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The home office rate in Germany has risen again in recent months.

At the end of January, 24 percent of those in employment were working exclusively or mainly from home.

This is shown by a representative survey of the labor force by the union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation.

At the beginning of the lockdown light in November it was 14 percent, in December 17 percent.

The development is gratifying, says Bettina Kohlrausch, scientific director of the Economic and Social Science Institute (WSI) of the foundation.

The proportion is therefore almost as high as during the first lockdown in April (27 percent).

Source: WORLD infographic

Kohlrausch sees a direct connection to the recent tightening of the rules.

"It was only the enormous public pressure on employers - including from the trade unions - and finally the regulation on home offices that led to an expansion of the range of mobile work," she says.

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It relates to the Sars-CoV-2 occupational health and safety ordinance presented by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), which has been in force since the end of January.

Accordingly, companies must offer their employees in the case of office work to be able to do these tasks in their home if there are no compelling operational reasons to the contrary.

This was preceded by a debate about companies that deny their employees home office and thus increase the number of infections.

Government decisions are a trigger

However, it has not been proven that there was widespread refusal by employers, which was only dissolved by the regulation.

According to the WSI, a third of those surveyed who mainly or exclusively work at home said that the Federal Government's decisions were a reason for switching to home office.

“Often because your employer made it possible for you to work from home for the first time, partly also because you now work more consistently at home”, is the additional explanation of the WSI.

The corresponding proportions are not broken down in more detail.

It is therefore possible that many employees went to the office at their own request and only refrained from doing so in the wake of the worsening crisis situation.

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This is also how the situation is interpreted at the employer-related Institute of the German Economy (IW).

The proportion of home workers has meanwhile fallen, "because for many companies and employees working from home was only an emergency measure to reduce the risk of infection and in the meantime appropriate concepts to prevent infection at work have been implemented in many places," says IW researcher Oliver Stettes.

He regards salvation's prescription as unnecessary.

Because where home office is denied, there are mostly operational reasons: for example, there is a lack of IT infrastructure or data protection is not guaranteed.

"This also applies where the state itself acts as an employer," says Stettes.

The uncertainty is great

Employment lawyer Philipp Byers from the law firm Watson Farley & Williams, who represents employers nationwide, also criticizes companies because of the regulation.

"There are currently even clients from areas such as production where home office is not possible," he says.

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As a result of the new regulation, they are concerned that they will have to shut down their operations.

"We can give the all-clear quickly, but it creates unnecessary effort," says Byers.

The same companies now unnecessarily documented why they do not allow home offices.

In principle, it seems unlikely that the home office rate will continue to rise significantly from the current level.

According to estimates by labor market experts, more than half of German employees cannot work from home because their job is unsuitable for it.

In the WSI survey, 60 percent said they had worked exclusively or predominantly in the company at the end of January.

14 percent have a mix of face-to-face and home work.

The WSI emphasizes, however, that there is still pressure to work in the company.

According to the survey results, five percent of those questioned stated that they mainly work in the company, although they want to reduce their presence and their activities allow this.

The majority of them said that their employer was preventing them from working more at home.

“Even with a cautious estimate, one must assume that this will still affect a few hundred thousand workers,” the scientists said.

Anyone who is wrongly forced into the office can contact the labor protection authorities of the federal states or the accident insurance institutions.

Random checks are also possible.

Companies face fines of up to 30,000 euros.

It is also legally possible to prohibit continued operation.

The rules apply until March 15th.