Working from Home Firmly Established in Germany

In February, 24.1% of employees in Germany worked from home at least part of the time. This is the finding of an ifo Institute survey of just under 9,000 companies. “The proportion has remained almost constant for two years,” says ifo expert Jean-Victor Alipour. “Regardless of the debates at individual companies about returning to the office, working from home has become firmly established in Germany.”

At 20.5%, the proportion of employees who work from home in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) is significantly lower than in large companies at 32.1%. Service providers work from home most frequently (34.1%). In manufacturing, the figure is just 16%, while in trade it is 12.2%. Bringing up the rear is the construction industry with 5.4%.

“No one denies that working in person is better than working from home when it comes to things like knowledge transfer, group creativity, and social aspects,” Alipour says. “Stepping up coordination of office hours to increase face-to-face interactions makes perfect sense. However, our data gives no indication that companies are getting rid of the option to work from home.”