measures, offer two tests per week and draw up hygiene plans. This is regulated in the new Corona Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, which comes into force on July 1st and is to apply until September 10th.
The DGB bases its demands for permanent regulation for home office and mobile working on an as yet unpublished evaluation of survey data from employees that was collected a year ago. The dpa has received the evaluation. According to this, employees in the home office have, according to their own opinion, more design options in terms of working hours and work allocation than employees with a permanent job in the company. However, they often report excessively long working hours and pressure to perform.
46 percent of those surveyed who worked in the home office or on the move stated that it "very often" or "often" happens that they cannot switch off properly during their non-working hours. Of the employees with a permanent job, only 34 percent said that. Significantly more home office employees (39 percent) also stated that they were "very often" or "often" expected to be available outside of working hours by email or telephone (other employees: 15 percent).
However, many employees would like home office and mobile working to continue to be part of the working reality even after the end of the pandemic. This is the conclusion of a survey by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit in several federal states. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, 57 percent of those surveyed can imagine working from home for at least half of their time in the future. In other federal states the proportion is somewhat lower in some cases. As a reason for the desire for permanent home office, in addition to the time gain, the better compatibility of work and family is mentioned. A majority, however, sees the lack of separation of work and private life as well as the lack of contact with colleagues as disadvantages. dpa