According to surveys by the economic research company Prognos, the experience of the corona pandemic has led to rethinking in many places and paved the way for a better work-life balance.
As the ARD capital studio reported on Thursday, 65 percent of the companies surveyed want to at least partially maintain more flexible working models after the end of the Corona crisis.
According to the report, one of the main findings of the Prognos study on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs is that good communication is crucial.
It is mostly about finding individual solutions and not one rule for everyone.
According to the study, many mothers and fathers with children under the age of 15 sought out discussions with their superiors.
81 percent said that they received further help.
30 percent are of the opinion that Corona has now improved the overall opportunity in their company to get family and work under one roof.
Family Minister Lambrecht warns against relapse into old patterns
Family Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) told ARD that, with the experience gained from the crisis, there must now be further steps towards a modern and flexible world of work.
"We mustn't fall back into old patterns," she said.
It is also in the economic interests of companies that working parents can better combine work and family.
According to ARD, the representative study was carried out by Prognos AG (European Center for Economic Research and Strategy Consulting) in collaboration with the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy.
For the companies' point of view, HR managers were surveyed, in spring and summer 2020 in 750 telephone interviews, in spring 2021 in 700 interviews.
Employed parents with children under the age of 15 were also interviewed twice, online. There were almost 1,500 surveys in 2020 and a good 1,000 in the current year. In a second step, six companies from different industries and regions were examined in more detail for case studies.