Working from Home Continues to Decline in Germany
Fewer German employees worked from home in July than in the previous month, according to an ifo Institute survey. This found that the proportion of employees who worked from home at least part of the time fell from 28.4 percent to 25.5 percent. “People are increasingly looking for the personal contact that working in the office offers,” says Jean-Victor Alipour, an ifo Institute expert on working from home.
The rate had already fallen before the remote-working obligation was abolished at the end of June. “We expect hybrid working arrangements in particular to become more prevalent in the future,” Alipour says.
In manufacturing, the decline was particularly marked among beverage producers (July: 5.3 percent, down from 13.7 percent) and in the chemical industry (July: 18.2 percent, down from 25.3 percent).
The rate also fell among service providers. At TV and radio stations, an especially large number of employees returned to the office. Only 36.9 percent were still working from home at least part of the time in July, compared with 60.9 percent in June. The rate in publishing also saw a significant drop from 50.4 percent to just 40.3 percent in July.
By contrast, the rate increased slightly in research and development and in the clothing industry.
