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With every hour that the federal-state consultations on the fight against corona drew closer, the SPD increased the pressure: The home office regulations were to be tightened, companies were to be obliged to let as many employees as possible work from home.
Employers would have to enable home office if "nothing speaks against it" and the activity allows it, demanded Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD).
"We have created a legislative option for this with the Occupational Health and Safety Control Act."
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Trade unions and employer representatives fiercely oppose the obligation to work from home.
Not necessary, not effective, not feasible, counter the tariff partners in seldom unity.
And anyway: Before you give companies guidelines, the federal government, states and municipalities should set a good example and send their own employees in the administration to the home office.
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A sound argument.
Because what the state wants to order the economy, it does not implement in its own authorities.
There are no plans for this, training courses, the necessary IT - and sometimes it is simply not possible to let employees work from home because of the task.
This also applies to the economy.
But many comrades ignore this argument
Heil can casually brush aside the accusation of withholding home office from his civil servants.
"It is currently estimated that well over 80 percent of our workforce with office workplaces work from home," says a ministry spokeswoman.
The teams and managers are called upon to follow the principle of “stay at home” wherever possible: “Technically, this can be up to 100 percent of all employees with office workplaces,” said the spokeswoman.
But in the rest of the administrations nationwide, the situation is very different.
Duty or not?
Dispute about the home office
To further contain the pandemic, more people should work in the home office.
That is what Minister of Labor Heil demands.
But experts don't think so.
From their point of view, workplaces are not sources of infection.
Source: WORLD / Fanny Juschten
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According to a survey by the German Trade Union Federation (DGB) among 1,400 public sector employees, only a little more than a fifth (22 percent) work from home.
However, 30 percent of those surveyed would like to work from home.
Around a third complained about "receiving no or very little support from superiors in order to be able to work at home".
And to be able to work there at all, more than half use private work equipment.
Source: WORLD infographic
After all, the DGB says about the survey, which was conducted from January to May 2020: The home office rate is higher in administrations than in the private sector.
IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann rejects this: "In the organizational area of IG Metall, 84 percent of those who have the opportunity to work in the home office also make use of it," Hofmann told WELT.
That is a long way off in the public sector.
And in the federal ministries and authorities, the prerequisites for home office regulations are much better than in the federal states, cities and municipalities.
At the national level, the differences are great;
In some administrations, working from home is a matter of course, others lag behind.
Source: WORLD infographic
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The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) has been particularly strong in favor of mandatory home office regulations - and the ministries there also deliver.
The Mainz Ministry of the Interior and the ADD supervisory authority in Trier put the proportion of office workers working from home at around two thirds.
Half of the employees in the science and finance ministries use the opportunity to work from home.
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Dreyer's party comrade Michael Müller, Berlin's governing mayor, had also announced that he would reduce people's contacts by designating home office regulations - and, if necessary, making binding requirements for companies.
The regulations in the private sector are exhausted, but he sees "still potential in the economy".
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However, very few employees in the administration of the federal capital work from home: around 80 percent of civil servants still have to come to the office.
Because there are no plans for home office, training or the necessary technology.
Since this week at least 5000 notebooks are to be delivered to the administrations in the Berlin districts, so that mobile working is possible more often;
currently just twelve percent of the authorities are basically "home office capable".
With the new laptops, the rate would rise to 17 percent.
No home office possible in every second municipality
The situation is similar nationwide in many cities and municipalities.
In every second municipality, home office is generally not possible at all, in 20 percent of the municipalities only for a few employees.
This was the result of a representative survey of around 600 mayors and those responsible for digitization commissioned by the Bitkom digital association and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities at the beginning of December 2020.
The example of the district of Leipzig shows, however, that it is not just the technology that makes home office impossible for many: “Of the approximately 1450 employees in the district office, 725 have been set up for the home office.
This has been actively used since spring 2020, no problems are known, "says a spokeswoman.
Home office vs. workplace in the office - which is better?
Home office is on everyone's lips.
While companies are thinking about reducing office space and saving costs, not all employees are really convinced of it.
Source: WELT / Matthias Heinrich
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However, the presence of employees is often necessary due to the work processes: “Currently, 200 employees in the health department are involved in fighting pandemics.
A lively exchange of ideas with one another, brief coordination and discussions must take place here, which are not feasible in this form in the home office.
The road maintenance services with 140 road attendants are also present - winter service and home office do not get along. ”And there are a number of other services of the district that cannot be carried out by the employees from home.
Municipalities are calling for a legal framework for digital services
But does the administrative work really have to be done in so many cases in the authorities and work areas?
In internal administration, for example?
Gerd Landsberg, General Manager of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, locates the fundamental problem elsewhere: “It is nowhere near as many employees who can work from home as the towns and municipalities would like.
One of the decisive reasons for this is that in many cases there is still a lack of legal framework to provide services to citizens completely digitally.
Today you can still not apply for an ID card online or, as a private customer, easily register a car because you cannot identify yourself online. "
That makes face-to-face appointments necessary.
“That is why we have been demanding for a long time that every citizen should have an electronic ID online, preferably based on their tax number.
The federal government has a duty to act here, ”said Landesberg.
In addition, broadband expansion would have to be driven forward and investments made in IT equipment.
According to the survey with Bitkom, 40 percent of the municipalities stated that “lack of technical equipment” prevents them from letting employees work at home.
"We have been demanding the right to work from home since April"
Finally, when it comes to working from home, employers are also made responsible, according to Left Chairwoman Katja Kipping.
The Federation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) act as destructively as the lateral thinkers.
Source: WORLD