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It was almost ticked off when the winter gave Germany its ice-cold shoulder after all;

the new megatrend, working from home, is proving to be a blessing for some.

Winter will end in a few weeks, and Corona will hopefully be contained in a few months.

Home office, however, seems to have come to stay.

Sven Baade, Head of the Competence Center Integrated Requirements Planning at the project management company Thost, says: “Home office has already become a constant.

It works amazingly well.

The productivity during Corona has not changed noticeably downwards. "

A statement that is indirectly confirmed by the numbers of the "Flexibility Index" published two weeks ago.

Created by Aurum, a broker for specialists and executives in the management sector, and the private CBS International Business School, it certifies that Germany's companies have increased enormously in terms of flexibility and agility in 2020.

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While the index was still at a value of 3.67 (out of six) in 2019, “it jumped to a strong 4.47 for 2020”, they say.

"It is impressive how quickly and to what extent companies in Germany have managed to adapt to the new circumstances in the corona crisis," says Managing Director Axel Oesterling.

"We can almost see something like a flexibility boost."

People need social contact

Many who return from the home office to the office after Corona are unlikely to recognize the familiar surroundings.

Others will find themselves in discussions about how they should be redesigned and used in the future.

“Over the next few months, companies have to think about how they want to design the new world of work, how they want to equip office space and also how many workplaces they want to make available to their employees on site.

If we see the new world of work as a marathon, then we're still at the beginning of the changes, ”says Sven Hennige, Senior Managing Director Central Europe & France at Robert Half.

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In the context of digitization, “our working world will certainly continue to change dramatically and offer new opportunities.

However, it should not be underestimated that people need social contact in order to be able to develop further.

"This is why very few people will want to work purely from home or 'remotely' after the pandemic," adds the expert.

Between open-mindedness and rejection

Because the world of work feels like it is changing in fast motion, the reactions of those affected are extremely different.

Between happy open-mindedness and radical rejection, Sven Baade has come across pretty much everything in daily practice: “Most of them are a little more open-minded, but things look different in companies that are slow to change, where new concepts are only driven by individual management functions.

There are also 30 people sitting across from you with crossed arms and angry looks in workshops or at information events. "

Companies with a high proportion of routine work would generally find it more difficult than those with changing tasks.

“The prerequisites for such transformations to succeed are the greatest possible transparency, highlighting the added value and a lot of communication.

Of course, there are always and everywhere suspicions, but if news is mainly spread via radio, it is harmful, ”warns Baade.

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Sven Hennige also sees it this way: “Every company should decide - preferably together with its employees - which work model suits it and its corporate culture.

There is no point in implementing new models that employees are not satisfied with or that limit efficiency or work ethic. "

Lone fighters have had their day

For the redesign and redesign of workplaces, the unfortunate term "collaboration area", which has an increased semantic deterrent potential, has become established.

Individual workplaces are foreign objects.

“They are converted into collaboration areas,” says Sven Baade.

This also corresponds to the zeitgeist: “The value systems are changing in general.

News or music, cars or e-scooters - everything is shared.

Even the younger generations on the job market no longer expect their own office, let alone future ones.

At this point the change will be final.

Corona was a catalyst for this. "

Sven Hennige even regards collaboration areas in open-plan offices as “an absolute must”.

Through them "companies increase the well-being and efficiency of their employees".

On the other hand, cost savings when doing without additional rooms are not so important.

“It is important that rooms are set up for different purposes: smaller rooms for telephone or video calls, larger rooms for meetings with several people.

Retreats and meeting places for employees encourage teamwork.

Not everything can and must be discussed in front of other colleagues. "

The public sector needs more flexibility

However, some great visions are threatened with failure due to the dismal reality or with slimming down to a light version.

Sven Baade: “Open, free areas cannot be realized everywhere, mainly because of structural conditions.

The public sector, for example, is one of the largest areas within the German working world, which is 'stacked' with jobs.

New working environments in combination with digitization are also finding their way there, but there is a lack of flexibility, which also has to do with insufficient investment opportunities. "

Where everything can be implemented, the rooms are perceived and used differently.

“It used to be routine.

If I go to the office today, it's a conscious decision, ”says the Thost expert.

One is “more focused and more geared towards communication.

The office will become a meeting place. ”A disadvantage is“ a certain decrease in the private environment in the office, which is very important to many ”.

Baade rates the dissolution of visible hierarchies, vested rights and status symbols as positive.

“Everything will be flattened.” Whether and how open workplaces are accepted also depends on the fine-tuning.

Avoidance of increased noise input falls under this.

“It will also be about 'cognitive environments', i.e. how everyone can get individual comfort conditions at changing workplaces.

From experience I can say that employers are increasingly willing to invest here. "