Friday and Monday Most Common Days for Working from Home in Germany

In Germany, the days on which working from home is most prevalent are Friday and Monday, finds a recent ifo Institute survey. “Friday is the most common day for working from home in 55% of companies, ahead of Monday at 35%. By contrast, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are usually office days, also for employees who work from home some of the time,” says ifo researcher Simon Krause. This pattern can be seen in all sectors of the economy and across small, medium-sized, and large companies, albeit to different degrees. “Especially on Fridays, many offices are empty in companies with a large proportion of people working from home,” he adds.

These average figures conceal interesting differences. Across all sectors of the economy, around 64% of companies permit staff to work from home; this is especially true of large companies. Manufacturers and service providers offer this option more frequently than companies in trade and construction. Friday is the main day for working from home for 66% of manufacturing companies and 58% of service providers, while the proportion is only around 28% in trade and construction. As the survey permitted multiple responses, the percentages for the days add up to more than 100%.

“From a scientific point of view, a structured hybrid working model – in other words, a combination of days in the office and days of working from home – best combines the interests of companies and employees,” Krause adds. In this working model, creative teamwork, meetings, and mentoring primarily take place on the days when employees are present in the office, while days spent working from home are for concentrated and undisturbed work. Employees benefit from greater flexibility and no commute on days when they work from home, while companies achieve consistent productivity and increase employee retention.

“The office is evolving from a place of work to a place for face-to-face interactions,” Krause continues. “At some companies, staff no longer work at a specific desk, and empty workspaces are being turned into meeting rooms and lounges. This lets companies reduce their space requirements and cut costs. Although the decline in demand for office space is noticeable on the real estate market, the impact is somewhat mitigated by the hybrid models with fixed days for office work. In cities, the reduction in office use is particularly tough on city centers with a high density of office space, which are also suffering from lower retail sales as a result of people working from home.”

The representative survey was conducted among more than 9,000 companies in Germany in October 2023.